Mental health issues among unemployed and employed sports science graduates in Tunisia post-revolution

Figures & data

Table 1. Descriptive data of the study population.

Individual factors/groups (%)		G1 (N = 156)	G2 (N = 162)	Total (N = 318)
Sex	Men	23.0	31.1	54.1
	Women	26.1	19.8	45.9
Age	<25	22.5	0.3	22.8
	<25–35 >	24.7	18.7	43.4
	> 35	2.2	31.6	33.8
Statues of graduates	License	32.4	28.3	60.7
	Postgraduate	16.7	22.6	39.3
Number of years of unemployment	<3	23.3	13.8	37.1
	3–5	7.2	12.6	19.8
	5–7	4.1	10.4	14.5
	7–10	6.9	8.2	15.1
	> 10	7.5	6.0	13.5

G1: group employed; G2: group unemployed.

Table 2. Prevalence rates of mental disorders by group and individual factors.

Mental disorders/individual factors		MDE (62.9)			Dysthymia (61.9)			SP (33.6)		GAD (64.5)
		G1	G2	T	G1	G2	T	G1	G2	T	G1	G2	T
Sex	Men	33.7	23.8	57.6	32.6	26.7	59.3	19.8	14.0	33.7	30.2	29.1	59.3
	Women	39.7	29.5	69.2	39.7	25.3	65.1	26.0	7.5	33.6	34.2	36.3	70.5
Age	<25	66.7	1.4	68.1	63.9	1.4	65.3	36.1	–	36.1	54.2	1.4	55.6
	<25–35 >	45.3	20.9	66.2	45.3	21.6	66.9	30.2	7.2	37.4	43.2	26.6	69.8
	> 35	4.7	50.5	55.1	4.7	48.6	53.3	3.7	23.4	27.1	2.8	60.7	63.6
ST	License	37.8	24.9	62.7	38.3	24.4	62.7	22.3	11.4	33.7	33.7	29.0	62.7
	Postgraduate	34.4	28.8	63.2	32.0	28.8	60.8	23.2	10.4	33.6	29.6	37.6	67.2
Nbr of y. u.	<3	43.2	19.5	62.7	42.4	18.6	61.0	26.6	6.8	33.1	35.6	22.9	58.5
	3–5	30.2	31.7	61.9	27.0	28.6	55.6	15.9	17.5	33.3	22.2	42.9	65.1
	5–7	17.4	39.1	56.5	21.7	37.0	58.7	8.7	15.2	23.9	19.6	41.3	60.9
	7–10	41.7	31.3	72.9	37.5	35.4	72.9	25.0	8.3	33.3	37.5	39.6	77.1
	> 10	41.9	18.6	60.5	44.2	20.9	65.1	34.9	11.6	46.5	44.2	25.6	69.8

MDP: major depressive episode; GAD: generalized anxiety disorder; SP: social phobia; G1: group employed; G2: group unemployed; T: total; ST: statues of graduates; Nbr of y. u.: years of unemployment.

Table 3. Comparison tests – unemployed and employed groups.

Variables/tests	Mann–Whitney U/Wilcoxon W
	Z	Sig
MDE	−4,147	0.000
Dysthymia	−4,004	0.000
SP	−4,624	0.000
GAD	−0.336	0.737
Age	−13,397	0.000
Sex	−2,557	0.011
Statues of graduates	−1,908	0.056
Number of years of unemployment	−2.160	0.031

MDP: major depressive episode; SP: social phobia; GAD: generalized anxiety disorder.

Table 4. Pearson chi-square, Fisher and Cramer tests for study variables.

Study variables/tests	Pearson Chi-square				Fisher’s exact test
	Value	Df	Asymp. Sig. (2-sided)	Cramer’s V	Exact Sig. (2-sided)	Exact Sig. (1-sided)
MDE	17,250	1	0.000	0.233	0.000	0.000
Dysthymia	16,085	1	0.000	0.225	0.000	0.000
SP	21,452	1	0.000	0.260	0.000	0.000
GAD	0.113	1	0.737	0.019	0.815	0.413
Age	202,610	32	0.000	0.801	–	–
Sex	6,559	1	0.010	0.144	0.013	0.007
Statues of graduates	3,652	1	0.056	0.107	0.066	0.036
Nbr of y. u.	21,719	4	0.000	0.261	–	–

MDP: major depressive episode; SP: social phobia; GAD: generalized anxiety disorder; Nbr of y. u.: years of unemployment.

Table 5. Likelihood ratio tests.

Effect	Model fitting criteria	Likelihood ratio tests
	−2 Log likelihood of reduced model	Chi-square	df	Sig
Intercept	155,808^a	0.000	0
Age	359,537	203,728	1	0.000
Sex	156,820	1,012	1	0.314
Statues of graduates	155,904	0.095	1	0.757
Nbr of y. u.	167,042	11,234	4	0.024
MDE	160,616	4,808	1	0.028
Dysthymia	158,975	3,167	1	0.075
SP	165,141	9,333	1	0.002
GAD	168,328	12,520	1	0.000

MDP: major depressive episode; SP: social phobia; GAD: generalized anxiety disorder; Nbr of y. u.: years of unemployment; a: This reduced model is equivalent to the final model because omitting the effect does not increase the degrees of freedom.

Table 6. Regression multinomial for study variables.

Group^a	B	S.E	Wald	df	Sig	Exp(B)	95% C.I. for Exp(B)
							Lower	Upper
Intercept	17,589	2.179	65,172	1	0.000
Age	−0.499	0.062	65,676	1	0.000	0.607	0.538	0.685
Men	0.440	0.440	1.004	1	0.316	1,553	0.656	3.676
Women	0^b			0		–
License	0.128	0.413	.096	1	0.757	1,136	0.505	2.555
Postgraduate	0^b			0		–
<3 Nbr of y.u.	–528	727	0.527	1	0.468	0.590	0.142	2.453
3–5 Nbr of y.u.	−1.902	0.673	7.993	1	0.005	0.149	0.040	0.558
5–7 Nbr of y.u.	−1.492	0.630	5.611	1	0.018	0.225	0.065	0.773
7–10 Nbr of y.u.	−1.083	0.558	3.762	1	0.052	0.339	0.113	1.011
> 10 Nbr of y.u.	0^b			0		–
MDE – No	−1.701	0.798	4.540	1	0.033	0.183	0.038	0.873
MDE – Yes	0^b			0		–
Dysthymia – No	−1.247	0.708	3.102	1	0.078	0.287	0.072	1.151
Dysthymia – Yes	0^b			0		–
SP – No	−1.468	0.495	8.809	1	0.003	0.230	0.087	0.607
SP – Yes	0^b			0		–
GAD – No	2.535	0.821	9.543	1	0.002	12,622	2,526	63,058
GAD – Yes	0^b			0		–

^aThe reference category is employed; ^bthis parameter is set to zero because it is redundant.

Nbr of y. u.: years of unemployment; MDP: major depressive episode; SP: social phobia; GAD: generalized anxiety disorder

Data availability statement

Aggregated and anonymized data supporting the findings of this study are presented in tables submitted in a separate editable file with suitable labeling. The authors, Chedlia Fitouri and Karim Chamari, each holding an ethics certificate (reference number: CEFMS 125/2022), collected and used the data exclusively for this study, ensuring ethical compliance and participant confidentiality. Data are openly available in a public repository that issues datasets with DOIs.

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