Sot. Sci. Med. Vol. 37, No. I, pp. 41-52, 1993 0277-9536/93 $6.00 + 0.00 Printed in Great Britain. All rights reserved Copyright 0 1993 Pergamon Press Ltd UNEMPLOYMENT AND MENTAL HEALTH: A CRITICAL REVIEW DOUGLAS EZZY Department of Sociology, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Australia 3083 Abstract-Existing theoretical explanations of the mental health consequences of unemployment are outlined, critically reviewed and an alternative theory proposed. Theories reviewed include the rehabili- tation approach, the stages model, Jahoda’s functional model, Warr’s vitamin model and Fryer’s agency critique. A discussion of the effects of moderating variables-including the quality of work, work commitment and age-is used to assess the usefulness of these theoretical explanations. Most theories are found to deal inadequately with the temporal aspects of unemployment, the relationship between subjective experience and objective location and the complexity of the effects of moderating variables. In response to these inadequacies and in contrast to the predominant empiricist, psychological orientation, a middle range theory is proposed informed by a sociological perspective. The proposed theory conceptualises unemployment as a type of status passage and suggests an explanation of changes in mental health derived from identity theory. Key words-unemployment, mental health, self-concept, status passage INTRODUCTION It is now clear that the relationship between employ- ment status and mental health is complex and subtle. Simplistic identifications of work as ‘good’ and un- employment as ‘bad’ are manifestly inadequate as explanations of observed variations in the effects of unemployment on mental health. This inadequacy is clear even at the most basic level of bivariate relation- ships: while the majority of people who become unemployed experience lowered psychological well- being, there are also a substantial minority whose well-being may improve on becoming unemployed. Similarly, while re-employment typically restores original levels of mental health, some re-employed people report lowered mental-health. Therefore, the central question which this paper addresses is: What explanation can be given for the variations in the mental health consequences of unemployment? In order to address this question the paper is divided into three main sections. First I provide a brief, critical summary of current research into the social psychological effects of unemployment. This provides the rationale for the rest of the paper. Second, I review existing theories which purport to explain variations in the mental health consequences of unemployment. Finally, drawing on sociological theory, I suggest an alternative conceptualisation of job loss as a type of status passage. As a secondary theme the paper also examines the relationship between work and the self-concept. Ar- guing from an ethnomethodological perspective, Harold Gartinkel [l] claimed that ‘breaching exper- iments’ are useful for uncovering the assumptions that underlie everyday reality. When an individual becomes unemployed this may be seen as a naturally occurring ‘breach’ providing an important and other- wise rare perspective on the meaning of work for the individual. I argue that it is only through the develop- ment of a theory of the relationship between employ- ment and the self-concept that the effects of unemployment on mental health can be adequately explained. zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPO A CRITICAL OVERVIEW OF THE UNEMPLOYMENT LITERATURE The negative consequences of unemployment were first described in the 1930s by researchers such as Jahoda, Lazarsfeld and Zeisel [2], Bakke [3] and Komarovsky [4]. Based on a wide variety of qualitat- ive and quantitative research these studies provide detailed and sensitive insights into the meaning and experience of unemployment. Although there were no established scales of mental health in the 193Os, the general experience of the unemployed was clearly an unpleasant one and psychologically destructive. Re- cent research has demonstrated in more rigorous quantitative terms that, independent of previous levels of mental health, losing a job typically results in reduced levels of psychological well-being com- pared to control groups who retain employment [S, 61. Although recent studies also include some excellent examples of qualitative research rich in descriptive detail [7-lo], most research has been conducted using quantitative methodologies and ori- ented toward testing various psychological and psy- chiatric effects amongst the unemployed [for example 1l-131. However, unemployment is not unambiguously negative, and employment is not unambiguously positive [13-151. Bakke [3] first observed that some 41