Deprived needs and incongruent values - scrutinizing the causes of the mental health problems of unemployed people
Third party funded individual grant
Start date :
01.08.2013
End date :
31.07.2016
Project details
Short description
Unemployment does not only correlate with
an impaired mental health, it causes it. However, the mediating
mechanisms which contribute to this effect, have not been identified
yet. With regard to the most renowned theory in this field - Jahoda's
(1981, 1986, 1997) latent deprivation model - findings are inconclusive.
Furthermore, there is a lack of compelling longitudinal studies that
test the causal assumptions of the model. In addition, the foundation of
the model in contemporary need theories appears to be fragmentary. As a
complement to Jahoda's deprivation theory, the claimant has recently
proposed the incongruence hypothesis, which emphasizes the relevance of
employment-related values and life goals for the explanation of the
psychological effects of unemployment (Paul & Moser, 2006). For the
requested project it is thus proposed (1) to integrate the existing data
concerning the deprivation model meta-analytically, in order to
summarize the present state of research and to make this information
available for the research community; (2) to conduct a longitudinal
study with multiple waves in order to test the causal assumptions of the
model in a conclusive way; (3) to integrate the basic needs for
autonomy and competence, which have been neglected up to now, into the
model and to test them empirically; and (4) to test, with a newly
developed scale, the assumptions of the incongruence model, which has
not received much research attention yet.
Scientific Abstract
Unemployment does not only correlate with an impaired mental health, it causes it. However, the mediating mechanisms which contribute to this effect, have not been identified yet. With regard to the most renowned theory in this field - Jahoda's (1981, 1986, 1997) latent deprivation model - findings are inconclusive. Furthermore, there is a lack of compelling longitudinal studies that test the causal assumptions of the model. In addition, the foundation of the model in contemporary need theories appears to be fragmentary. As a complement to Jahoda's deprivation theory, the claimant has recently proposed the incongruence hypothesis, which emphasizes the relevance of employment-related values and life goals for the explanation of the psychological effects of unemployment (Paul & Moser, 2006). For the requested project it is thus proposed (1) to integrate the existing data concerning the deprivation model meta-analytically, in order to summarize the present state of research and to make this information available for the research community; (2) to conduct a longitudinal study with multiple waves in order to test the causal assumptions of the model in a conclusive way; (3) to integrate the basic needs for autonomy and competence, which have been neglected up to now, into the model and to test them empirically; and (4) to test, with a newly developed scale, the assumptions of the incongruence model, which has not received much research attention yet.
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