Mental Health of the Unemployed

Download or read book Mental Health of the Unemployed written by John Anderson Sanford and published by . This book was released on 1981 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The purpose of this study was to examine the mental health characteristics of unemployed persons and the impact of participation in employment training activities funded under the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act of 1978 (CETA) on those characteristics. This study endeavored to obtain mental health information not currently available from previous research for use in the development of counseling and training strategies used with unemployed persons. The subjects for this study were 191 participants (61 males, 130 females) in a north Florida CETA program during April and May, 1980. All subjects participated in either the Title II-B Adult Work Experience (AWE) program (N=69) or the Titles II-D and VI Public Service Employment (PSE) program (N=122). Each subject had either just begun training (Intake Group, N=96) or had just completed four months of training (Training Group, N=95) The dependent mental health variables were self-actualization, psychological androgyny, and locus of control. These variables were measured using the Personal Orientation Inventory (POI), Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI), and Internal-External Scale (lES), respectively. The test package was pre-recorded and presented to the subjects in a written and recorded format to control for the effects of limited reading skills. The Intake and Training groups were matched on 12 independent demographic variables to establish between group comparability. Of seven null hypotheses tested four were rejected as a result of finding significant differences between groups on the dependent mental health measures. The Training Group subjects perceived human nature in a more positive manner and perceived themselves as less feminine than Intake Group subjects. AWE subjects were more self-actualizing than PSE subjects in the Awareness dimension of the POI. Subjects who were older, unmarried, with 12 or more years of education, or affiliated with liberal religious denominations were more self-actualizing and more internally oriented than subjects who were younger, married, less education, or affiliated with fundamentalist denominations. Non-white subjects were more external in locus of control than white subjects. An examination of differences between AWE and PSE subjects on the demographic characteristics revealed the AWE subjects more likely to be female, older, unmarried, and unemployed longer, with less education and more children than PSE subjects. It was concluded that the AWE program and PSE program serve different elements of the unemployed population. Significant differences were found between the mental health characteristics of CETA subjects in this study and subjects reported in selected validation studies of the dependent mental health measures. With the exception of the POI Self-regard scale, the CETA subjects were less self-actualizing than a normal adult sample and were more externally oriented than two college samples. In contrast, the CETA subjects scored higher on the BSRI scales and had a higher percentage of androgynous subjects than two college samples. It was concluded that the CETA subjects experienced difficulty in objectively completing sophisticated self-evaluative tasks. These findings suggest three important implications for counselors. Unemployed persons may be more responsive to directive or structured counseling and training strategies as opposed to introspective approaches. The findings also suggest that unemployed persons have difficulty perceiving themselves as needing "help" or identifying problems areas, implying that the counselor may wish to re-examine how his/her role is presented to the unemployed client. Finally, the utility of the demographic characteristics in predicting willingness and ability to engage in mental health growth related activities was discussed. Additionally, recommendations were made for further research.