Introduction Mental health problems during childhood and adolescence are negatively associated with employment status (having a paid job or not) in young adulthood. Yet, little is known about how young adults function at work, i.e., do they experience difficulties in meeting job demands given their physical or mental health state.

Objective This longitudinal study aims to examine whether the history of mental health problems from childhood to young adulthood is associated with work functioning in young adulthood.

Methods Data were used from 1,004 young adults in the TRacking Adolescents’ Individual Lives Survey (TRAILS), a Dutch prospective cohort study with 18-year follow-up and seven measurement waves. Mental health problem trajectories including 11, 13, 16, 19, 22 and 26 age points were identified using growth mixture models. Work functioning was assessed at age 29 with the Work Role Functioning Questionnaire, with scores ranging from 0 to 100. Regression analyses were conducted to examine the associations between mental health problems trajectories and work functioning.

Results Young adults with high-stable trajectories of internalising or externalising problems reported lower work functioning (respectively 74.6 and 76.2) compared to participants with low-stable trajectories (respectively 83.3 and 83.2). These scores correspond with reduced work functioning for more than one working day per week in a fulltime job. Young adults with moderate-stable trajectories of externalising problems reported lower work functioning compared to participants with low-stable trajectories.

Conclusion Persistent high-level mental health problems during childhood, adolescence and young adulthood are associated with lower work functioning in young adulthood compared to those with low-level mental health problems. As information on work functioning provides insight into the difficulties young workers experience in meeting their job demands, it can be used as a starting point for a conversation between occupational physicians and young workers to address these difficulties and to increase work functioning.