Youth Unemployment and Health

Kieselbach, Thomas (1944), is psychologist and head of the Institute for Psychology of Work, Unemployment, and Health (IPG) at the University of Bremen (Germany). The IPG has concentrated on research in the areas of unemployment, socialisation to work and health promotion duringthe last 20 years. The focus of his work lies in the area of work and health psychology.

Thomas Kieselbach 1 Object and organisation of the study The present volume contains the first results of an international research project on youth unemployment and social exclusion describing the most up-to-date research of youth unemployment and health in six European countries. The project "Youth Unem ployment and Social Exclusion: Objective Dimensions, Subjective Experiences, and In novative Institutional Responses in Six European Countries" (YUSEDER) is supported by the Research Directorate General of the European Commission (DG XII) within the Targeted Socio-Economic Research Programme (TSER) of the 4th Framework Pro gramme. The YUSEDER research project tries to answer some crucial questions with regard to the risk of social exclusion associated with long-term youth unemployment. The European Commission launched a call for proposals looking for new know ledge of the key mechanisms linking the experience of long-term youth unemployment to various dimensions of social disintegration, conceived of in the theoretical frame work of social exclusion. In this context, not only the mechanisms exacerbating the stress of unemployment (vulnerability factors) but also the protective mechanisms pre venting or reducing the risk of social exclusion have to be taken into consideration. The second research question relates to new options of institutional and political inter vention and counteraction in different national contexts. These analyses will be underta ken in three Northern European countries (Sweden, Belgium, Germany) and three Sou thern European countries (Spain, Italy, Greece).

Youth unemployment has become one of the most crucial social problems in many EU countries. In the 90s it can be observed that in most Western countries, the rate of youth unemployment have risen dramatically, in some of these countries the unemployment problem can be considered primarily a problem of refused entry to the labour market for members of the younger generation. This development increases the risk of psychosocial impairment to the individuals affected as well as to the social fabric in general.The present volume draws attention to the health effects of long-term youth unemployment in six European countries. It is based upon the results of an international research project (Youth Unemployment and Social Exclusion: Dimensions, Subjective Experiences, and Innovative Institutional Responses in Six Countries of the EU) (YUSEDER) conducted in the framework of the research programme Targeted Socio-Economic Research (TSER) of the European Commission. Partners with different scientific backgrounds (health psychology, public health research, psychiatry, industrial sociology, medical sociology) from six European countries participated in this project.The contributions in this volume illustrate an initial approach to analysing and comparing empirical evidence on youth unemployment and health from a comparative perspective for three Northern European countries (Sweden, Germany, Belgium) and for three Southern European countries (Spain, Italy, Greece). For each country a specific national report is presented.The comparative section describes and attempts to explain the similarities and dissimilarities between countries having rather diverse historical and social understandings of being in and out of work for young people.

Development of youth unemployment - International debate on youth unemployment and health - Understanding the health consequences of unemployment- the finance/ shame model - Youth unemployment and suicidal behaviour: A view of the literature - National Reports on Youth Unemployment and Health