Suvremena psihologija, Vol. 7 No. 2, 2004.
Izvorni znanstveni članak
Unemployment and subjective health. Are middle-aged unemployed persons most vulnerable?
Branimir Šverko
Darja Maslić Seršić
Mirta Galešić
Sažetak
This paper explores how unemployment affects physical and psychological health of unemployed people at different age levels. Several authors assert that the adverse effects of unemployment are most pronounced for middle-aged persons with more demanding family responsibilities. To date, this hypothesis got only partial support based on the retrospective accounts of unemployed people. In this study we compared health status of a representative sample of unemployed persons in Croatia (N=1065) with a sample of persons drawn from the general population (N=3074). Their subjective health was assessed by the Croatian version of the SF-36 Health Survey, a psychometrically sound instrument tapping physical and psychological health. We divided both samples in five age groups and compared their health cross-sectionally. No considerable differences in physical health were found between the compared groups at any age level. Their psychological health, however, appreciably differed: compared to the participants from the general-population sample, unemployed persons exhibited impaired health at all age levels. However, the differences in psychological health between the two samples were most pronounced in the middle-age range. This finding indicates that middle-aged unemployed persons may be an especially vulnerable group needing special attention in social policy programs.
Ključne riječi
Unemployment; health; psychological health; age
Hrčak ID:
3247
URI
Datum izdavanja:
15.12.2004.
Posjeta: 2.360 *