Somatic Complaints in Adolescence and Labour Market Participation in Young Adulthood

Aims: The primary aim was to investigate the association between somatic symptoms at ages 15 or 18 and reduced labour market participation at age 23, when socioeconomic, social, and mental health risk factors were taken into account.

Methods: The study included 3223 participants from the West Jutland Cohort Study with questionnaire information on somatic symptoms at ages 15 or 18 and with register information on labour market participation at age 23, gathered from a national register on all public transfer benefits for a 52-week period. The analyses included additional information about socioeconomic background, number of negative life events, social climate in the family, social relations with friends, and depressive symptoms. Logistic regression analyses yielded odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals.

Results: Among the males, associations between reporting somatic symptoms at age 18 and low labour market participation was seen in both crude and adjusted analyses (odds ratio: 1.66; 95% confidence intervals: 1.01-2.75), whereas the association among the females disappeared after adjustments (odds ratio: 0.97; 95% confidence intervals: 0.63-1.52).

Conclusions: The males that reported somatic symptoms in late adolescence appeared to be the most vulnerable to future reduced labour market participation.