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Article Excerpt
Two hundred and one unemployed men and women participated in a cross-sectional study that assessed self-esteem, financial deprivation, number of alternate roles, and use of social support. Financial deprivation, alternate roles, and social support each had a main effect on self-esteem. In addition, these variables interacted with gender to affect self-esteem. Specifically, financial deprivation had a greater negative association with self-esteem in men as compared with women. In contrast, alternate roles and social support had a stronger positive relationship to self-esteem in women than in men. The incorporation of these findings into intervention programs for unemployed persons is discussed.
The negative impact of unemployment on psychological health has a long research history. Arguably one of the most damaging, and certainly one of the most commonly reported, of all the psychological consequences of unemployment is a loss of self-esteem (Sheeran & Abraham, 1994; Waters, 2000; Winefield, Tiggemann, & Winefield, 1992). Among others, Amundson and Borgen (1987) and Amundson (1994) have characterized unemployment as an experience that leads to self-doubt and an internal struggle with confidence. The aim of the current study was to examine the contribution of three major factors (financial status, alternate roles, and social support) to the self-esteem of people who were unemployed. This study also examined the important question of whether gender had a differentiated effect on the relationship between these three factors and self-esteem.
Rosenberg (1965) defined self-esteem as "the evaluation which the individual makes and customarily maintains with regard to himself or herself: it expresses an attitude of approval or disapproval towards oneself" (p. 5). Most studies concerned with the effect of unemployment on self-esteem have assessed self-esteem as a global construct, often using Rosenberg's (1965) Self-Esteem Inventory (e.g., Patton & Noller, 1984; Shamir, 1986; Winefield, Tiggemann, & Winefield, 1992). Cross-sectional and longitudinal research using a global measure of self-esteem has repeatedly demonstrated that unemployed people display lower levels of self-esteem than do employed people (Feather & O'Brien, 1986; Gurney, 1980; Patton & Noller, 1990; Perfetti & Bingham, 1983; Shams & Jackson, 1994).
However, there is still more to be learned about the relationship between unemployment and self-esteem, and researchers have recently turned attention to factors that influence this relationship. Along this line, many authors have suggested that gender may be an important factor. Yet, the relative infancy of studies concerned with gender-based differences during unemployment means that there is still considerable debate about whether gender does influence psychological reaction to unemployment (Kulik, 2001; Muller, 1995). Although there is some evidence to show that gender does not influence the relationship between unemployment and psychological reaction (e.g., Heubeck, Taush, & Mayer, 1995; Leana & Feldman, 1991), the bulk of evidence suggests that gender is an important factor in psychological reaction to unemployment. More particularly, the results often show that during unemployment, men report poorer psychological health than do women (Najam, Ashraf, Nasreen, Bashir, & Khan, 1996). For example, Shamir (1985) found that unemployed men experienced lower morale and higher anxiety than did unemployed women. Similarly, Muller, Hicks, and Winocur (1993) found that unemployed men had lower vigor (i.e., energy), higher distress, higher tension, and higher fatigue than did unemployed women. In a longitudinal test of the way gender interacted with employment status, Lahelmo (1992) found that employed men who had lost their job reacted more negatively to unemployment (as shown through a greater change in General Health Questionnaire score) than did working women who became unemployed. The aforementioned research findings suggest that there is a gender effect in psychological reactions to unemployment.
Muller (1995) and Fielden and Davidson (1999) have argued that this gender effect has not been adequately considered in the design of many labor market programs, which typically follow a traditional male model of work. (Author's Note. In Australia, labor market programs include job search programs as well as work-based training and job creation schemes.) Muller (1995) also argued that future policy responses need to be broadened to meet the needs of unemployed women as well as unemployed men. However, before implementing such strategies, research is needed to examine the factors that interact with gender to influence psychological reaction. The current study considers three such factors: financial deprivation, alternate roles, and social support.
An early popular explanation for why women respond more favorably to unemployment than do men was that they were less financially deprived than men during unemployment (Komarovsky, 1940). This argument was based on the notion that women were not the breadwinners and worked only for "hobby spending" or "pin money" (Kauffman & Fetters, 1980; Rosenfeld & Spenner, 1988). Such an explanation is outdated given the rise in the number of women entering full-time employment, single career women, dual-breadwinner relationships, and single parent families (Australian Bureau of Statistics [ABS], 2001; Lewis, 1992; Whitehouse, 1990). Research into the career aspirations and work attitudes of women has shown that women are no longer marginal employees (Rosenfeld & Spenner, 1988; Sverko & Super, 1995). It is, expected, therefore, that both genders will experience financial deprivation during unemployment. However, despite these gender-shifts in labor market participation and career aspirations, research shows that men, on average, still earn higher wages than women do (ABS, 2001; Whitehouse, 1990). As such, the explanation that men respond less favorably to unemployment than women do because they are relatively more financially deprived may still apply. It is, therefore, predicted that financial deprivation will be a factor that interacts with gender to affect self-esteem during unemployment.
STUDY HYPOTHESES
Hypothesis 1: The negative relationship between financial deprivation and self-esteem will be stronger in men than in women.
Loss of role identity has been shown to be a major contributor to lowered self-esteem during unemployment (Bolton & Oatley, 1987). Hence, one factor that may reduce the impact of unemployment on self-esteem is the availability of alternate non-employment-related roles (Dilnot & Kell, 1988; Fielden & Davidson, 1999). Jahoda (1982) and Warr and Parry (1982) argued that roles such as spouse, parent, and community worker can be used as psychological compensations for the loss of one's role as employee. Although the use of alternate roles may help to protect the identity of both men and women, social attitudes and patterns have allowed women to develop a greater range of non-employment-related roles (Alvesson, 1998; Ely, 1995; Levine, 1997; Rosenfeld & Spenner, 1988). Underlid's (1996) results provided support for the idea that the alternate role hypothesis is more relevant to women. In Underlid's study, unemployed women were more likely than were unemployed men to turn to the domestic role as a way to remain active during unemployment. It must be stated clearly at this point that we are not suggesting that roles such as parent and spouse should be more important to women than to men nor that the role of employee should be more important to men than to women. Rather, we propose that in the temporary absence of one's role of employee, it may be more socially acceptable for women than it is for men to turn toward these roles for a sense of purpose and esteem. Given this notion, it is suggested that alternate roles will have a greater influence on the self-esteem of women than on that of men during unemployment.
Hypothesis 2: The positive relationship between alternate roles and self-esteem will be stronger in women than in men.
Social support is a third factor that has been shown to positively relate to self-esteem during unemployment (Broomhall & Winefield, 1990; Jackson, 1988; Liem & Liem, 1988; Viinamaki, Koskela, Niskanen, Arnkill, & Tikkaken, 1993). Quick, Nelson, Matuszek, Whittington, and Quick (1996) defined social support as "the provision of positive psychological, emotional, and material resources to a person through interpersonal relationships" (p. 269). Jones (1991) argued that social...
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