About the research
The study examined the effects of multiple episodes of unemployment on psychological well-being.
Specifically, it looked to analyse whether people adapt or become sensitised to repeated unemployment and if previous employment status affects a person’s response to being unemployed.
The researchers found that, unsurprisingly, unemployment is associated with a worsening of psychological well-being, with each unemployment spell associated with poorer mental health. However, the magnitude of the deterioration differs by previous employment status. Generally, previously employed individuals were able to adapt with each spell if they were able to regain employment each time, while those who make several attempts to re-enter the labour market following economic inactivity had a more difficult time, becoming more distressed with each try.
The findings indicate that further investigation is needed to better understand how welfare-to-work programmes may affect the psychological well-being of economically inactive individuals who are encouraged to seek employment. The study suggests that programmes that aim to reduce the number of economically inactive persons in the UK, like the newly implemented UK ‘fit note’, the Health, Work and Well-being initiative, and the proposed changes to the current welfare scheme, should take into account the psychological impact of failures to achieve employment. However, measures should also be taken to ensure that good quality employment is achieved so that repeated spells of unemployment are less likely to occur.
Methodology
The research used waves 1-17 of the BHPS, including only those persons who experienced at least one unemployment spell during their participation in the BHPS. Self-reported employment status and the GHQ-12 coded as a continuous 36-point scale were employed as the outcome variables. Self-reported annual household income, regional unemployment rated, percent of unemployed adults in household, pre-study unemployment and partnership status were all explored as potential effect modifiers. Age and gender were also included as covariates and effect modifiers.
Multilevel regression models were used to analyse the data. Two models were constructed, the first examined within-person changes while the second examined both between- and within-person variables as well as potential effect modifiers of the within-person effects.
Publications
This work is in press in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. The online first edition is available.