Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-v2bm5 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-25T01:21:02.689Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Unemployment, Self-esteem, and Depression: Differences between Men and Women

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2019

José Luis Álvaro ,
Alicia Garrido ,
Cícero Roberto Pereira ,
Ana Raquel Torres  and
Sabrina Cavalcanti Barros
José Luis Álvaro*
Affiliation:
Universidad Complutense (Spain)
Alicia Garrido
Affiliation:
Universidad Complutense (Spain)
Cícero Roberto Pereira
Affiliation:
Universidade Federal da Paraíba (Brazil)
Ana Raquel Torres
Affiliation:
Universidade Federal da Paraíba (Brazil)
Sabrina Cavalcanti Barros
Affiliation:
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (Brazil)
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to José Luis Álvaro. Universidad Complutense. Departamento de Psicología Social. 28040 Madrid (Spain). E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Although there is a vast bibliography on the negative consequences of unemployment for mental health, there are no studies that analyze the differences between men and women in relation to the consequences that unemployment could have simultaneously on self-esteem and depression. The main objective of this study was to analyze whether, unemployment is differentially associated with the self-esteem of men and women, and to test whether this circumstance can be considered a psychological mechanism by which we could explain differences in depression for men and women. Results show that self-esteem is a mediating variable (indirect effect = .11; 90% CI [.04, .19]), considering its differential impact on depression, but this mediation is moderated by the gender of the respondents (b = .21, 90% IC [.01, .40]. In summary, unemployment is associated with lower self-esteem, which in turn is related to greater depressive symptoms. This relationship is only observed for men and not for women.

Keywords

depressiongenderself-esteemunemployment
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 22 , 2019 , E1
Copyright
Copyright © Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

How to cite this article:

Álvaro, J. L., Garrido, A., Pereira, C. R., Torres, A. R., & Barros, S. C. (2018). Unemployment, self-esteem, and depression: Differences between men and women. The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 21. e1. Doi:10.1017/sjp.2018.68

