REEMPLOYMENT AFTER MIGRATION FROM EAST-GERMANY TO WEST-GERMANY - A LONGITUDINAL-STUDY ON PSYCHOSOCIAL FACTORS

Two hundred and thirty-five East German migrants were interviewed thre e times during a two-year period after their transition to West Berlin in 1989. Their unemployment expectations, which were recorded at the onset, were related to employment status and number of months on the j ob later on. Those with higher expectations were more successful in ga ining a job. Women were less likely to expect reemployment than men. E xpectancies were independent of dispositional optimism and other perso nality traits. In the second part of the study, health complaints, str ess appraisals, and social support were related to employment duration . Within a structural model, initial expectancies and illness were the major predictors of employment duration. Illness operated through exp ectancies at Time 1, and through stress appraisals and social support at Time 2. A second model with illness as a dependent variable did als o fit the data but this was not based on exactly the same sample and t herefore could not invalidate the first one. From this study, it is co ncluded a) that expectancies were based on factors other than psycholo gical ones, and b) that illness reduced the likelihood of reemployment , partly through increased stress and decreased social support.