UNEMPLOYMENT AND MENTAL WELL-BEING - A FACTORY CLOSURE STUDY IN FINLAND

The mental wellbeing of the entire personnel (n = 211) of a wood-proce ssing factory located in Hameenlinna, Finland was studied by mailing a questionnaire to the subjects 6 months after the factory was closed d own. The entire personnel (n = 305) of a similar wood-processing facto ry acted as a control group. Mental wellbeing was measured by means of the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ score), the 13-item Bec k Depression Inventory (BDI score), and the 13-item questionnaire asse ssing psychosomatic symptoms. Seventy-nine per cent of the study group and 65% of the control group returned the questionnaire. The two grou ps were similar sociodemographically. Mental wellbeing was poorer in t he men of the study group than in the controls. No such difference was detected in women. Mental wellbeing was poorer in all age groups in t he study group, especially in married men, than in the controls. The i mpaired mental wellbeing in the men in the study group was associated with insufficient social support, subjectively poor health, low income and uncertainty about the future. Based on a discriminant analysis, t he two groups differed most in terms of GHQ score, income, sex and BDI score.