CONSEQUENCES OF JOB LOSS--TESTING A LONGITUDINAL MODEL

For many individuals who lose their jobs, unemployment is a very stressful life event. Yet, not all individuals react negatively to being unemployed. Recent research has focused on delineating the factors that might explain the impact of job loss. Few investigators, however, have tested theoretical models of the unemployment experience. The unemployment literature remains unclear about how different variables interact to explain the unemployment experience. There is also a lack of information about long-term consequences of job loss. The proposed study will test a comprehensive model of the unemployment experience. The model will focus on both short and long-term consequences of job loss, following individuals over time as they either remain unemployed or become reemployed. The proposed model has been developed with reference to both the stress and unemployment literature. We will explore the impact of three personality variables (optimism, self-esteem, and perceived control) and five situational variables (financial situation, social support, employment commitment, time structure, and conditions of job loss) on primary appraisal and long-term psychological health, physical health, and work adjustment. We will also investigate the relationships between coping responses and reemployment, and the relationship between reemployment and long-term adaptation to the unemployment experience. Six hundred recently unemployed individuals will be recruited from two Job Service offices in Wichita, Kansas, to participate in this study. These individuals will be surveyed at the time of recruitment, then again nine months later. The results of this study will have important implications for interventions for unemployed individuals, as well as our theoretical understanding of the job loss experience.