1859 – The effect of unemployment on mental health

Abstract

Introduction Considering the current Greek economic crisis, it is reasonable to discuss the potential and expected effects of the crisis in mental health. Objective This study examined the effect of unemployment on mental health. Aim This study aimed at detecting the interaction of unemployment on the bio-psycho-social health. Materials and methods 273 community individuals participated in the present study (122 men - 151 women, mean age 49,2± 6,9). The measures used were: a) Family Environment Scale (FES), b) the Hostility and Direction of Hostility Questionnaire (HDHQ), c) the Symtom Checklist 90-R (SCL-90), and d) State - Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), e) Short Form Health Survey (SF-36), f) Other As Shamer Scale (OAS), g) Experience of Shame Scale (ESS). Results Multivariate analysis was applied for the statistical analysis of data, and the results was: a) the unemployed have the highest level (6.82) of feelings of inferiority, the total price (47.30) of internal shame, State Anxiety (47,58), Obsessive- Compulsive (11,42), interpersonal sensitivity (8,30), depression (13,64), phobic anxiety (3,79), and intropunitiveness hostility (7,45). Still have the lowest levels of the scales of Intellectual - Cultural Orientation (4,97), family orientation for active recreational activity (3,61), mental health (58,00), physical role (62,12) and summary scale of physical health (266,64). Conclusion It was found that the unemployed suffer more than all social groups at periods of economic crisis and this has impacts on psychosomatic health, on state stress, as much as on the feelings of inferiority and shame which they feel.