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Unemployment, Self-esteem, and Depression: Differences between Men and Women

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2019

José Luis Álvaro ,
Alicia Garrido ,
Cícero Roberto Pereira ,
Ana Raquel Torres  and
Sabrina Cavalcanti Barros
José Luis Álvaro*
Affiliation:
Universidad Complutense (Spain)
Alicia Garrido
Affiliation:
Universidad Complutense (Spain)
Cícero Roberto Pereira
Affiliation:
Universidade Federal da Paraíba (Brazil)
Ana Raquel Torres
Affiliation:
Universidade Federal da Paraíba (Brazil)
Sabrina Cavalcanti Barros
Affiliation:
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (Brazil)
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to José Luis Álvaro. Universidad Complutense. Departamento de Psicología Social. 28040 Madrid (Spain). E-mail: jlalvaro@ucm.es
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Abstract

Although there is a vast bibliography on the negative consequences of unemployment for mental health, there are no studies that analyze the differences between men and women in relation to the consequences that unemployment could have simultaneously on self-esteem and depression. The main objective of this study was to analyze whether, unemployment is differentially associated with the self-esteem of men and women, and to test whether this circumstance can be considered a psychological mechanism by which we could explain differences in depression for men and women. Results show that self-esteem is a mediating variable (indirect effect = .11; 90% CI [.04, .19]), considering its differential impact on depression, but this mediation is moderated by the gender of the respondents (b = .21, 90% IC [.01, .40]. In summary, unemployment is associated with lower self-esteem, which in turn is related to greater depressive symptoms. This relationship is only observed for men and not for women.

Keywords

depressiongenderself-esteemunemployment
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 22 , 2019 , E1
Copyright
Copyright © Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid 2019 

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Footnotes

How to cite this article:

Álvaro, J. L., Garrido, A., Pereira, C. R., Torres, A. R., & Barros, S. C. (2018). Unemployment, self-esteem, and depression: Differences between men and women. The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 21. e1. Doi:10.1017/sjp.2018.68

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