Effects of Adolescent Mental Health Conditions on Costs and Future Employment Status

The World Health Organization defines mental health conditions to “include mental disorders and psychosocial disabilities as well as other mental states associated with significant distress, impairment in functioning, or risk of self-harm” (World Health Organization, 2022b). There has been an increasing trend of mental health conditions, specifically depression and anxiety, among adolescents (Racine et al., 2021). Previous studies typically look at the reverse effect (e.g. the effect of a worsening economy on adolescent mental health) or a more generalized effect (e.g. the effect of mental health conditions among all age groups on the whole economy). This review seeks to quantify the costs and effect on future employment status which adolescent mental health conditions have. While this review examines overall mental health conditions, it also specifies depression, anxiety, and psychological distress, along with general areas of mental health problems. Previous literature from the United States, Australia, and several European countries were reviewed using Google Scholar on costs on the indicators above. The results indicate that mental health conditions among adolescents increase costs to families and society while also hurting future employment status, and different types of mental health conditions have different levels of effects. Finally, we suggest specific areas needed for improvement in order to minimize the economic harms of mental health conditions in the researched areas.