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Coping and emotional distress in a sample of Swedish unemployed
Author(s) -
Grossi Giorgio
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.743
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1467-9450
pISSN - 0036-5564
DOI - 10.1111/1467-9450.00113
Subject(s) - coping (psychology) , psychology , distress , unemployment , clinical psychology , cognitive restructuring , cognition , emotional distress , anxiety , psychiatry , economics , economic growth
The study investigated the associations between copying and symptoms of emotional distress within a sample of 166 unemployed men and women (mean age 40±10 years, range 22 to 63 years, 52% males). All variables were measuered with a questionnaire comprising sociodemographic background, length of unemployment, financial strain, copying style (“Ways of Copying Checklist”) and emotional distress (Hopkins Symptom Check List‐25). Emotional distress was positively related to financial strain and more common among younger subjects, divorced subjects and those with foreign background, but less frequent among subjects who had been unemployed for more than three years. After controlling for age, gender, education, foreign background, length of unemployment and financial strain, hierarchical regression analyses showed that emotion‐focused copying, i.e. self‐blame and wishful thinking, was positively related to emotional distress. Problem‐focused copying and cognitive restructuring were negatively associated with emotional distress. Younger subjects and divorced subjects made frequent use of both emotion‐focused and problem‐focused coping. Female subjects and subjects with mandatory school made frequent use of emotion focused coping, if exposed to high financial strain. Problem‐focused coping was less frequent among subjects with a low education coupled with low financial strain. Cognitive restructuring was less common among subjects who had been unemployed for more than three years. Younger subjects who were also divorced made less use of both problem‐focused coping and cognitive restructuring. The results confirm that coping style has importance for the mental health of the unemployed, and indicate a differential use of copying strategies among subjects with different sociodemographic backgrounds and different levels of financial strain.