THE EFFECTS OF INDUSTRIAL EMPLOYMENT CONDITIONS ON JOB-RELATED DISTRESS

This paper examines the interaction between the effects of industrial unemployment and job conditions on workers' levels of psychological di stress. Previous research finds that economic stress, defined as conte xts of high unemployment, mainly affects distress indirectly, through deteriorating job conditions. However, adaptive cost and identity, sal ience hypotheses predict that the effects of industrial- andjob-level conditions interact. I test for cross-level interactions between indus trial unemployment and job demands and complexity using hierarchical l inear modeling, individual data for 7,095 workers from the 1987-1988 N ational Survey of Families and Households, and industry data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' 1986-1988 Current Population Surveys. Econ omic stress at the industrial level has a direct positive effect on wo rker distress, and economic stress is more distressing to workers in r ewarding, complex jobs. In contrast, job demands increase distress, bu t this effect does not interact with industrial employment conditions.