[Health and quality of life among long-term unemployed].

BACKGROUND: Many studies have shown an association between unemployment and poor health. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This cross-sectional survey from 1993-94 using structured interviews and questionnaires describes health and quality of life among 148 long-term unemployed in Lillesand, Norway. RESULTS: Compared with the general population, somatoform conditions and anxiety symptoms were twice as common among the unemployed, and depression three times as common. There was a higher frequency of depression among unemployed men than among unemployed women. The unemployed had a lower quality of life score than the general population; the difference was more than twice as large among men as among women. Unemployed aged 30-39 reported the strongest symptoms of anxiety and depression. INTERPRETATION: The reason why unemployed men are more often stricken by depression and report lower quality of life than women, may be that men experience the job-loss more existentially threatening than do women.