Unemployment and psychological well-being in post Celtic Tiger Ireland

Abstract

It is well documented that unemployment has deleterious effects on psychological well-being. Ireland's high economic growth in the 1990s and early 2000s saw unemployment fall to 4%. However, since the end of the Celtic Tiger era in Ireland, the recession has been severe and unemployment high. It was hypothesised that the increase in unemployment will be accompanied by a decrease in psychological well-being. The present aim was to compare Irish employed and unemployed male and female respondents in terms of psychological well-being, and to investigate whether financial strain mediates the relationship between employment status and psychological well-being. Data were collected from a sample of 199 participants ranging in age from 18 to 64 (employed: n=100; mean age = 32.34, SD = 13.39; unemployed: n=99, mean age 35.26; SD = 11.16). The sex distribution was 57% (n=57) female and 43% (n=43) male for the employed sample, and 45.5% (n=45) female and 54.5% (n=54) male for the unemployed sample. Psychological well-being was operationalised in terms of self-esteem, anxiety and mental health problems. Results showed that unemployed respondents had significantly poorer psychological well-being than employed respondents. Further, unemployed females suffered from a loss of self-esteem more so than unemployed males, while unemployed males suffered from increased anxiety and increased mental health problems more so than females. Additionally, financial strain mediated the relationship between employment status and psychological well-being. Implications of findings include that health professionals should be aware of the differential effects of unemployment on males and females, and should ensure that measures of psychological well-being are sufficiently comprehensive to capture such differences. Additionally, the State should take cognizance of the mediating role of financial strain in the relationship between unemployment and psychological well-being and introduce appropriate interventions to improve the latter.

Keywords:

• psychological well-being
• unemployment
• Celtic Tiger
• Ireland

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge Marie Slevin, Veronica McElhinney and Michelle Lam, from the Congress Resource Centre, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal for their support and help with data collection.