References

Artazcoz, L., Benach, J., Borrell, C., & Cortès, I. (2004). Unemployment and mental health: Understanding the interactions among gender, family roles and social class. American Journal of Public Health, 94(1), 82–88. http://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.94.1.82CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Álvaro, J. L. (1992). Desempleo y bienestar psicológico [Unemployment and psychological well-being]. Madrid, Spain: Siglo Veintiuno.Google Scholar
Beck, A. T. (1967). Depression: Clinical, experimental, and theoretical aspects. New York, NY: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Beck, A. T., Rush, J., Shaw, B. F., & Emery, G. (1983). Terapia cognitiva de la depresión [Cognitive therapy of depression]. Bilbao, Spain: Desclée De Brouwer.Google Scholar
Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas. CIS. (2018). Barómetro de Septiembre: Avance de resultados n° 3223 [September’s barometer: Advance of results n° 3223]. Retrieved from CIS website http://datos.cis.es/pdf/Es3223mar_A.pdfGoogle Scholar
Efron, B. (1982). The jackknife, the bootstrap and other resampling plans. Philadelphia, PA: Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ensminger, M. E., & Celentano, D. D. (1990). Gender differences in the effect of unemployment on psychological distress. Social Science & Medicine, 30(4), 469–477. https://doi.org/10.1016/0277-9536(90)90349-WCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eisenberg, P., & Lazarsfeld, P. F. (1938). The psychological effects of unemployment. Psychological Bulletin, 35(6), 358–390. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0063426CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Faul, F., Erdfelder, E., Lang, A., & Buchner, A. (2007). G*Power 3: A flexible statistical power analysis program for the social, behavioral, and biomedical sciences. Behavior Research Methods, 39(2), 175–191. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03193146CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Feather, N. T., & O’Brien, G. E. (1986). A longitudinal study of the effects of employment and unemployment on school-leavers. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 59(2), 121–144. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8325.1986.tb00219.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flaquer, L., & Escobedo, A. (2014). Licencias parentales y política social de la paternidad en España [Parental leave and the social politics of fatherhood in Spain]. Cuadernos de Relaciones Laborales, 32(1), 69–99. https://doi.org/10.5209/rev_CRLA.2014.v32.n1.44714CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frese, M., & Mohr, G. (1987). Prolonged unemployment and depression in older workers: a longitudinal study of intervening variables. Social Science & Medicine, 25(2), 173–178. https://doi.org/10.1016/0277-9536(87)90385-6CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gurney, R. M. (1980). Does unemployment affect the self-esteem of school leavers? Australian Journal of Psychology, 32(3), 175–182. https://doi.org/10.1080/00049538008254687CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hartley, J. (1980). The impact of unemployment upon the self-esteem of managers. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 53(2), 147–155. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8325.1980.tb00019.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hayes, A. F. (2013). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach. New York, NY: Guilford Publications.Google Scholar
Instituto Nacional de Estadística. INE (2017). Encuesta de población activa-EPA. [Labour force survey] Madrid, Spain: Author. Retrieved from INE website http://www.ine.esGoogle Scholar
Jahoda, M. (1982). Employment and unemployment. A socio-psychological analysis . Cambridge, UK. Press Syndicate of the University of CambridgeGoogle Scholar
Jahoda, M., Lazarsfeld, P. F., & Zeisel, H. (1971). Marienthal: The sociography of an unemployed community. Chicago, IL: Aldine. (Original work published 1933)Google Scholar
Jones, L. (1989). Effect of unemployment on women. Journal of Women and Social Work, 4(4), 54–67. https://doi.org/10.1177/088610998900400404CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Judd, C. M., McClelland, G. H., & Culhane, S. E. (1995). Data analysis: Continuing issues in the everyday analysis of psychological data. Annual Review of Psychology, 46(1), 433–465. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.ps.46.020195.002245CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kenny, D. A., & Judd, C. M. (2014). Power anomalies in testing mediation. Psychological Science,25(2), 334–339.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kroll, L. E, & Lampert, T. (2011). Unemployment, social support and health problems - Results of the GEDA study in Germany 2009. Deutsches Ärzteblatt International, 108(4), 47–52. https://doi.org/10.3238/arztebl.2011.0047Google ScholarPubMed
Leana, C. R., & Feldman, D. C. (1991). Gender differences in responses to unemployment. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 38(1), 65–77. https://doi.org/10.1016/0001-8791(91)90018-HCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leana, C. R., & Feldman, D. C. (1995). Finding new jobs after a plant closing: Antecedents and outcomes of the occurrence and quality of reemployment. Human Relations, 48(12), 1381–1401. https://doi.org/10.1177/001872679504801201CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, C., & Owens, R. G. (2002). Issues for a psychology of men’s health. Journal of Health Psychology, 7(3), 209–217. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105302007003215CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Leeflang, R. L. I., Klein-Hesselink, D. J., & Spruit, I. P. (1992). Health effects of unemployment–II. Men and women. Social Science & Medicine, 34(4), 351–363. https://doi.org/10.1016/0277-9536(92)90295-2CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McKee-Ryan, F., Song, Z., Wanberg, C. R., & Kinicki, A. J. (2005). Psychological and physical well-being during unemployment: A meta-analytic study. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90(1), 53–76. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.90.1.53CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Moreno, A. (2015). De la familia de un sustentador económico a la familia de doble ingreso [From the family of an only economic supporter to the double income family]. In Torres, C. (Ed.), España 2015: Situación social (pp. 315–320). Madrid, Spain: Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas.Google Scholar
Muller, D., Judd, C. M., & Yzerbyt, V. Y. (2005). When moderation is mediated and mediation is moderated. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89(6), 852–863. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.89.6.852CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Patton, W., & Noller, P. (1990). Adolescent self-concept: Effects of being employed, unemployed or returning to school. Australian Journal of Psychology, 42(3), 247–259.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paul, K. I., & Moser, K. (2009). Unemployment impairs mental health: Meta-analyses. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 74(3), 264–282. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2009.01.001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosenberg, M. (1965). Society and the adolescent self-image. Princeton, NJ: Princeton.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sanz, J., & Vázquez, C. (2011). Inventario de Depresión de Beck–II (BDI–II) [Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II)]. Madrid, Spain: Pearson University Press.Google Scholar
Schmitt, C. (2008). Gender-specific effects of unemployment on family formation: A cross-national perspective . (Discussion Papers 841, The German Socio-Economic Panel, [SOEP]). Berlin, Germany: Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung.Google Scholar
Stankunas, M., Kalediene, R., Starkuviene, S., & Kapustinskiene, V. (2006). Duration of unemployment and depression: A cross-sectional survey in Lithuania. BMC Public Health, 6, 174. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-6-174CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Strandh, M., Hammarström, A., Nilsson, K., Nordenmark, M., & Russel, H. (2013). Unemployment, gender and mental health: The role of the gender regime. Sociology of Health & Illness, 35(5), 649–665. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9566.2012.01517.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. C. (1979). An integrative theory of intergroup conflict. In Austin, W. G. & Worchel, S. (Eds.), The social psychology of intergroup relations (pp. 33–47). Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole.Google Scholar
Warr, P., & Jackson, R. (1983). Self-esteem and unemployment among young workers. Le Travail Human, 46(2), 355–366.Google Scholar
Waters, I. E. & Moore, K. A. (2002a). Predicting self-esteem during unemployment: The effect of gender, financial deprivation, alternate roles, and social support. Journal of Employment Counseling, 39(4), 171–189. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2161-1920.2002.tb00848.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waters, L. E., & Moore, K. A. (2002b). Reducing latent deprivation during unemployment: The role of meaningful leisure activity. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 75, 15–32. https://doi.org/10.1348/096317902167621CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, S. H., & Walker, G. M. (1993). Unemployment and health: A review. Public Health, 107(3), 153–162. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0033-3506(05)80436-6CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed