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Intervening processes in relationship between unemployment and health
Abstract
Synopsis
A considerable amount of research documents the negative effects of job loss on both physical and mental health. Yet we know comparatively little about the mechanisms through which these effects occur. Unemployment, like other events, is not the same experience for everyone exposed to it. An understanding of this variation might be facilitated by breaking down the analysis of unemployment into a consideration of the various stresses that it creates or exacerbates. This is our purpose in the present paper.
We demonstrate that, for one area of the United States, the effect of job loss on several health outcomes involves two mechanisms: (1) unemployment results in increased financial strain which, in turn, results in negative health effects, and (2) unemployment leaves the individual more vulnerable to the impact of unrelated life events. Controlling for financial strain, unemployed people in our sample who have not experienced an additional life event in the previous year are in no worse health than the stably employed. This provides useful insights into the nature of the unemployment experience in this particular setting. It also provides a basis for future detailed explorations of the various ways people cope with this event.
... The unemployed are found to be in a low mood and indifferent towards the outside world as compared to the employed (Talvitie & Ihanus, 2012). The same conclusion was drawn from the study when Kessler et al. (1987) randomly selected 492 employed and unemployed persons from the US census table in 1987 (Kessler et al., 1987). From the longitudinal comparison of the psychological state of employed and unemployed, it can be seen that the unemployed are prone to depression and anxiety (Leana & Feldman, 1991). ...
... The unemployed are found to be in a low mood and indifferent towards the outside world as compared to the employed (Talvitie & Ihanus, 2012). The same conclusion was drawn from the study when Kessler et al. (1987) randomly selected 492 employed and unemployed persons from the US census table in 1987 (Kessler et al., 1987). From the longitudinal comparison of the psychological state of employed and unemployed, it can be seen that the unemployed are prone to depression and anxiety (Leana & Feldman, 1991). ...
This research investigates the psychological health of tourism industry’s workforce in the midst of COVID-19 in the context of Chinese Tourism Industry. We have employed stress theory for the predictive analysis and hypothesis crafting in terms of mediator (financial dissatisfaction) and moderators (quality of marital relationship and family income). Path analysis has been used to evaluate different relationships while adopting ABCX family stress model. The findings confirm that alongside the economic and livelihood impacts of the unemployment, the tourism industry’s workforce has also suffered from psychological externalities of the phenomenon, not only individually but also in terms of their relationships at different levels. It further elaborates the inculcation of resilience in the tourism workforce on part of the maintenance of stability and harmony in the original family. It implies that the head over heels job responsibilities and joblessness foster work-family conflict equally likely.
... An earlier study by showed that financial strain (referred to as economic hardship) was a predictor of several components of job-search motivation as well as jobsearch efforts. Finally, numerous studies in the literature have found that the financial strain produced by a job loss and sustained unemployment is the most prominent contributor to depressive symptoms (e.g., Broman, Hamilton, & Hoffman, 1990;Fryer & Payne, 1986;Kessler, Turner, & House, 1987;Vinokur & Schul, 1997). ...
Structural equation modeling analyses of data from 2 longitudinal community studies of recently laid-off workers examined the interrelationships and pathways from personal coping resources to job-search intensity and the extent and quality of reemployment at 2 follow-ups (at 6 months and at 12 or 24 months). In both studies, the proposed models for predicting reemployment and reemployment quality provided a good fit to the data with the same pattern of results, which demonstrated that job-search motivation increased reemployment at all follow-ups but did not affect reemployment quality. At both the 6- and 12-month follow-ups, level of depressive symptoms decreased the extent and quality of reemployment. The results also highlighted the dual role of financial strain, which on the one hand facilitates reemployment by increasing job-search motivation and job-search intensity and on the other hand inhibits it by increasing depressive symptoms.
... In considering the broader relevance of the present findings for stress and coping theory and for the role of control beliefs in the context of life events and transitions, one must consider how job loss and reemployment may be unique life transitions. Perhaps the primary distinguishing characteristic of job loss as compared with other life events is that it frequently initiates a period of precipitous economic decline and financial strain among families (Broman, Hamilton, & Hoffman, 1990;Kessler, Turner, & House, 1987). Asa direct consequence of deepening financial strain, further stresses and difficulties may emerge. ...
