Quality of life of NEET youth in comparative perspective: subjective well-being during the transition to adulthood

Abstract

In this study, we examine the self-reported subjective well-being (SWB) of youth who are ‘not in employment, education or training’ (NEET) across 24 countries in Europe. Theorizing from a youth transition regimes perspective focusing on the varying levels of social protection available to youth as well as social norms regarding the transition to adulthood, we attempt to understand the psychological outcomes associated with youth NEET statuses across country contexts. Using European Social Survey (ESS) data, we compare not only the SWB of NEET individuals with that of non-NEET youth, but also how it differs amongst specific NEET sub-categories. We hypothesize that the well-being of NEET youth will be highest where more comprehensive social protections are available, but that inequalities in well-being between NEET and non-NEET groups will be minimized in contexts where prolonged school-to-work transitions to adulthood are the social norm. We find that overall levels of well-being differ systematically amongst countries for both NEET and non-NEET groups, being highest in the Nordic countries. However, when examining relative scores that take into account the distribution of well-being within each country, we discover that inequalities between NEET sub-categories are also the most pronounced in these ‘universalistic’ contexts.