A scale to measure attitudes toward working

The purpose of this study was to develop a scale that could measure attitude toward work and be used to determine the relation between length of unemployment time and work attitudes. Standardization of the Employment Readiness Scale was completed through its administration to three independent groups (N = 430): (1) employed workers: employees who worked in unskilled, semiskilled, and occasionally skilled job classifications; (2) unemployed individuals who were actively looking for regular employment at the Tennessee State Employment Service; and (3) the chronically unemployed: individuals, who, for the most part, were not looking for regular employment and who were seeking night lodging and meals at the Salvation Army or the Knoxville Union Rescue Mission. Through item analysis, it was determined that 43 of the 45-scale items were significant at or beyond the .01 level. It was further established that a relationship existed between work attitudes and length of unemployment. The longer an individual was unemployed, the less positive was his attitude toward work.     

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.     

The persistence of welfare stigma: Does the passing of time and subsequent employment moderate the negative perceptions associated with unemployment benefit receipt?

People receiving welfare payments are stigmatized. However, previous studies of welfare recipient stereotypes have not examined whether the stigma endures after payments are no longer received and have rarely considered the stigma associated with specific categories of welfare payments. We examined whether welfare stigma endures in three experiments (total N = 873) focused on one category of welfare recipient, people receiving government income support due to their unemployment. To test if this stigmatized identity marked or scarred how people are perceived, we compared evaluations of currently unemployed benefit recipients to currently employed people who either previously received this benefit or who had no stated history of benefit receipt. Across the three experiments, we found that current recipients of unemployment benefits were evaluated as much less conscientious, less human, and poorer workers, but as somewhat more extraverted than currently employed individuals irrespective of their welfare history. Moreover, we found that currently employed individuals were evaluated similarly, regardless of whether they had a prior history of benefit receipt, and the recency of this prior benefit experience. This pattern of results suggests that receiving unemployment benefits does not scar how a person is perceived by others, but only temporarily marks how they are perceived. These findings suggest that welfare stigma may create an evaluative barrier to returning to work, but that if this barrier can be overcome there are no negative evaluations of former recipients’ character. Overall, community members seem accepting of prior benefit receipt once a person returns to work.     

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.     

Unemployment and Life Satisfaction: The Moderating Role of Time Structure and Collectivism1

This study investigated the mitigating role of collectivism and time structure in reaction to unemployment. Participants (N= 229) with different occupational status (employed, students, unemployed) coming from either northern or southern Italy were compared with regard to general life satisfaction. Unemployed were found to show lower life satisfaction. self‐esteem, and happiness than were employed peers or students, but these effects were found to be influenced by both collectivism and time structure. Life satisfaction was lower among unemployed from northern Italy (where individualistic norms prevailed) than from southern Italy (which was found to be more collectivist). Also, among unemployed, life satisfaction tended to be higher among those who perceived their use of time as more structured and purposive. The results suggest that unemployment may have less severe consequences in a collectivistic culture and for people with good time‐structure abilities.     

Life Satisfaction and Job‐Seeking Behavior of the Unemployed: The Effect of Individual Differences in Justice Sensitivity

This study examines the effect of justice sensitivity on the life satisfaction and job‐seeking behavior of unemployed individuals and considers the likelihood of experiencing long‐term unemployment. We focus on two facets of dispositional justice sensitivity that reflect individual differences in perception and reactions to perpetrating injustice against others (perpetrator sensitivity) or suffering from the injustice of others as an innocent victim (victim sensitivity). We hypothesised that the negative effect of unemployment on life satisfaction is stronger among individuals with higher levels of victim sensitivity and perpetrator sensitivity. The former are more likely to perceive themselves as victims of an unjust situation, such as fate or the employer's decisions, whereas the latter are more likely to perceive themselves as perpetrators against the rules of social justice. Using survey data from approximately 400 participants, we found that unemployed individuals were less satisfied with life than employed individuals and that this relationship was stronger for perpetrator‐sensitive individuals. Unemployed perpetrator‐sensitive individuals were more likely to engage in active job‐seeking behavior and faced a lower likelihood of long‐term unemployment. The results are discussed in terms of the importance of justice‐related personality aspects of unemployed individuals for their well‐being and labor market outcomes.     

Elite stigmatization of the unemployed: The association between framing and public attitudes

This paper uses a multi-methods approach to explore the social psychological construction of stigma towards the unemployed. Study 1a uses thematic analysis to explore frames used by political elites in speeches at U.K. national party conferences between 1996 and 2016 (n = 43); in study 1b, we track the usage of these frames in six national newspapers (n = 167,723 articles) over the same period showing an increase in the use of negative frames. Study 1c shows that these are associated with national attitudes towards welfare recipients using the British Social Attitude Survey. We find the ‘Othering’ frame is correlated with negative attitudes towards the unemployed, even when controlling for the unemployment rate. This finding supports the claim that social attitudes are related to frames produced in the political and media spheres. We provide theoretical integration between social representations theory and framing which affords development in both domains.     