Depressive symptoms, locus of control, and reemployment were assessed over the course of 1 year among 254 recently unemployed men and women. Individual growth curve modeling and discrete-time survival analyses were used to examine (a) whether reemployment resolved depressive symptoms or affected control beliefs, (b) whether depressive symptoms or control beliefs predicted time to reemployment, and (c) if these relationships changed over time. Depressive symptom declines were predicted by reemployment, but initial depression was completely unrelated to time to reemployment. Control beliefs were stable over time and thus not affected by reemployment. Instead, they predicted early reemployment. These processes varied according to reemployment type and time period. Implications for intervention and for stress and coping theory are discussed.
... Put more formally, tension reduction theory asserts that people consume alcohol to regulate or relieve negative emotion or distress caused by life stress (Cappell & Greeley, 1987;Conger, 1956). To date, research has been supportive of a positive relationship between overall life stress and psychological distress (Ensminger & Celentano, 1988;Hamilton, Broman, Hoffman, & Renner, 1990;Kessler, Turner, & House, 1987Krause, 1987;Menaghan, 1989;Pearlin, Menaghan, Lieberman, & Mullan, 1981;Ross & Huber, 1985;Voydanoff & Donnelly, 1988; for a review, see Cohen & Wills, 1985). However, the relationship between overall life stress and alcohol involvement has been found to be inconsistent (for reviews, see O'Doherty & Davies, 1987;Sher, 1987;Wills, 1990). ...
This study examined whether specific facets of social support (tangible assistance, appraisal, and belonging) moderate the relationship between a specific type of stress (financial stress) and alcohol involvement (drinking to cope, heavy drinking, and alcohol problems). Data were derived from a community sample stratified by education and race. Respondents (N = 1, 040) were interviewed in 1986 and 1989 and had drunk alcohol during the year preceding both interviews. Results supported the buffering influence of tangible support on the financial stress–alcohol involvement relationship. In contrast, neither appraisal nor belonging support consistently revealed a buffering pattern. These findings indicate the importance of taking into account specific components of social support when examining the relationship between specific sources of life stress and alcohol involvement.
... The notable impact and concern increased after the Great Depression of 1929, with peak global unemployment of 24.9% in 1933 (Whiteside, 1988). A study by Kessler et al. (1987) points out that drinking, suicidal ideation and days in hospital are significantly associated with unemployment. Furthermore, the empirical literature shows an increase in deaths (Tapia Granados and Ionides, 2011), suicides (Laanani et al., 2015;Tapia Granados, 2005), crimes including self-harm (Junna et al., 2020), and a decreasing life expectancy (Modibbo et al., 2019) for people affected by unemployment, which triggers the socio-economic decline. ...
This study examines the heterogeneous impact of unemployment on health (i.e., life expectancy and under-five mortality) using unbalanced panel data for 48 countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) from 2000 to 2020. We applied Generalized Quantile Regression in an instrumental framework with multi-criteria MCMC (Markov Chain Monte Carlo) optimization to address the endogeneity (simultaneous bias, omitted variable bias) between unemployment and health. The quantile estimation findings show that the impact of unemployment is heterogeneous (i.e., non-linear/asymmetric) across health outcomes distributions. Unemployment significantly reduces life expectancy in the 10th, 20th, 30th, 50th, 60th, 80th, and 90th quantiles while increasing under-five mortality in the 10th, 50th, 60th, and 70th quantiles. The possible mechanism influencing the unemployed to have negative health effects could be the role of poverty associated with a lack of income. Meanwhile, the life expectancy of the unemployed in the 40th quantile is increasing significantly, which may be linked to the fact that more physical activity has a positive effect on their health. Similarly, unemployment significantly reduces under-five mortality in the 20th, 40th, 80th, and 90th quantiles, and the possible mechanism for the unemployed to reduce under-five mortality may be through financial support from family members who can help them buy nutritious food and provide medical care for children. Bayesian robustness tests support evidence prior to the COVID-19 outbreak that unemployment increases under-five mortality and creates uncertainty about life expectancy from 2000 to 2019. Overall, the findings for the period 2000-2020 confirm that unemployment has asymmetric (positive and negative) effects on health in SSA. The findings suggest two conclusions. First, unemployment is linked to poor health (lower life expectancy) and higher mortality in sub-Saharan Africa. Second, not all unemployment in the region is unhealthy. The policy implications for SSA countries are outlined.
