UN-Employment, poverty and recession impact on youth’s mental health

Pages: 911-914
Deepti Gupta (Rama Jain Kanya Degree College, Najibabad, Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh)

Psychological research has demonstrated that living in poverty has a wide range of negative effects on the physical mental health and well-being of our nation’s children .Poverty impact children within their various contexts at home, in school and in their neighborhoods and communities. The youth’s mental illness is a serious and widespread problem in our society due to the poverty and unemployment and it is important that focus is made on its prevention as well as its treatment. Money is not a guarantor of mental health nor does its absence necessarily lead to mental illness. However, it is generally conceded that poverty can be both a determinant and a consequence of poor mental health. The relation between low economics status and elevated incidence and prevalence of mental illness has become increasingly apparent. The complexity and interrelatedness of factor such as poverty, health and employment make it interesting to look at the relationship that prevails between them. Unemployment significantly increased the odds ratio of psychiatric disorders. Research shows that it almost quadrupled the odds of drug dependence after controlling for other socio-demographic variable and it approximately trebled of odds of phobia and functional psychosis. It more than doubled the odds of depressive episodes, generalized anxiety disorder and increased the odds of mixed anxiety and depressive disorder by more than two-third. To Enhancing Mental health, rather than spending much time and effort on the treatment of mental disorders, it would be better to provide for normal emotional development by creating conditions that promote healthful living. Some of these conditions can be created by: social participation, self understanding, counseling by Psychologist/ psychiatrist