Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T08:00:55.308Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Unemployment and psychological ill-health: the moderating role of duration and age

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Paul R. Jackson  and
Peter B. Warr
Paul R. Jackson*
Affiliation:
MRC/ESRC Social and Applied Psychology Unit, Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield
Peter B. Warr
Affiliation:
MRC/ESRC Social and Applied Psychology Unit, Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr Paul R. Jackson, MRC/ESRC Social and Applied Psychology Unit, Department of Psychology, The University, Sheffield, S10 2TN.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Synopsis

The relationship between length of unemployment and psychological ill-health was examined in a sample of 954 unemployed working-class men, selected to cover all levels of age and several levels of duration of unemployment. The association between length of unemployment and psychological ill-health was found to be strongest in the middle age groups, with greater ill-health among those with a longer duration since job loss. No association between duration and ill-health was found for those who had recently entered the labour market or who were close to the end of their working lives. Desire for a job and financial stress were shown to be additional mediators of psychological ill-health during employment. A cumulative stress model is proposed to account for these findings.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 14 , Issue 3 , August 1984 , pp. 605 - 614
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1984

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Banks, M. H. (1983). Validation of the General Health Questionnaire in a young community sample. Psychological Medicine 13, 349–353.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Banks, M. H. & Jackson, P. R. (1982). Unemployment and risk of minor psychiatric disorder in young people: cross-sectional and longitudinal evidence. Psychological Medicine 12, 789–798.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Banks, M. H., Clegg, C. W., Jackson, P. R., Kemp, N. J., Stafford, E. M. & Wall, T. D. (1980). The use of the General Health Questionnaire as an indicator of mental health in occupational studies. Journal of Occupational Psychology 53, 187–194.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bebbington, P., Hurry, J., Tennant, C., Sturt, E. & Wing, J. K. (1981). Epidemiology of mental disorders in Camberwell. Psychological Medicine 11, 561–580.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cobb, S. & Kasl, S. V. (1977). Termination: The Consequences of Job Loss. US Department of Health, Education and Welfare: Cincinatti.Google Scholar
Cohn, R. M. (1978). The effect of employment status change on self-attitudes. Social Psychology 41, 81–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cook, D. G., Cummins, R. O., Bartley, M. J. & Shaper, A. G. (1982). Health of unemployed middle-aged men in Great Britain. Lancet iii, 1290–1294.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cox, D. R. (1970). Analysis of Binary Data. Methuen: London.Google Scholar
Daniel, W. W. (1974). A National Survey of the Unemployed. Political and Economic Planning Institute: London.Google Scholar
Eisenberg, P. & Lazarsfeld, P. F. (1938). The psychological effects of unemployment. Psychological Bulletin 35, 358–390.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Estes, R. J. & Wilensky, H. L. (1978). Life cycle squeeze and the morale curve. Social Problems 25, 277–292.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feather, N. T. & Barber, J. G. (1983). Depressive reactions and unemployment. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 92, 185–195.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Feather, N. T. & Davenport, P. R. (1981). Unemployment and depressive affect: a motivational analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 41, 422–436.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garrity, T. F., Somes, G. W. & Marx, M. B. (1978). Factors influencing self-assessment of health. Social Science and Medicine 12, 77–81.Google ScholarPubMed
Goldberg, D. P. (1972). The Detection of Psychiatric Illness by Questionnaire. Oxford University Press: London.Google Scholar
Goldberg, D. P. (1978). Manual for the General Health Questionnaire. National Foundation for Educational Research: Windsor.Google Scholar
Goldberg, D. P. (1981). Estimating the prevalence of psychiatric disorder from the results of a screening test. In What is a Case? (ed. Wing, J. K., Bebbington, P. and Robins, L. N.), pp. 129–136. Grant McIntyre: London.Google ScholarPubMed
Goodchilds, J. D. & Smith, E. E.(1963). The effects of unemployment as mediated by social status. Sociometry 26, 287–293.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henderson, S., Duncan-Jones, P., Byrne, D. G., Scott, R. & Adcock, S. (1979). Psychiatric disorder in Canberra: a standardised study of prevalence. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 60, 335–374.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hepworth, S. J. (1980). Moderating factors of the psychological impact of unemployment. Journal of Occupational Psychology 53, 139–145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackson, P. R., Stafford, E. M., Banks, M. H. & Warr, P. B. (1983). Unemployment and psychological distress in young people: the moderating role of employment commitment. Journal of Applied Psychology 68, 525–535.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Little, C. B. (1976). Technical–professional unemployment: middle-class adaptability to personal crisis. Sociological Quarterly 17, 262–274.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murray, J., Dunn, G. & Tarnopolsky, A. (1982). Self-assessment of health: an exploration of the effects of physical and psychological symptoms. Psychological Medicine 12, 371–378.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tiggemann, M. & Winefield, A. H. (1980). Some psychological effects of unemployment in school leavers. Australian Journal of Social Issues 15, 269–276.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Warr, P. B. (1984 a). Job loss, unemployment and psychological well-being. In Role Transitions (ed. Allen, V. and van de Vliert, E.), pp. 263–285. Plenum Press: New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Warr, P. B. (1984 b). Economic recession and mental health: a review of research. Tijdschrift voor Sociale Gezondheidszorg 62, 298–308.Google Scholar
Warr, P. B. & Jackson, P. R. (1983). Self-esteem and unemployment among young workers. Le Travail Humain 46, 355–366.Google Scholar
Warr, P. B. & Jackson, P. R. (1984). Men without jobs: some correlates of age and length of unemployment. Journal of Occupational Psychology 57, 77–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Warr, P. B., Cook, J. D. & Wall, T. D. (1979). Scales for the measurement of some work attitudes and aspects of psychological well-being. Journal of Occupational Psychology 52, 129–148.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Warr, P. B., Jackson, P. R. & Banks, M. H. (1982). Duration of unemployment and psychological well-being in young men and women. Current Psychological Research 2, 207–214.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Warr, P. B., Banks, M. H. & Ullah, P. (1984). The experience of unemployment among black and white urban teenagers. British Journal of Psychology (in the press).Google Scholar
Wilder, C. S. (1980). Selected Health Characteristics by Occupation, United States 1975−76. US Department of Health and Human Services: Hyattsville, Md.Google ScholarPubMed