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. 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.