Potential mechanisms by which cash transfer programmes could improve the mental health and life chances of young people: a conceptual framework and lines of enquiry for research and policy

Evans-Lacko, Sara ORCID: 0000-0003-4691-2630, Araya, Ricardo, Bauer, Annette ORCID: 0000-0001-5156-1631, Garman, Emily, Álvarez-Iglesias, Alejandra, McDaid, David ORCID: 0000-0003-0744-2664, Hessel, Philipp, Matijasevich, Alicia, Paula, Cristiane Silvestre, Park, A-La ORCID: 0000-0002-4704-4874 and Lund, Crick (2023) Potential mechanisms by which cash transfer programmes could improve the mental health and life chances of young people: a conceptual framework and lines of enquiry for research and policy. Global Mental Health, 10. ISSN 2054-4251

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Abstract

Mental health is inextricably linked to both poverty and future life chances such as education, skills, labour market attachment and social function. Poverty can lead to poorer mental health, which reduces opportunities and increases the risk of lifetime poverty. Cash transfer programmes are one of the most common strategies to reduce poverty and now reach substantial proportions of populations living in low- and middle-income countries. Because of their rapid expansion in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, they have recently gained even more importance. Recently, there have been suggestions that these cash transfers might improve youth mental health, disrupting the cycle of disadvantage at a critical period of life. Here, we present a conceptual framework describing potential mechanisms by which cash transfer programmes could improve the mental health and life chances of young people. Furthermore, we explore how theories from behavioural economics and cognitive psychology could be used to more specifically target these mechanisms and optimise the impact of cash transfers on youth mental health and life chances. Based on this, we identify several lines of enquiry and action for future research and policy.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2023 The Author(s)
Divisions:	Health Policy
Subjects:	R Medicine > RJ Pediatrics > RJ101 Child Health. Child health services H Social Sciences R Medicine > RC Internal medicine > RC0321 Neuroscience. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry
Date Deposited:	14 Oct 2024 10:24
Last Modified:	17 Oct 2024 18:20
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/125713

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