Stress and Distress among the Unemployed

Employing both large-scale surveys and in-depth interviews, the authors document the mental health effects on workers caused by the closure of four General Motor plants. They paint a portrait of how the social context in which these workers lived played a critical role in their experiences of unemployment or of keeping their jobs when others around them lost theirs. More than simply a study of unemployment and mental health, this book is also a story of coping and resilience.

1 Introduction: Stress and the Life Course during Hard times.- Micro versus Macro Approaches.- Stress and Coping Models.- Unemployment as a Stressor.- Overview of the Book.- 2 The Study: Sites, Sample, Method, and Measures.- The Sites.- The Historical Context.- Studying the Effects of Plant Closings.- The Survey Questions.- Overview.- 3 Unemployment and Reemployment.- Trends in Jobs.- Reemployment.- Conclusions.- 4 Feelings: Downsizing's Effects on Individuals and Families.- Distress over Time.- Depression and Unemployment over Time.- Effects on the Family.- Conclusions.- 5 The Structure of Stress: Workers' Characteristics and the Stress Process.- At the Beginning of the End: Worker's Reactions at Wave 1.- Depression and Unemployment over Time Results.- Over the Long Run: Methodology.- The Long Run: Results.- Conclusions.- Race and Human Capital.- Gender and the Meaning of Unemployment.- Thoughts about Vulnerability.- 6 A Question of Worth: Financial Circumstances, The Self, and Distress.- Financial Hardship.- Trends in Financial Hardship.- Financial Hardship as Part of the Stress Process.- Conclusions I: Financial Worth.- Psychological Worth.- Mastery and Self-Esteem in the Stress Process.- Summing Up: Worth and Worthlessness.- 7 The Persistence of Stress: Negative Life Events in the Recent and Distant Past.- Stress across the Life Course.- Negative Life Events in the Immediate Past.- Carryover Effects of a Prior Stressor.- Cumulative Stressors, the Self, and Distress among Working Class Men.- Conclusion: Exploring the Process.- 8 Psychological Resources and Distress.- Stress and Coping Revisited.- Collective Woes and Individual Self-Blame.- Self-Blame and Distress (Especially Depression).- Conclusions.- 9 Individual versus Collective Resources.- Getting Help:Does it Help?.- Help is All Around.- Effects of Collective Supports on Depression and Self-Blame.- Conclusions.- 10 Conclusions: What Have We Learned?.- What We Found.- References.