UNEMPLOYMENT AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS - MEDIATOR EFFECTS

The study concerned possible mediators and moderators in the relations hip between unemployment and psychological distress. The sample consis ted of 58 unemployed and 177 employed 36-year-old Finnish people drawn from the ongoing Jyvaskyla Longitudinal Study of Personality and Soci al Development. Data were gathered by means of a mailed questionnaire, a semistructured interview, and personality inventories. The results showed that poor economic situation, and poor self-esteem as measured by Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale, mediated the relationship between un employment and psychological distress even after controlling for the p rior level of self-esteem. Psychological distress was defined as psych ological ill-health (the General Health Questionnaire), depressive sym ptoms (the General Behavior Inventory), and anxiety (the Karolinska Sc ales of Personality). However, support was also found for an alternati ve model, in which depressive symptoms functioned as a mediator betwee n long unemployment and poor self-esteem, suggesting that individuals may react to unemployment in different ways.