PSYCHOPHYSICAL HEALTH DURING PROLONGED UNEMPLOYMENT: LONGITUDINAL DATA

Abstract

Research on health effects of unemployment have shown inconsistent findings, both in terms of stability and factors of overall health during time without a job, and in terms of the significance of factors based on which one can reliably predict the health of the unemployed. The Psychophysical health scale was conducted on a sample of 222 unemployed individuals in the Republic of Serbia, in order to analyze factors of general psychophysical health. By applying a longitudinal study design, we measured general health of the unemployed from four regions in the Republic of Serbia on three occasions (March 2012, October 2012, and May 2013). During the course of the study, the results have indicated that, unemployed individuals show significantly fewer symptoms of ill-health, that women, as a group, are more vulnerable in most aspects of health, that the oldest unemployees report symptoms of health deterioration most often, and that job loss does not produce different effects on health in people with different levels of education. These results are discussed in light of findings from previous research studies.

Keywords

• unemployment
• psychophysical health
• longitudinal data