... A large body of work has employed these frameworks to examine the association between socioeconomic conditions, stress exposure, and mental and physical health (Almeida et al., 2005;Baum et al., 1999;Kessler et al., 1987;McEwen & Gianaros, 2010;Pearlin et al., 1981;R. J. Turner & Avison, 2003). ...
Inflation hit a 40 year high in the United States in 2022, yet the impact of inflation related hardships on distress is poorly understood, particularly the impact on women, whose income is already more limited. Using data from the US Household Pulse Survey (September–November 2022), we test whether exposure to inflation hardships is associated with greater distress and whether this association is moderated by gender (n = 119,531). We draw on a list of eighteen inflation related hardships (e.g., purchasing less food, working additional jobs, delaying medical treatment) to construct an ordinal measure of exposure to inflation hardship ranging from “no inflation hardship” to “five or more inflation hardships.” We observe that an increasing number of inflation hardships is associated with higher levels of distress. We find no evidence of gender differences in the magnitude of that association at lower levels of inflation hardship (four inflation hardships or less). However, our findings suggest that exposure to five or more inflation hardships is more strongly associated with distress among men compared to women. The current study provides new insights into the cumulative burden of inflation hardships on mental health and the role that gender plays in this association.
... Previous research indicates that the effects of unemployment on health operate primarily through financial strain (Kessler, Turner & House, 1987). For those unemployed workers without financial problems, the negative effect on emotional well-being was half that of those with financial difficulty. ...
... In addition, that displaced blue-collar workers have tended to suffer economic losses in comparison to others, losses that were usually not recovered by reemployment, has been well-documented nationally (OTA, 1988). Economic strain, in turn, was the main mechanism through which unemployment affected displaced workers' psychological and physiological health (Kessler, et al., 1987). ...
... Numerous research studies, across various disciplines ranging from health and medical, to sociology, psychology and economic sciences, have shown that unemployment and material deprivation are related to poor psychological and mental well-being (Kessler et al., 1987;Jacobson et al., 1993;Kasl and Jones, 2000;Booker and Sacker, 2012;Chang et al., 2013). ...
COVID-19 has become a global health pandemic forcing governments introducing unprecedented steps to contain the spread of the virus. On the 23rd of March, 2020, the UK government addressed the nation to announce extraordinary measures as a response to slow down the spread of the coronavirus, which have influenced the well-being and finances of millions of people. As a result people had to make difficult adjustments and to follow different coping strategies in order to respond to income losses. The main objective of this study is to examine the impact of various coping strategies, due to the lockdown measures, on the respondents’ subjective well-being by gender and ethnic background. We apply a difference-in-differences framework using data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS) combined with the UKHLS COVID-19 survey conducted in April 2020. Furthermore, using the Life Satisfaction Approach (LSA), we estimate the well-being costs of the coping strategies adopted that denote the amount required to revert individual’s well-being into the levels were before Covid-19 period. The results show that coping strategies with the earning losses have a significant detrimental impact on well-being and the related costs range between £250-3,500, which are significantly varied by gender and ethnic group.
JEL Classification: C1, I14, I31
Although recent studies have linked pandemic unemployment with poorer mental health, the mechanisms underlying this association remain understudied. In this paper, we develop a mediation model to explain why pandemic job separation might undermine mental health. Using national data from the 2021 Crime, Health, and Politics Survey (n = 1,258), we test the indirect effects of pandemic job separation on psychological distress through several mechanisms. Mediation analyses reveal compound indirect effects of pandemic job separation on psychological distress through the primary pathway of financial strain and the secondary pathways of social support, self-esteem, mastery, religious struggles, and sleep disturbance. Absent the indirect effect of pandemic job separation through financial strain, we would have failed to observe any simple indirect effects through the other proposed mechanisms. Formal moderated mediation analyses also indicate that our observed indirect effects are invariant to subgroup differences in current employment status, education, and household income. In short, our indirect effects are observed for those respondents who were able to regain employment, those with college degrees, and those with the most financial resources. Our results suggest that the temporary expansion of public assistance has been insufficient to offset widespread unemployment and financial hardship during a global pandemic.
Past research, particularly that dating from the Depression of the 1930s, suggests that unemployment tends to precipitate crises for many families. Two small-scale studies are reported in which it was found that unemployed managers and professionals did not report strain on family relationships. A review of other studies conducted in the present decade indicate that for a majority of families, including white- and blue-collar workers, crisis does not accompany husbands' unemployment. Three causes for the apparent changes the impact of unemployment has upon families are discussed: improved financial support for the unemployed; erosion of the psychological importance of work; and changing sex roles.
