Unemployment impairs mental health: Meta-analyses

The effect of unemployment on mental health was examined with meta-analytic methods across 237 cross-sectional and 87 longitudinal studies. The average overall effect size was d = 0.51 with unemployed persons showing more distress than employed persons. A significant difference was found for several indicator variables of mental health (mixed symptoms of distress, depression, anxiety, psychosomatic symptoms, subjective well-being, and self esteem). The average number of persons with psychological problems among the unemployed was 34%, compared to 16% among employed individuals. Moderator analyses demonstrated that men and people with blue-collar-jobs were more distressed by unemployment than women and people with white-collar jobs. Linear and curvilinear moderating effects of the duration of unemployment were also identified. Furthermore, the negative effect of unemployment on mental health was stronger in countries with a weak level of economic development, unequal income distributions, or weak unemployment protection systems compared to other countries. Meta-analyses of longitudinal studies and natural experiments endorsed the assumption that unemployment is not only correlated to distress but also causes it. Seemingly inconsistent longitudinal results of older meta-analyses can be explained by retest artifacts. We also identified mental-health related selection effects during job loss and job search, but they are weak. With an effect size of d = −.35 intervention programs for unemployed people were found to be moderately effective in ameliorating unemployment-related distress among continuously unemployed persons.     

Unemployed and exhausted? Job-search fatigue and reemployment quality

Job loss and job search are particularly devastating and stressful events that individuals can experience in their careers. However, less research attention has been paid to fatigue or burnout in the context of unemployment and job search. Drawing from Conservation of Resources theory, this study highlights the role that fatigue plays during unemployment and job search among displaced employees — defined as individuals who have lost their jobs involuntarily and are currently not engaged in any form of paid employment. In a two-wave longitudinal study involving 89 displaced employees, we illustrate how financial difficulties and social exclusion can lead to job search fatigue, while psychological capital serves as a personal resource that reduces job seekers' fatigue. We also demonstrate how job search fatigue at Time 1 can lead to lower reemployment quality at Time 2, which, in turn, can lead to lower organizational commitment and increased turnover intentions. Our findings bring into attention the important role that fatigue can play in the context of unemployment and job search.     

Disability labeling vs. rehabilitation rhetoric for the chronically ill: a case study in policy contradictions.

Among persons with chronic renal disease, limited encouragement to use self-care treatment options and easy access to disability income benefits tend to reinforce the concept of disability rather than foster rehabilitation goals. More than 80% of all chronic renal disease patients on dialysis therapy receive treatment in facilities at which they become highly dependent on medical staff, and estimates of unemployment among persons aged 21-59 years suffering from this disease range from 60% to 75%. The authors' data indicate that patients who receive dialysis treatment within facilities experience negative effects on their perceived health status and health locus of control as compared to patients who practice self-care dialysis at home. Although many factors contribute to unemployment among dialysis patients, the availability of disability income benefits seems to act as the most important deterrent to employment. Increasing the emphasis on the rehabilitation of this chronically ill population will require a movement away from disability labeling by providers of care and the patients themselves, as well as adjustment in the dialysis reimbursement system and in the eligibility requirements for disability compensation.     

Job loss as a blessing in disguise: The role of career exploration and career planning in predicting reemployment quality

Job loss is one of the most difficult work related situations that an individual may encounter. Yet, sometimes job loss may also turn into a blessing in disguise. Combining the careers literature with the literature on unemployment, the current paper addresses potential positive outcomes of job loss by focusing on specific career adaptability activities that individuals can undertake to obtain these outcomes. Three hundred and four unemployed outplacement attendees reported their use of self and environmental career exploration and career planning, as well as of job search (general and networking) and the availability of two resources that may foster these activities, general self-efficacy and social support. Six months later, 215 individuals reported their current reemployment status and, when applicable, the quality of that reemployment. Results replicate the positive effects of job search on finding reemployment but moreover outline the relevance of career planning and exploration during unemployment on ensuring the quality of this reemployment. Theoretical implications and directions for practice and future research are discussed.     

