UNEMPLOYMENT, SOCIAL SUPPORT AND HEALTH COMPLAINTS - A LONGITUDINAL-STUDY OF STRESS IN EAST-GERMAN REFUGEES

Migrants have to deal with a number of stressors, among them tenacious job search and the constitution of a new social network. Prolonged un employment and lack of social support can result in impaired health. A sample of 235 East Germans was investigated at three times during two years following their transition to West Berlin in 1989, after the br eakdown of the communist system. The majority found a job during this time and succeeded to adapt psychosocially. Those, however, who remain ed unemployed were worse off in terms of self-reported health. This st ress-health relationship was moderated, however, by social support. Wi thin the group of migrants who suffered from long-term joblessness, so cial support exerted a longitudinal buffer effect. At Wave 3, frequent physical symptoms were reported only by migrants who neither held a j ob nor received support. In a longitudinal causal model, the employmen t status affected mainly health complaints, but also social support. T he relationship between health and support was found to be reciprocal over time.