This paper is about the logic of interpreting recursive causal theories in sociology. We review the distinction between associations and effects and discuss the decomposition of effects into direct and indirect components. We then describe a general method for decomposing effects into their components by the systematic application of ordinary least squares regression. The method involves successive computation of reduced-form equations, beginning with an equation containing only exogenous variables, then computing equations which add intervening variables in sequence from cause to effect. This generates all the information required to decompose effects into their various direct and indirect parts. This method is a substitute for the often more cumbersome computation of indirect effects from the structural coefficients (direct effects) of the causal model. Finally, we present a way of summarizing this information in tabular form and illustrate the procedures using an empirical example.
This study reports on the development of the Dyadic Adjustment Scale, a new measure for assessing the quality of marriage and other similar dyads. The 32 item scale is designed for use with either married or unmarried cohabiting couples. Despite widespread criticisms of the concept of adjustment, the study proceeds from the pragmatic position that a new measure, which is theoretically grounded, relevant, valid, and highly reliable, is necessary since marital and dyadic adjustment continue to be researched. This factor analytic study tests a conceptual definition set forth in earlier work and suggests the existence of four empirically verified components of dyadic adjustment which can be used as subscales [dyadic satisfaction, dyadic cohesion, dyadic consensus and affectional expression]. Evidence is presented suggesting content, criterion related, and construct validity. High scale reliability is reported. The possibility of item weighting is considered and endorsed as a potential measurement technique, but it is not adopted for the present Dyadic Adjustment Scale. It is concluded that the Dyadic Adjustment Scale represents a significant improvement over other measures of marital adjustment, but a number of troublesome methodological issues remain for future research.
Data from 954 unemployed males (aged 16–64 yrs) in Britain show that psychological deterioration, financial stress and strain, and labor market commitment were greatest among middle-aged Ss. Deterioration in health and degree of financial strain were found to be greater among those unemployed for longer periods. The probability of having an employed wife was negatively associated with length of unemployment, consistent with the operation of a household strategy for income maintenance. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
A review of the literature on the relation of life events, stress, and illness shows the clear recognition that illness onset is the outcome of multiple characteristics of the individual interacting with interdependent factors in the individual's social context, in the presence of a disease agent. The conceptual model is comprehensive, multicausal, and interactive; empirical designs should consider this complexity. Crucial in the process of measuring relationships between change in life events and illness onset are the psychometric properties of the measures used and the method of data collection that is employed. The importance of (a) thorough conceptualization and sampling, (b) multidimensional scaling of item samples to identify common dimensions of life events, (c) determination of the true variance and stability of the measures over a variety of populations is stressed. In retrospective studies, important sources of error in measuring life events are selective memory, denial of events, and overreporting to justify an illness. In prospective studies, the subjective evaluation of the significance of a life event to a respondent has been neglected. It is concluded that improvement in data analytic procedures remains a major challenge for life events investigators. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Social support is typically viewed as a stable factor that is potentially an important moderator of the effects of stressful life events. This study examines the effect of one economic stressor, unemployment, on social support, the mediation of this effect, and then the stress-buffering hypothesis. Data were taken from a longitudinal panel study of 82 blue- and white-collar men who recently experienced unemployment. Social support was measured in three ways: marital and family support; help (from outside the family) with problems; and number and frequency of contacts with social network members. Following unemployment, a significant decline in two of four indicators of marital support was found for all workers. When the number of weeks of unemployment was considered, a decrease in the quality of the marital relation and an increase in help with problems was found for the white-collar workers. A decrease in frequency of contact with network members for blue-collar workers was also observed. Mediation analyses indicated that unemployment has a negative effect on marital and family support in part through its effect on the husband's psychological well-being. Two different methods for estimating the stress-buffering effects of supports most susceptible to change during job loss indicate that buffering does occur. The conceptual implications of the nonindependence between stressful events and social supports for the stress buffering hypothesis are examined.
This paper reports the first results from a survey of unemployment in Southeastern Michigan. The study includes samples of currently unemployed, previously unemployed and stably employed respondents. Special efforts were made to obtain information about the context surrounding each job loss reported, thus allowing the explicit analysis of selection bias in the estimation of unemployment effects. The analysis documents the substantial influences that unemployment has on self-reported physical health, somatization, anxiety, and depression that cannot be explained by selection bias.