Layoffs and violence revisited

Extension of frustration‐aggression theory suggests both the “provocation hypothesis” (laid‐off workers are at elevated risk of psychogenic violence) and the “inhibition hypothesis” (workers who fear job loss will be at reduced risk of such violence). Previous research found that both hypotheses were supported with data indexing layoffs and the incidence of civil commitment for danger to others in San Francisco County, California, for the 52 weeks beginning August 1, 1993. Whether those results generalize to other times and places has not been determined. We elaborated the theory and replicated the test in San Francisco for the 149 weeks beginning August 1, 1994, and ending June 7, 1997. We also replicated the test using data from Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, for the 111 weeks beginning January 1, 1996, and ending February 28, 1998. The original results from San Francisco County are replicated for men in both communities. The results for women are replicated for the new and more extended period in San Francisco County but not in Allegheny County. Scientific and social policy reasons for continued study of economic conditions on aggressive behavior are discussed.Aggr. Behav. 28:233–247, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Psychological experimentation on alcohol-induced human aggression

This paper provides an overview of recent research on alcohol and aggression. We examine major experimental laboratory paradigms used in research on the social factors and psychological processes that elicit aggression among healthy persons under conditions of acute alcohol intoxication and sobriety. Issues concerning the validity of such experimental research in relation to violence in everyday life are discussed along with empirical evidence that attests to the importance of experimentation for an understanding of alcohol-induced violence. The theoretical roles of provocation and frustration as cues that elicit alcohol-induced aggression are also considered. We conclude with a presentation of a newly developed experimental laboratory procedure that can reliably produce disjunctively escalated aggressive responding — the triggered displaced aggression paradigm (TDAP) — and discuss its potential for revealing more about the mechanisms involved in alcohol-induced aggression.     

The Role of Witnessing Violence,Peer Provocation,Family Support,and Parenting Practices in the Aggressive Behavior of Rural Adolescents

This study examined the influence of witnessing violence, peer provocation, family support, and parenting practices (monitoring and discipline) on aggression. Participants were 1,196 ninth graders at nine schools in poor, predominantly agricultural, rural communities who completed measures of these variables. Witnessing violence, peer provocation, low levels of family support, and poor parenting practices were each related to higher frequencies of aggression. Witnessing violence and peer provocation partially mediated relations between parenting and aggression, such that students who reported high levels of appropriate parenting reported lower levels of witnessing violence and peer provocation. These were, in turn, related to lower levels of aggression. The relation between family support and aggression was also mediated by peer provocation, though the Degrees of mediation was not as strong as for parenting. Both parenting and family support moderated the relation between witnessing violence and aggression such that this relation was stronger among adolescents who reported low family support or high levels of poor parenting. Neither parenting nor family support moderated the relation between peer provocation and aggression. Overall, parenting practices had a stronger influence on aggression than did family support. Results were generally consistent across gender. These findings have important implications for intervention efforts.     

resilience and unemployment: exploring risk and protective influences for the outcome variables of depression and assertive job searching

This study examined adult resilience in the context of the adversity of unemployment. Seventy‐seven unemployed job seekers completed a self‐report survey containing the Resilience Scale (G. M. Wagnild & H. M. Young, 1993), Centre for Epidemiologic Studies–Depressed Mood Scale (L. S. Radloff, 1977), and the Assertive Job Hunting Survey (H. A. Becker, 1980). Product–term regression indicated that for those unemployed persons who had resilient qualities, less depression resulted even though they had been job searching for a long time (beta = ‐.359, p < .001). Length of time job searching was positively associated with depression (beta = .41, p < .01). When the outcome variable was job search assertiveness, only the main effect of resilience (beta = .492, p < .001) was significant, accounting for 25.8% of the variance. The inclusion of psychological interventions to foster resilience, along with standard job search training provided by job network services, is advocated.     

Optimism and Coping with Unemployment among Hong Kong Chinese Women

The effects of dispositional optimism and coping on the link between unemployment and psychological health were studied among 79 employed and 104 unemployed Hong Kong Chinese women. Results indicated that optimism, indexed by the Chinese version of the Revised Life Orientation Test (C-RLOT), moderated the effect of unemployment on psychological health. The less optimistic women were more psychologically impaired by losing their jobs. Among the unemployed women, the more optimistic ones and those who were more able to distance themselves from job loss fared better. Nevertheless, coping did not mediate the connection between optimism and psychological outcomes. These findings suggest that optimism is an important personal resource for coping with unemployment in Hong Kong Chinese, but whether coping mediates the effects of optimism on psychological health or not depends on other contextual factors. Ways to ensure more reliable prediction regarding the connections between optimism, coping and psychological health in future research were discussed.     

