Mental health can affect anyone at any age but according to a new study, it has found people in their early 20s are more likely not to work due to ill health than those 20 years their senior.
This is according to the Resolution Foundation, who said this is “radically different” from previous years, where the older you were, the less likely you were to work due to sickness.
Figures show poor mental health amongst young people is on the rise, with one in 20 young people being economically inactive due to ill health in 2023.
According to the report, young people also have the poorest mental health of any age group. This ill health could affect their work opportunities and lead them to be in a lower-paid job or unemployed.
It comes as 34% of young people aged 18 to 24 reported symptoms of a mental health disorder, such as depression, anxiety or bipolar disorder in 2021/22.
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This resulted in more than half a million 18-24-year-olds being prescribed anti-depressants that year.
Louise Murphy, senior economist at the Resolution Foundation, said mental health is often solely focused on those just in higher education.
She explained: “What should most worry us is when poor mental health comes together with poor education outcomes.
“The economic consequences of poor mental health are starkest for young people who don’t go to university, with one in three young non-graduates with a common mental disorder currently workless.”
Research also found women are more affected with them being one-and-a-half times more likely to experience poor mental health than young men.
Meanwhile, 79per cent of 18-to-24-year-olds who are “workless” due to ill health only have qualifications at GCSE level or below. This is compared to 34per cent of all people in that age group.
The report added children aged 11 to 14 who suffer from poor mental health were three times more likely to not pass five GCSEs including maths and English compared with healthy kids.
