Affiliations: [a] Psychiatry Unit, Department of Health Sciences, University Magna Graecia, Catanzaro, Italy | [b] Psychiatry Unit, Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, University of Foggia, Italy
Correspondence:
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Address for correspondence: Pasquale De Fazio, Psychiatry Unit, Department of Health Sciences, University Magna Graecia, Campus Universitario, Viale Europa 88100-Catanzaro, Italy. Tel./Fax: +39 0961 712393; E-mail: [email protected].
Abstract: BACKGROUND:Unemployment is a very stressful experience that significantly impairs an individual’s perception of their overall wellbeing. Interaction between unemployment and physical health is complex. OBJECTIVE:To analyze how specific coping strategies and socio-demographic variables may influence the level of physical and mental health perceived by those searching for work at an employment centre in Catanzaro, Italy. METHODS:Participants completed a set of self-administrated questionnaires including a socio-demographic questionnaire, the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS) and the SF-12 Health Survey (SF-12). A forward stepwise multiple regression analysis was used to ascertain those coping strategies significantly associated with participants’ perceived health status. RESULTS:Complete documentation was received from 113 registered unemployed participants, (61 men and 52 women) giving a response rate of 45% .Physical health status was significantly and positively associated with age and task-oriented coping, while the perception of mental health was associated not only with age, but also by lower emotion-oriented coping and a low number of previous job losses. CONCLUSION:The perception of health status is reduced among unemployed. Age is the only socio demographic variable that influences the perception of health status. Adaptive Task-oriented coping strategies are related to better physical health perception, whereas Emotion-oriented coping makes people prone to poorer mental health perception.