Training, Perfectionism and Fairness

abstract This paper considers the question of whether unemployed individuals have a duty of fairness to accept retraining as a condition of receiving unemployment benefit. It is argued, in response to Stuart White, that, although there are some circumstances where individuals do have such a moral duty, for an egalitarian it is never the case that there is sufficient reason for enforcing such a duty by means of the law.     

Factors facilitating adjustment to unemployment: Implications for intervention

Conducted a community survey in the Fall of 1984 in a sample of high unemployment blue-collar census tracts in southeastern Michigan. Results of earlier analyses using these data showed that involuntarily unemployed workers had significantly elevated levels of depression, anxiety, somatization, and self-reported physical illness relative to a stably employed comparison group (Kessler, House, & Turner, 1987). Results presented in this paper document that this relationship is modified by social support (as measured by social integration and the availability of a confidant), self-concept, and various coping processes. Further analyses allowed us to determine the way in which these modifiers operate. The modifying effects of social support and coping operate primarily by buffering the impact of unemployment-related financial strain on the health outcomes. Self-concept operates primarily by attenuating vulnerability to other stressful life events. The implications of these results for the design and implementation of preventive interventions are discussed.     

Unemployment and aggression: the moderating role of self-awareness on the effect of unemployment on aggression

In February 2005, the unemployment rate in Germany surpassed the 10% mark. Derived from the revised version of the frustration-aggression hypothesis [Berkowitz, 1989], the present studies investigated the association between unemployment and aggression, as well as the moderating role of the self in this context. Because previous research on unemployment and aggression has been plagued by the cause-and-effect issue, the present research employed both an experimental and a correlational field approach. Three studies revealed that participants who expected to be unemployed after their degree (Studies 1 and 3), or who were currently unemployed (Study 2), reported stronger aggressive inclinations than participants who expected not to be unemployed or who were not unemployed at the time of data collection. However, this aggression-eliciting effect of expected or real unemployment only occurred for participants with low self-awareness. Participants who could actualize their self prior to reporting on aggression were not differently affected by different expectations or states of unemployment.     

Working in the hidden economy: Associations with the latent benefits and psychological health

Hidden economy working can provide income and cushion the financial hardship during unemployment; can it also substitute for some latent functions of regular employment? According to Jahoda's theory, the latent functions include the time structure, regular shared experience, information about personal identity, a link with the collective purpose, and enforced regular activity. This article explores whether the undeclared working reduces the degree of deprivation of these functions during unemployment and, consequently, improves the psychological health of a person. The data were collected from a sample of unemployed persons (N = 1138) registered with the Croatian Employment Bureau. A series of questions about their day-to-day activities were used to estimate the amount of undeclared working, an ad hoc developed scale to assess the extent of their latent deprivation, and the SF-36 Health Survey to measure their psychological health. The ANCOVA revealed that the participants who were often engaged in the hidden economy working exhibited reduced latent deprivation and improved psychological health compared to those who were sometimes engaged. Hierarchical regression analysis indicated that their better psychological health was partially mediated through reduced latent deprivation. However, the unemployed who were never engaged in undeclared working exhibited a relatively high psychological health as well.     

Unemployment and Health: Selection Effects

A large number of studies have shown that the unemployed are less healthy, both physically and psychologically, than the employed. The explanation may be that unemployment has negative health effects. An alternative, or additional, explanation is that healthy persons are less likely to become unemployed or more likely to find new employment if they become unemployed. Such effects of health on employment status are generally referred to as selection effects. The present paper analyses to what extent such selection effects are present in the Norwegian labour market. Panel data with observations made in 1989 and 1993 are used. The analyses show that people with psychological problems are more likely to be laid off, and there is also some evidence that psychological or physical health problems may reduce the chances of finding a new job if one has become unemployed. It is of particular interest that these selection effects can be documented for a country like Norway, which has strong legislation supporting worker rights and a quite high degree of unionization.     

The effortful citizen: Discursive social psychology and welfare reform

The present study applies a broadly discursive approach to the representation of welfare reform and unemployment through an analysis of the deployment of an interpretative repertoire of effortfulness in posts to an internet discussion forum. It is argued that when posters construct versions of unemployed people or welfare recipients as characterized by ‘laziness’ or lack of ‘effort’ the attribution of responsibility for unemployment is frequently not the only piece of discursive business being attended to. In addition, posters attend to issues of their own accountability and, significantly, the accountability of the government or welfare system itself for the extent to which welfare recipients are formally held to account. It is argued that this approach extends previous social psychological work on the explanation of unemployment insofar as it pays attention to the context‐specific functions performed by such explanations. Moreover, in orienting to the welfare system as having a responsibility to hold welfare recipients to account, posters are drawing on a set of discursive resources which essentially treat the government of individual psychology as a legitimate function of the welfare system. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The ‘workshy’

Abstract

This article is an attempt to apply the Kleinian ‘positions’ to long-term unemployment and to use them to suggest an alternative to punitive concepts such as ‘workshy’, while discussing the paradox in which a sincere attempt to find work exists alongside behaviour which seems designed to sabotage it. Such sabotaging behaviour not only offers secondary gains but affords channels for projections which mitigate unresolved aggression. While effective in coping with long-term unemployment, these mechanisms inhibit development and ‘benign cycles’ are gridlocked. Change and growth are seen as threats and aggression cannot be worked through and must be projected. Persecutory anxieties and a lack of enrichment by ‘otherness’ results and is reinforced by the reality of chronic unemployment. No opportunity for reparative work exists, so ‘concern’ and a sense of responsibility are inhibited. Narcissistic omnipotence and grandiosity is a feature. Long-term unemployment and homelessness show similar revolving door patterns connected to similar coping mechanisms.     

