Employment status and emotional health

Abstract

Social psychologists have consistently reported that the unemployed are lower in emotional health than the employed, but have failed to explore the processes associated with unemployment that generate the differences in emotional health between the employed and unemployed groups. Moreover, the emotional impact of unemployment is not uniform, and satisfactory explanations for the individual variation in responses have not been developed. The present study was designed to overcome the absence of process explanations in the unemployment literature by developing social theory in a causal-process form that accounts for the detrimental and differential impact of unemployment. Two strategies were used: first, a causal modelling approach to evaluate causal-process explanations; second, a social cognition perspective in the form of learned-helplessness and frustrated-motivation theory to specify the processes that generate emotional health. A cross-sectional study with 200 young unemployed people was conducted to investigate the impact of unemployment upon emotional health. The data recorded the differences between individuals at one point-in-time and provided the foundation for a causal analysis of interindividual differences. The learned-helplessness theory was used to predict variation in general depression, and frustrated-motivation theory to predict situation-specific levels of anger, frustration and disappointment (“ unemployment frustration” ). The causal model specified by learned-helplessness theory was initially rejected, although post-hoc modifications consistent with the theory provided an acceptable model. In contrast, variables nominated by frustration motivation theory were good predictors of unemployment frustration, but the initial causal structure specifying behavior as a mediating variable failed to match the data. A major amendment with cognition as a mediating variable was proposed and found to be successful. A longitudinal study was also conducted. The longitudinal data recorded the change within individuals over time and provided the opportunity to conduct a causal analysis of intraindividual change that examines the dynamic processes that generate human behaviour. Of the 166 respondents interviewed at follow-up, 100 were employed and 43 were unemployed. The employed and unemployed groups enabled two investigations regarding the relationship between employment status and emotional health. The first was confined to the unemployed group and examined the impact unemployment had upon emotional health. Although the size of the unemployed group at follow-up restricted conclusions, learned-helplessness theory did provide a limited account for the variation in general depression, as did the frustrated motivation theory for unemployment frustration. The second investigation evaluated learned-helplessness theory, originally proposed as an explanation for the negative impact of unemployment, to account for the improvements in emotional health associated with the transition from unemployment to employment. The learned helplessness theory did not, however, explain the changes in emotional health for the newly employed. Two conclusions were drawn. The first was that a causal modelling approach is useful as a means to evaluate social theory in a causal-process form. The second was that the social-cognition perspective, as represented by learned-helplessness and frustrated-motivation theory, provides a viable account for the processes that generate depression and frustration in the unemployed. Learned-helplessness theory failed, however, to account for the variation in depression associated with the transition from unemployment to employment. The benefits of using the social-cognition perspective to provide a focus for preventative and therapeutic programmes are also discussed, along with recommendations for future research. Show more