Links in the chain of adversity following job loss: How financial strain and loss of personal control lead to depression, impaired functioning, and poor health.

Abstract

The authors tested hypotheses concerning risk mechanisms that follow involuntary job loss resulting in depression and the link between depression and poor health and functioning. A 2-year longitudinal study of 756 people experiencing job loss indicates that the critical mediating mechanisms in the chain of adversity from job loss to poor health and functioning are financial strain (FS) and a reduction in personal control (PC). FS mediates the relationship of job loss with depression and PC, whereas reduced PC mediates the adverse impacts of FS and depression on poor functioning and self-reports of poor health. Results suggest that loss of PC is a pathway through which economic adversity is transformed into chronic problems of poor health and impaired role and emotional functioning.Job loss is a discrete life event with multiple adverse health and mental health impacts including depression, health complaints, and impaired psychosocial functioning (Dew, Bromet, & Penkower, 1992;Dew, Bromet, & Schulberg, 1987;Dooley & Catalano, 1988;Hamilton, Broman, Hoffman, & Brenner, 1990;Kessler, House, & Turner, 1987;Price, 1992;Vinokur, 1997). However, the mechanisms by which job loss leads to these long-term outcomes remain poorly understood. The present study drew on models of the stress process to test hypotheses regarding the role of risk mechanisms that link job loss to depression and then subsequently link depression to two additional adverse outcomes: declines in personal functioning and poor health (Kahn, 1981;Pearlin, Lieberman, Menaghan, & Mullan, 1981). On the basis of a 2-year longitudinal sample of individuals experiencing involuntary job loss, we tested hypotheses linking employment status, financial strain, depression, personal control, role and emotional functioning, and health. Models of the Stress Process That LinkStressors to Adverse Health and Mental Health OutcomesTwo related and complementary theoretical traditions link stressors to negative physical and psychological health. One well-known model describes stress as a process by which social and physical stressors result in poor health outcomes (Kahn, 1981). The model suggests that social and physical stressors result in short-term psychological and social responses including heightened arousal, distress, withdrawal, and lower motivation that, in some cases, lead to chronic health problems. Kahn (1981) proposed that the strength of the causal links among initial stressors, short-term responses, and long-term health and mental health consequences can be influenced by a wide range of social, biological, chemical, and environmental factors. The model has heuristic value in identifying pathways by which acute responses to stressors may become chronic and also in identifying potential points where it may be possible to influence or prevent the development of disorder.In a parallel formulation, Pearlin (1989) and his colleagues (Pearlin et al., 1981;Pearlin & Schooler, 1978) proposed that stress exposure, either due to discrete life events such as job loss or ...

Associations between financial stress and interpersonal events: A daily diary study of middle-aged adults and their life circumstances.

“…Significant financial problems, a stressor that might be considered atypical for middle-aged adults in the United States from a historical standpoint, may thus pose a unique challenge to psychological functioning. Although socioeconomic status contributes to social functioning and socially-derived benefits to emotional health in middle and later adulthood (Van Groenou & Van Tilburg, 2003), exposure to financial challenges may threaten these benefits, as STRESS PROLIFERATION DIARY STUDY 6 changes in one's socioeconomic status appears to be a key predictor of psychological functioning (Matthews & Gallo, 2011) and may lead to increased psychological distress and decreased wellbeing (Price, Choi, & Vinokur, 2002).…”

Health Effects Associated with Foreclosure: A Secondary Analysis of Hospital Discharge Data

“…The UNLV CHIA makes these data available to institutions for research, public health, or health care operations, after the applicant obtains a Limited Data Set Use Agreement to protect patient privacy. After the study was approved by the UNLV Table 1 Factor Association Stress reactions, including negative coping behaviors Psychiatric diagnoses [9][10][11][12][35][36][37] Sexually-transmitted diseases [38], alcoholic cirrhosis of liver [37], carcinomas [39] Lack of access to health resources Diabetes [40], hypertension, acute myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure, occlusion of cerebral arteries [41,42] Institutional Review Board, we used this database to conduct an assessment of Clark County, Nevada, hospital discharge data using the principal diagnosis for 25 diagnostic-related groups (DRGs), based on the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification. We limited our assessment to the DRGs associated with stress (primarily psychiatric diagnoses), as well as some of the DRGs associated with lack of access to health resources (resulting in hospitalization for conditions that could have been managed in an ambulatory setting), see Table 1.…”

“…Unemployment-associated conditions include psychiatric disorders and substance abuse [9,10]. The most frequent mental health effect associated with unemployment is depression [11,12]. As unemployed individuals lose income and assets, their ability to access health care because of loss of employer-based health insurance hinders their ability to receive treatment [10].…”

Positive and negative impacts of job loss on family life: the perceptions of Australian car workers

“…Job loss affects individual workers through several pathways, including loss of income and ensuing financial strain, and as a stressful life event (Kessler et al 1987;Ensminger & Celentano 1988;Leana & Feldman 1990;Bartley 1994;Price et al 2002;Verity & Jolley 2008). However, much of this research has been conducted in the United States which has its own labour market, employment and social welfare conditions (for example, health insurance linked to employment, time-limited welfare benefits).…”