Insecure People or Places? The Influence of Regional Unemployment on Workers’ Reactions to Perceived Job Insecurity

• In Event: 515 - Section on Sociology of Mental Health Paper Session. The Economy, Work, and Mental Health

Abstract

Social comparison theory predicts that unemployment should be associated with fewer negative mental health consequences as the experience becomes more widely shared, but do these predictions extend to employed individuals who are tenuously attached to the labor market? While there is evidence that higher rates of unemployment increase perceptions of job insecurity among the employed—perceptions that are in turn associated with poorer physical and mental health—there is limited research that has examined how economic context might also influence the degree that these perceptions are distressing. We address this research gap by analyzing a nationally representative sample of Canadian workers (n=3,900) linked to census data in order to explore whether regional unemployment rates shape the association between perceptions of job insecurity and mental health. Results from HLM analyses support our social norm of insecurity hypothesis: the mental health consequences of job insecurity are lower for those individuals residing in census divisions where the unemployment rate is higher. We discuss the implications of these findings for the role of economic context in shaping the relationship between personal work experiences and mental health.

Authors

• Paul Glavin, McMaster University

• Marisa Christine Young, McMaster University