Young Adults’ Mental Health and Experiences of Belonging While Outside Work and Education

In recent years, an increasing number of young adults have ended up outside education and working life due to mental health–related reasons. Many also live in a state of uncertainty, where fluctuating work ability, the precarious nature of the labour market, and intensified competition for jobs make it difficult to secure employment. 

Mental health problems have traditionally been viewed as individual symptoms to be treated through individualised interventions. However, as mental health challenges have rapidly increased and are excluding growing numbers of young adults from working life, public debate has begun to frame the situation as a mental health crisis affecting society as a whole and requiring structural solutions.

Previous research shows that the distress experienced by young people outside work and education is strongly characterised by feelings of social exclusion and worthlessness. These feelings undermine everyday functioning and are linked to a broader societal climate that emphasises efficiency, productivity, and individual responsibility for one’s status. For many, the emotional burden of exclusion and worthlessness can be as heavy as the original mental health difficulties.

The aim is to enhance understanding of how young adults’ mental health problems are intertwined with societal structures and conditions, particularly through the lenses of belonging, exclusion, and participation. The study explores how young adults experience their sense of belonging in situations where mental health challenges make it difficult to participate in work or education.The goal is to make visible the structural factors that undermine participation and to identify ways to strengthen young adults’ agency and sense of belonging.