Subjective Well-Being and Future Orientation of NEETs: Evidence from the Italian Sample of the European Social Survey

Abstract

The acronym ‘NEET’ includes adolescents and young people aged 15–34 years not engaged in education, employment or training programs. According to recent studies, NEET represents a high-risk category to suffer from lower well-being and mental health problems. Following a life course approach, this study examined the self-reported subjective well-being and the future orientation of NEETs. To do this, the study used the latest European Social Survey data (Round 9—2018), limiting our analysis to Italian respondents aged 15–34 years. The final sample included 695 participants. Descriptive analysis and Student’s t-test were performed to compare the subjective well-being and the future orientation of NEETs with those of non-NEET young adults. We hypothesize lower subjective well-beings in the NEET group and more difficulties in future planning than in the non-NEET group. Then, a mediation path model was carried out to study the relationship between employment condition (non-NEET/NEET) and subjective well-being through future orientation. The path model showed the mediator role of future orientation. Results indicated that future orientation plays a role in mitigating the effect of the unemployment condition on well-being. Starting from these findings, practical implications regarding career guidance interventions are discussed.

Ethnic inequality between Arabs and Jews in Israel in global life satisfaction: A social determinants examination among young adults.

“…For example, based on pooled data from the European Social Survey, Jongbloed and Giret (2022) found that NEET individuals report significantly lower SWB—measured by a combined index that included two single items of GLS and happiness—than non-NEET individuals. Similar findings regarding the association between NEET and SWB were found in other studies (Bonanomi & Rosina, 2022; Felaco & Parola, 2022; Klug et al, 2019) and echo the empirical work on the adverse effect of unemployment on the psychological well-being of young people (e.g., Achdut & Refaeli, 2020; Taht et al, 2020).…”

Values, Health and Well-Being of Young Europeans Not in Employment, Education or Training (NEET)

“…Moreover, openness to change related positively to SW among Western men and South-Eastern women. Openness to change reflects curiosity and novelty and might associate with future orientation, which was found to enhance SW [ 76 ]. Self-enhancement was negatively associated with SW in Northern and South-Eastern women.…”

The psychological future of unemployed individuals and workers: invariance measurement model and mean differences

“…Previous research has compared the psychological future of unemployed individuals, students, and workers, with unemployed individuals being less future-oriented (Guthrie et al, 2009 ; Parola & Donsì, 2019 ). Moreover, future orientation has been pointed out as a moderator of the relationships between working status and mental health indicators (Parola & Marcionetti, 2022 ), and a mediator of the relationship between working status and well-being (Felaco & Parola, 2022 ). Despite the evidence of reduced future orientation, qualitative studies have described a few positive envisions of the future among employed individuals, especially youths who reported shorter periods of unemployment (Mühlhaus et al, 2021 ).…”