Unemployment

Abstract

The loss of work is a stressful life event which previous research has demonstrated to have negative psychosocial and health consequences. Social support has been found to be a factor which ameliorates the negative aspects of life events such as loss of a job. In the context of a longitudinal investigation, the impact of job loss on the networks of 153 recently unemployed was investigated, along with an examination of the subsequent impact on the incidence of depressive symptoms and reemployment opportunities for the sample. As hypothesized, network status predicts both the level of depressive symptoms exhibited by the unemployed, as well as whether they found work in the 15-week period under investigalion. Contact with close friends emerges as the variable most sensitive to job loss, and a reduction in those contacts is an independent source of depressive symptoms from job loss.