Unemployment, perceived health status and coping: A study in Southern Italy

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. 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.