Youth unemployment and mental health: Prevalence and associated factors of depression among unemployed young adults in Gedeo zone, Southern Ethiopia

Abstract Background: The high rate of unemployment among young adults in Ethiopia (25.3%) is a public health concern. The risk of mental health problems like depression is higher among the unemployed than among the employed. However, there is no study conducted on the prevalence and associated factors of depression among unemployed young adults in Ethiopia. Hence, this study is aimed to assess the prevalence and associated factors of depression among unemployed young adults in Gedeo zone, Southern Ethiopia.Methods: Community based cross sectional study design was employed among 1452 unemployed young adults in Gedeo zone, Southern Ethiopia from May to July, 2019. Systematic random sampling technique was used to select study participants. The presence of depression was assessed by using Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and data on socio-demographic characteristics of study participants was collected by using structured questionnaire. Data was coded and entered into Epi-Data version 3.1 and analyzed by SPSS version 20. A multivariable logistic regression analysis was carried out to identify factors associated with depression, and variables with p-values < 0.05 were considered as statistically significant. The strength of the association was presented by adjusted odds ratio with their 95% confidence interval. Result: The overall prevalence of depression among unemployed young adults in the present study was 30.9% (95% CI: 28.4%, 33.1%). Of the total study participants with depression, 56.7% had mild depression, 36% had moderate depression, and 7.3% had severe depression. Being male (AOR=1.40, 95%CI: 1.10, 1.80), long duration of unemployment (≥1years) (AOR=1.56, 95%CI: 1.21, 1.99), low self-esteem (AOR=1.32, 95%CI: 1.03, 1.68), poor social support (AOR=1.98, 95%CI: 1.34, 2.93), and current alcohol use (AOR=1.86, 95%CI: 1.33, 2.59) were significantly associated with depression. Conclusion: The results of our study indicated that depression is an important public health problem among unemployed young adults in Ethiopia. The results of our study suggest that policy makers and program planners should establish appropriate strategy for prevention, early detection and management of depression among this population. Moreover, this study also indicates that addressing the need of unemployed young people, improving access to care for depression is an important next step. Furthermore, we recommend further studies to understand the nature of depression among unemployed young people and to strengthen the current results.