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Fear of Unemployment and its Effect on the Mental Health of Spouses
Author(s) -
Bünnings Christian,
Kleibrink Jan,
Weßling Jens
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
health economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.55
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1099-1050
pISSN - 1057-9230
DOI - 10.1002/hec.3279
Subject(s) - unemployment , mental health , economics , demographic economics , psychology , medicine , psychiatry , economic growth
Summary Unemployment has been shown to have adverse effects on different aspects of a person's life, and even the fear of losing a job affects individuals negatively. In addition, not only the individuals directly affected but also their spouses and other family members might be affected. Using data from the German Socio‐economic Panel, this study analyzes the relationship between individual job worries and spouse's mental well‐being. The empirical results remain robust to different specifications and indicate that fear of job loss is negatively related to spouses' mental well‐being and that this relationship seems to be stronger in single‐income than in dual‐income households. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.