Summary of key findings
- Poor mental health earlier in adolescence matters for later education, training and employment.
- Among teenagers with the poorest mental health at age 14, nearly one in five (18.7%) went on to be in the NEET category at age 23. In comparison, only around one in eight (13.4%) of those with the best mental health went on to be in the NEET category.
- The same trend is observed at age 17, NEET rates at age 23 are lower amongst those with the best mental health compared to those with the worst mental health.
- Persistent poor mental health across adolescence is particularly important.
- More than 1 in 5 (21.7%) teenagers with consistently poor mental health at ages 14 and 17 were in the NEET category at age 23, compared with less than 1 in 7 (13.6%) of those with the best mental health at both ages.
- Area deprivation earlier in adolescence can have lasting consequences for later education, training and employment.
- At age 14, almost 1 in 5 (18%) teenagers in the most deprived areas were categorised as NEET at age 23, much higher than the 1 in 9 (11%) who grew up in the least deprived areas.
- The effect of poor adolescent mental health on later education, training and employment is stronger among younger generations.
- While mental health had little effect on whether a young person born in 1992 was in the NEET category, for young people born in 2002, having the poorest mental health predicts a much higher incidence of later NEET categorisation (14% compared to 6.7% amongst those with the best mental health). [NB1.1]
- Poor adolescent mental health matters across different groups and places.
- Poor mental health increased NEET risk to a similar degree for both young men and young women, regardless of whether they lived in more or less deprived areas.
Katie Sarah Taylor et al. | Adolescent mental health, area deprivation and later
participation in education, training and work in England | 2026