Childhood adversity trajectories and not being in education, employment, or training during early adulthood: The Danish life course cohort (DANLIFE)

BACKGROUND: Single and cumulative childhood adversities have been associated with not being in education, employment, or training (NEET) in early adulthood, but associations with more comprehensive childhood adversity measures incorporating clustering of adversities in different dimensions (material, health and family) remain to be examined.

METHODS: Data from the Danish register-based DANLIFE study are used. Individuals were divided over five groups of childhood adversity from 0 to 15 years. Longer-term NEET in early adulthood (16-29 years) was defined as: 1) being NEET in two consecutive years (n = 1,276,051) and 2) clusters of NEET status over age (n = 576,570) derived through sequence analysis. Relative risks and differences were examined using binomial regressions adjusted for parental origin, maternal age, and birth year.

RESULTS: The percentage of individuals in NEET in two consecutive years was 8.2% in the low adversity group, and 16.2% and 23.3% in the early life and persistent material deprivation groups, 18.9% in the loss or threat of loss group, and 44.9% in the high adversity group. Being in any of the childhood adversity groups, compared with the low adversity group, was associated with higher risks of being in longer-term NEET. For example, in the high adversity group, there were 35 additional individuals in NEET in two consecutive years per 100 individuals in adjusted analyses.

CONCLUSION: Childhood adversity is strongly associated with the risk of being longer-term NEET in early adulthood. Interventions are warranted as obtaining educational qualifications or employment in early adulthood is of critical importance for future labor market participation.