Status of the provoker,opportunity to retaliate,and interest in video violence

Two hypotheses derived from affect-dependent stimulus arrangement theory [Zillmann D, Bryant J (1985): In: “Selective Exposure to Communication.” Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum Associates.] were tested: (1) provoked persons will express less interest in seeing video violence than will those not provoked, unless they anticipate an opportunity to retaliate against their provocateur; and (2) when provoked persons anticipate an opportunity to retaliate against a provocateur who is not high status, they will express greater interest in seeing video violence than will those not provoked. After being provoked or not provoked by a high or low status experimenter, half the 160 male college student participants were led to believe that their evaluation of the experimenter would determine the experimenter's grade for conducting the research, and half were not given any reason to expect an opportunity to evaluate him. Then each man indicated his degree of interest in seeing each of twelve video selections that had been described in brief paragraphs, three each in four content categories: aggressive, humorous, mildly erotic, and neutral. In confirmation of the first hypothesis, provoked subjects who did not anticipate opportunity to retaliate expressed less interest in seeing aggressive material than did those not provoked. In relationship to the second hypothesis, provoked subjects showed the greatest interest in aggressive video material when they anticipated an opportunity to retaliate against a low status provocateur, but their interest was not greater than corresponding nonangered subjects. The effect of provocation upon interest in the other categories of video material was generally in line with what would be predicted from the theory. When there was no anticipated opportunity to retaliate, interest in humorous material was greater in provoked subjects than in those not provoked. In the case of the mildly erotic category of video selections, there was less interest expressed among provoked subjects when they anticipated having a chance to retaliate against a low status experimenter.     

Frustration of Life Goals Mediates the Negative Effect of Unemployment on Subjective Well-Being

The present study investigated whether unemployment influences the importance and the realization of life goals and whether a reduced realization of life goals mediates the negative effect of unemployment on subjective well-being. A sample of 256 employed and unemployed German adults was studied with scales measuring six different life goal domains (power, achievement, variety, altruism, intimacy, affiliation). Only weak differences between unemployed and employed people were found for importance ratings of life goals. However, current realization of life goals, particularly of agency goals such as power, achievement and variety, was significantly lower among unemployed persons than among employed persons. Thus, unemployment did not change the goals people wanted to achieve in their lifetime, but it inhibited the success of these strivings. Furthermore, current realization of life goals was found to be a mediator of the detrimental effect of unemployment on life satisfaction and positive/negative affect.     

Construct validation of the Hand Test with the aged: replication and extension

The Hand Test (HT) was administered to 52 institutionalized elderly adults in an effort to cross-validate previous research dealing with the construct validity of the Hand Test in assessing organic dysfunction as assessed by Mental Status Questionnaire (MSQ) scores. Results suggested that, consistent with previous research, HT scores of Withdrawal and Pathology seem to be valid indicators of cognitive loss, independent of age and length of institutionalization, among elderly persons who reside in long term care facilities. Implications of these data for the care of impaired elderly persons by family and staff are discussed and suggestions for future research are offered.     

Impact of length of unemployment and age on jobless men and women: a comparative analysis

The study examined differences in job search intensity, as well as attitudes toward unemployment and related responses among a sample of 559 jobless Israelis. Groups of participants were distinguished according to sex, age, and length of unemployment. The findings revealed that job search intensity, psychological stress, and work centrality were highest among participants who had been unemployed for 2 to 3 months, and gradually declined for longer periods of unemployment. Moreover, middle‐aged participants spent more hours per week searching for jobs and mentioned fewer advantages of unemployment than did the younger groups. Furthermore, women reported a sharper decline in health as a result of unemployment, as well as lower levels of work centrality.     

Using I³ theory to clarify when dispositional aggressiveness predicts intimate partner violence perpetration

Deriving hypotheses from I3 theory (pronounced "I-cubed theory"), the authors conducted 4 studies to clarify the circumstances under which dispositional aggressiveness predicts intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration. Consistent with the hypothesis that this link would be stronger when inhibitory processes are weak rather than strong, Studies 1 and 2 demonstrated that dispositional aggressiveness was an especially robust predictor of IPV perpetration among people experiencing self-regulatory strength depletion. Consistent with the hypothesis that this Dispositional Aggressiveness × Inhibition interaction effect would be stronger when instigating triggers are strong rather than weak, Studies 3 and 4 demonstrated that dispositional aggressiveness was an especially robust predictor of IPV perpetration among people characterized by both weak inhibition (poor executive control in Study 3, depletion in Study 4) and strong instigation (provocation in both studies). These effects were robust in studies employing experimental and nonexperimental designs, cross-sectional and longitudinal methods, dating and married participants, self-report and behavioral measures of IPV perpetration, and diverse operationalizations of all constructs. Discussion emphasizes the importance of incorporating instigating, impelling, and inhibiting processes into theoretical and empirical analyses of IPV perpetration.     

