Mental Health as a Mediator of Gender Differences in Employment Barriers among Drug Abusers

Abstract

Employment has been identified as an important drug abuse treatment outcome, but drug abusers often face a wide variety of barriers to securing stable employment. The employment barriers literature also reports that women and people with mental health problems have difficulty in obtaining employment. The current study examined gender differences in mental health and employment barriers in a sample of drug court participants. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to test the hypothesis that differences in employment barriers among drug–abusing males and females are mediated by differences in mental health problems. Women were found to have more mental health problems and employment barriers, and support for the mediation hypothesis was found. Implications for drug treatment providers are discussed.

Keywords:

• Drug abuse
• employment
• gender
• mental health