Teenagers going through anxiety or depression are less likely to enter the workforce as young adults and more likely to earn less when they join offices, researchers reported in a study published in the Journal of PLOS Medicine.
The economic impact is so great that $52 billion in the US budget could be saved for over 10 years if efforts are made to help even 10% of teens at risk of stress, they estimated according to UPI.
"Our new research finds that, at the scale of the United States economy, improvements in adolescent mental health may bring many billions of dollars of federal budget benefits over ten years, potentially offsetting the costs of policy change that could cover critical services for young people," lead researcher Nathaniel Counts, chief policy officer for The Kennedy Forum in Brigantine, NJ, said in a news release.
For the study, data from more than 3,300 participants was analysed in an ongoing Bureau of Labour Statistics study that follows children as they transition into adulthood.
The research team analysed data gathered in 2000, when participants were 15 to 17, to check their mental health as teenagers.
They again looked at data gathered a decade later in 2010 to analyse how mental health affected the teens' job prospects as young adults.
The results showed that less than 6% of people were holding down a job as a young adult if they suffered from anxiety or depression as a teenager.
Young adults who were stressed as teens also earned nearly $5,700 less annually, researchers discovered.
The researchers then estimated the potential impact on the US budget if a policy provided mental health care to 10% of teens at risk of stress or depression.
The added productivity from those teens who avoided stress turned out to be $52 billion in additional revenue for the next 10 years.
"To reach 5 million people (roughly 25% of the adolescent population), the legislature would need to expand this program and invest at least $10 billion," the research team wrote.
"Given the estimated savings of $52 billion over 10 years if the interventions can reach 10% of adolescents who would otherwise go on to develop depression, investments in adolescent mental health at scale will plausibly provide significant offsetting returns," they concluded.
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