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Study Hartz IV harms the life satisfaction
Losing a job and being unemployed for a long time can result in considerable psychological stress and lasting damage to life satisfaction. A new study by the Free University (FU) Berlin and the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) Berlin shows that life satisfaction among the unemployed decreases significantly. Above all, the cognitive perception of one's own well-being is decisive for this, while the emotional well-being is less weakened, the researchers report.
"Even for a long time after a job loss unemployed reach a study according to the level of life satisfaction on which they were before unemployment," said the statement of the Freie Universität Berlin. However, the impact of unemployment on well-being is complex. Thus, the researchers were able to detect significant deviations in the emotional and cognitive perception of well-being. The scientists have published their findings in the journal "Journal of Happiness Studies".
The life satisfaction decreases after a job loss significantly and many unemployed are increasingly sad, joyless and anxious. (Image: lassedesignen / fotolia.com) Emotional well-being less impaired
In the current study, Jürgen Schupp, Director of the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) at DIW Berlin, and sociologists Frederike Esche and Professor Christian von Scheve of Freie Universität Berlin evaluated the data of the SOEP with a special focus on the consequences of unemployment. Based on data from 2007 to 2014, changes in life satisfaction and emotional well-being before and after job loss were analyzed. The researchers were able to determine that the life satisfaction by a job loss drops significantly, but "not so much due to the emotional state of those affected" was; reported the FU Berlin. Instead, "the cognitive perception of one's well-being plays an important role."
Different emotions captured
According to the researchers, life satisfaction is described as "the cognitive components of well-being, that is, summarizing assessments of the current condition, whereas the emotional aspects refer to current emotional states." For the first time, the current study also allows "differentiated statements about the changes in specific emotions caused by unemployment". , because the emotions raised (fear, anger, sadness, happiness) were not considered in a summarized value for the emotional well-being, reports the FU Berlin.
Sadness, joylessness and fear increase
In the analysis of the data, the researchers found that "with the job loss, the life satisfaction decreases permanently and the unemployed in the long term significantly more sadness and joylessness feel." However, in terms of anxiety only a short-term effect can be detected. Temporarily, a more frequent experience of anxiety occurred after job loss. The sense of anger, on the other hand, was not significantly related to unemployment, according to the researchers. The SOEP data also showed that changes in emotional well-being were independent of the personality of those affected. "In periods of unemployment, all people are more anxious than before or after - regardless of how anxious they are otherwise," says SOEP Director Schupp.
Understand long-term consequences of unemployment
According to Professor Christian von Scheve of the Institute of Sociology of Freie FU Berlin, "Insights into emotions associated with unemployment are important because they not only affect the well-being, but also the thoughts and actions of those affected". Therefore, it is necessary to understand "the consequences for the emotional well-being of those affected," adds Frederike Esche, Research Associate at the Institute for Sociology of the FU Berlin. (Fp)