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Depression and anxiety in voluntarily unemployed people: a systematic review

Authors

  • Ivan Borrelli
  • Paolo Emilio Santoro
  • Giuseppe Melcore
  • Antongiulio Perrotta
  • Maria Francesca Rossi a:1:{s:5:"en_US";s:37:"Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore";}
  • Maria Rosaria Gualano
  • Umberto Moscato

Keywords:

Voluntarily unemployed, inactive workers, mental health outcomes

Abstract

Unemployment has an important impact on people's physical and psychological wellbeing, and gender and age affect mental health among the unemployed. Despite the correlation between unemployment and negative mental health outcomes being largely investigated in scientific literature, research on voluntarily unemployed individuals is scarce. A systematic review was performed on studies evaluating mental health outcomes in voluntarily unemployed adults. Following the PRISMA statements three databases were screened; research articles written in English language and investigating the relationship between mental health outcomes and employment status were included. The quality of articles was assessed with the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. The initial search resulted in 727 records; 4 studies were included in this systematic review. One study reported inactive people as less depressed than employed and unemployed people, one as more depressed than employed but less than unemployed people, one reported inactive people as less anxious but more depressed than employed and less anxious and depressed than unemployed people, one study reported inactive men as depressed and anxious more often than employed men. Further research should investigate mental health outcomes in voluntarily unemployed people and strategies to bring back these individuals into the workforce.

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1.
Borrelli I, Santoro PE, Melcore G, Perrotta A, Rossi MF, Gualano MR, et al. Depression and anxiety in voluntarily unemployed people: a systematic review. Med Lav [Internet]. [cited 2024 Oct. 5];:e2024030. Available from: https://mail.mattioli1885journals.com/index.php/lamedicinadellavoro/article/view/15850