Unemployment, Underemployment, and Mental Health: Conceptualizing Employment Status as a Continuum

The economy is one of the most important social environments that affect well-being, and community psychologists have long studied the social costs of one key economic stressor—job loss. But economically inadequate employment has received much less research attention than unemployment in regard to mental health effects. This paper contrasts these two literatures and considers factors that might account for their differential growth including actual rates of unemployment and underemployment. Recent panel studies offer no support for another possible basis for this differential growth—the assumption that inadequate employment is more like adequate employment than unemployment. Implications of a paradigm shift from a dichotomous perspective (employment vs. unemployment) to a continuum perspective with variations of both unemployment and employment are discussed for research and prevention. Another implication is the need to expand standard labor force statistics to reflect better the degree of underemployment.     

Role of foster family belonging in recovery from child maltreatment

Research on foster care suggests that children who have experienced abuse are susceptible to a range of negative life outcomes. Such research also suggests that children removed into foster care can recover from abuse if given opportunities to develop healing relationships with caregivers. Drawing on qualitative data from a national research project on Australian foster carers, this paper explores how foster families enact forms of belonging that potentially work to ameliorate experiences of abuse among foster children. With a specific focus on experiences of family solidarity, rituals, identity, and culture among foster carers and the children in their care, the findings highlight the role that foster carers can play in contributing to national child protection agendas aimed at addressing experiences of maltreatment among children removed into care in Australia.     

Negative affect in east german migrants: Longitudinal effects of unemployment and social support

Migrants have to deal with a number of stressors, among them tenacious job search and the constitution of a new social network. Prolonged unemployment and lack of social support can result in enduring negative affect. A sample of 235 East Germans was investigated three times during two years following their transition to West Berlin in 1989, after the breakdown of the communist system. Their anxiety and depression levels were initially high but declined over time. The majority found a job during this time span and succeeded to adapt psychosocially. Those, however, who remained unemployed were worse off in terms of well-being. The stress-affect relationship was moderated, however, by social support. Within the group of migrants who suffered from long-term joblessness, social support exerted a longitudinal buffer effect. At Wave 3, most anxiety and depression was reported by migrants who neither held a job nor received support. In a longitudinal causal model, the employment status affected mainly negative affect complaints, but also social support. The relationship between negative affect and support turned out to be reciprocal over time.     

工作满意度研究的特质取向

文章回顾了工作满意度的人格倾向研究。首先详细阐述了用不同理论和框架测量人格特质时人格与工作满意度关系的研究成果,接着介绍了人格影响工作满意度的机制,并对较新的研究领域——人格和工作满意度的动态关系进行了总结。未来的研究应尤其关注人格影响工作满意度的机制和人格与工作满意度的动态关系     

The sense of self-continuity as a resource in adaptive coping with job loss

This study examined the relation between the sense of self-continuity, defined as the ability to perceive oneself as extending temporally backwards into the past and forwards into the future, and the adaptiveness of strategies of coping with job loss. We created a web site that was linked to several Israeli web sites dealing with unemployment in the high- tech sector. Respondents were 211 Israeli men and women, aged 18–58, both employed and unemployed, who answered some biographical questions and completed two questionnaires online: the Coping Strategies Questionnaire (Roger, Jarvis & Najarian, 1993) and a version of the Possible Selves Questionnaire (Markus & Nurius, 1986). The results indicated that individuals who had suffered job loss had a lower sense of self-continuity than those who had not suffered job loss and this did not differ by the field of their previous employment (high-tech or other) or length of unemployment. Those individuals with a higher sense of self-continuity evidenced greater adaptiveness in coping, independently of the number of months they had been unemployed. This study is important in demonstrating that the sense of self-continuity is a resource in coping adaptively at times of crisis, suggesting that enhancing the sense of self-continuity may be a beneficial means of helping individuals cope more effectively with job loss.