from SLATE: Study Shows Unemployment Better for Mental Health Than a Bad Job
Maybe you should quit your day job. Researchers at Australian National University have found that positions with low security, high demands, and imbalanced effort-reward ratios cause more mental distress than unemployment. Over seven years, the researchers followed 7,000 respondents in an Australian labor survey. People who moved from no employment to jobs of "high psychosocial quality" showed gains in mental health. But those who went from jobless to employed in thankless, unstable positions were found to be more depressed and anxious than those who never got hired at all. Furthermore, the mental health of workers in "low psychosocial quality" jobs declined the most over time. And the worse the job, the more it damaged workers' sense of wellbeing. "Our results suggest that employment strategies seeking to promote positive outcomes for unemployed individuals need to also take account of job design and workplace policy," researchers concluded. Read original story in Time [http://healthland.time.com/2011/03/15/study-having-a-bad-job-is-worse-than-no-job-for-mental-health/] | Tuesday, March 15, 2011 -- Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
