Adolescent anorexia linked to higher unemployment and lower earnings

Anorexia is a serious mental health disorder that typically begins during adolescence. A study, conducted by the Research Unit of Population Health and Oulu Business School at the University of Oulu, examined how anorexia in adolescence affects labor market position in adulthood compared with peers.

Many mental health disorders have previously been linked to a weaker position in the labor market, but research evidence relating to anorexia has been very limited and, in many respects, inadequate. The most recent studies on the subject date back decades, were based solely on survey data and focused only on women. Generalizing these findings to the present day is difficult, as in recent decades there have been major changes in working life, the availability of psychiatric services, and the recognition of young people with anorexia within the service system.

The results of the newly published study showed that both men and women with anorexia had lower income levels and more days of unemployment in adulthood compared with their peers. The effects on labor market position were particularly pronounced in men.

Although anorexia often has a favorable long-term prognosis in terms of general health, its impact on working life can be significant."

Tuomas Majuri, lead author of the research article, Postdoctoral Researcher

The study utilized data from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 and national registry data on income, unemployment days and sickness absence days at ages 25-33. Labor market position was examined using these registry data, and analyses were conducted separately for men and women.

"Men who suffered from anorexia in adolescence are particularly poorly recognised in our current service system, which weakens their labor market position later in life. The Wellbeing Services County of North Ostrobothnia has recently invested in the treatment of eating disorder patients, for example by opening a new eating disorder unit. More initiatives of this kind, along with closer cooperation between healthcare, employment services and employers, are needed to improve the labor market position of young people affected by anorexia," Majuri explains.

The study was funded by the Yrjö Jahnsson Foundation, the Wage Earners' Foundation, the OP Research Foundation, the Tauno Tönning Foundation and the North Ostrobothnia Regional Fund of the Finnish Cultural Foundation.