Unemployment, distress, and coping: A panel study of autoworkers.

Abstract

This study of coping with unemployment traces the distress levels of workers in 4 closing and 12 nonclosing General Motors (GM) plants. Workers were interviewed 3 months before plants closed, 1 year after, and 2 years after (final N = 1,136). Tested were (a) effects of unemployment on symptoms of depression, anxiety, and somatization; (b) linkages between depression and subsequent unemployment, controlling for workers' gender, race, marital status, age, education, prior income, and seniority; and (c) the relationship between workers' coping decisions and subsequent depression. Results showed that unemployment at Waves 2 and 3 was related to prior frequency of symptoms of depression. Depression, in turn, was alleviated for workers whose coping decisions at Wave 2 fit with their Wave 3 outcomes: those who both wanted and found a job, lost a job they disliked, or remained unemployed as planned.