Incongruence as an explanation for the negative mental health effects of unemployment: Meta‐analytic evidence

The present paper is concerned with the effects of incongruence between a person's level of employment commitment (measured with scales of work involvement, Protestant work ethic or similar concepts) and his or her current employment situation (employed or not employed). We hypothesize that this kind of incongruence (a) is a typical characteristic of the unemployment situation and (b) is systematically associated with diminished well‐being and mental health. Meta‐analyses of empirical data endorse both hypotheses. (a) Employed people show only marginally stronger levels of employment commitment than unemployed people (d = 0.11, equivalent to r = .05). Both groups are characterized by high mean levels of employment commitment. Therefore, unemployed people are in an incongruent situation, while employed people are not. (b) Incongruent levels of employment commitment, that is, high levels among the unemployed and low levels among the employed, are significantly associated with psychological distress (mixed symptoms of distress: r = .19; depression: r = .19; anxiety: r = .14; subjective well‐being/life satisfaction: r = .13; self‐esteem: r = .08). In sum, available cross‐sectional data clearly endorse the incongruence model. Meta‐analyses of longitudinal data, although based on small sample sizes, are also consistent with the model.     

Effect of Favorable Employment Change on Alcohol Abuse: One- and Five-Year Follow-Ups in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth

Job loss has been linked to adverse outcomes such as alcohol abuse, but improved employment, usually assumed to be beneficial, has seldom been evaluated and may not help with addictive disorders. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, young adults who were unemployed or underemployed (low income or involuntary part-time) in 1984 were followed up in 1985 and 1989. Controlling for 1984 alcohol abuse, there were no effects of positive employment change on 1985 symptoms, but there were significant restorative effects on 1985 binge drinking among those who were heavy drinkers in 1984. There also appeared to be an indirect link of favorable 1984–1985 employment change to heavy drinking in 1989 via 1989 employment status. Because the effects of underemployment partially resembled those of unemployment, the discussion cautions against the conventional wisdom of promoting any work, including underemployment, as curative for the ills of unemployment.     

Unemployment and self-conception: A symbolic interactionist analysis

A symbolic interactionist analysis of the relationship between unemployment and self-conception was tested using a cross-sectional questionnaire design (n = 88). Job loss had significant negative associations with reflected appraisals (perceived evaluations) from friends, family, employers, unemployed people and people in general. Significant relationships between reflected appraisals and the evaluative, consistency and involvement dimensions of self-concept were also observed. Consistent with symbolic interactionist theory, path analysis showed that reflected appraisals mediated the relationship between employment status and self-conception. Unemployment duration and gender both moderated the effects of reflected appraisal upon self-conception such that reflected appraisals were associated with different self-concept dimensions for unemployed men versus unemployed women and ‘shorter’ versus ‘longer-term’ unemployed people. Results are discussed in the context of recent developments in the social psychology of the self-concept. Suggestions for future research are outlined.     

The role of self-compassion during difficult economic times

Background and objectives: The negative effects of the financial crisis of 2007/2008 are still being felt today as seen in the relatively high levels of youth unemployment in many countries. As a result, many young people experience high stress levels when facing an uncertain and precarious job market.

Methods: Participants were 178 undergraduate students (79% female; M_age?=?20.00, SD?=?4.29) who were randomly assigned to read a news article that documented an uncertain financial future with limited job opportunities (the economic stress group), or an article that documented a tour of the Royal Canadian Mint (the control group). The role of self-compassion was explored in its relation to distress.

Results: Correlational and hierarchical regression analyses indicated that, in the economic stress group, self-compassion negatively predicted anxiety above and beyond self-esteem and familial support. In the control group, however, self-compassion did not negatively predict anxiety above and beyond self-esteem and familial support. Additionally, structural equation modeling indicated that self-compassion was directly associated with lower anxiety and indirectly related to anxiety through perceptions of financial threat.

Conclusions: These findings suggest that self-compassion may be an important resource that is associated with less distress during times of economic threat.     

Out-of school youth in high-unemployment areas: An empirical investigation

A total of 551 interviews were conducted with 16-20 year olds living in high unemployment areas in Liverpool, London, Manchester and Wolverhampton. The diverse ways in which the young unemployed react to their predicaments are described, and explanations are offered for why black youth tend to be less acquiescent than whites. Overall, however, the analysis emphasises the ability of the young people at greatest risk of unemployment to devise their own coping strategies. Counsellors and other careers workers are advised to take these into account: otherwise their efforts are likely to be discounted by their clients.