The grief process and job loss: A cross‐sectional study

Abstract

This study assessed the applicability of the grief process to job loss. A pilot study of 10 unemployed men was used to establish a structured interview, and its content analysis, based on a description of the grief process derived from studies of bereavement. Other measures assessed the degree of attachment to the former job. The main study involved 60 men who had lost their jobs during the previous eight years. Individual grief items were found in some of these people, varying in frequency from 10 to 80 per cent. Principal components analysis revealed a general grief component, representing most of the specific items. Twenty-seven per cent of the sample fulfilled a criterion for a clear grief-like response. An overall grief score based on the interview answers was significantly correlated with three different measures of job attachment, and also with questionnaire measures of depression and anxiety. These measures were unrelated to the length of time since job loss, apparently providing no support for stage theories or for more general assumptions of adaptation. However, the cross-sectional nature of the sample complicates this conclusion.