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The impact of husband’s job loss on partners’ mental health

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  • Silvia Mendolia

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to examine the impact of job loss on family mental well-being. The negative income shock can affect the mental health status of the individual who directly experiences such displacement, as well as the psychological well-being of his partner; also, job loss may have a significantly detrimental effect on life satisfaction, self-esteem and on the individual’s perceived role in society. This analysis is based on a sample of married and cohabitating couples from the first 14 waves of the British Household Panel Survey. In order to correct for the possible endogeneity of job loss, data from employment histories is utilised and redundancies (different from dismissals) in declining industries are used as an indicator of exogenous job loss. Results show evidence that couples in which the husband experiences a job loss are more likely to experience poor mental health. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2014

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  • Silvia Mendolia, 2014. "The impact of husband’s job loss on partners’ mental health," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 12(2), pages 277-294, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:reveho:v:12:y:2014:i:2:p:277-294
    DOI: 10.1007/s11150-012-9149-6
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    2. Suppa, Nicolai, 2021. "Unemployment and subjective well-being," GLO Discussion Paper Series 760, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    3. Pınar Mine Güneş, 2016. "The effects of teenage childbearing on long-term health in the US: a twin-fixed-effects approach," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 891-920, December.
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    5. Milena Nikolova & Sinem H. Ayhan, 2019. "Your spouse is fired! How much do you care?," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 32(3), pages 799-844, July.
    6. Clerici, Cristina & Tripodi, Stefano, 2021. "Unemployment and Intra-Household Dynamics: the Effect of Male Job Loss on Intimate Partner Violence in Uganda," Misum Working Paper Series 2021-4, Stockholm School of Economics, Mistra Center for Sustainable Markets (Misum).
    7. Inas Kelly & Dhaval Dave & Jody Sindelar & William Gallo, 2014. "The impact of early occupational choice on health behaviors," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 12(4), pages 737-770, December.
    8. Aitor Calo-Blanco, 2020. "Health and fairness with other-regarding preferences," Review of Economic Design, Springer;Society for Economic Design, vol. 24(3), pages 123-141, December.
    9. Zang, Emma, 2020. "Spillover effects of a husband's retirement on a woman's health: Evidence from urban China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 245(C).
    10. Mine Kühn & Anna Baranowska & Niina Metsä-Simola & Liina M. Junna & Pekka Martikainen, 2022. "The effects of unemployment among single mothers on adolescent children’s mental health," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2022-026, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    11. Melissa Ruby Banzhaf, 2018. "When It Rains, It Pours: Under What Circumstances Does Job Loss Lead to Divorce," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 85(2), pages 349-377, October.
    12. Nicholas A. Jolly, 2022. "The effects of job displacement on spousal health," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 123-152, March.
    13. Mari, Gabriele & Keizer, Renske & van Gaalen, Ruben, 2022. "The Timing of Parental Unemployment, Insurance, and Children's Education," SocArXiv 7rm6g, Center for Open Science.
    14. Antonio Di Paolo & Ada Ferrer‐i‐Carbonell, 2022. "Regional borders, local unemployment, and life satisfaction," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(2), pages 412-442, March.
    15. Stephan Goetz & Meri Davlasheridze & Yicheol Han, 2015. "County-Level Determinants of Mental Health, 2002–2008," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 124(2), pages 657-670, November.
    16. Melisa Bubonya & Deborah A. Cobb-Clark & Mark Wooden, 2017. "Job loss and the mental health of spouses and adolescent children," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 6(1), pages 1-27, December.
    17. Zhao, Yuejun, 2023. "Job displacement and the mental health of households: Burden sharing counteracts spillover," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    18. Mari, Gabriele & Keizer, Renske, 2020. "Parental job loss and early child development in the Great Recession," SocArXiv 2596e, Center for Open Science.
    19. Marta Golin, 2022. "The effect of broadband Internet on the gender gap in mental health: Evidence from Germany," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(S2), pages 6-21, October.
    20. Lars Kunze & Nicolai Suppa, 2020. "The effect of unemployment on social participation of spouses: evidence from plant closures in Germany," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 58(2), pages 815-833, February.
    21. Melanie Borah & Andreas Knabe & Christine Lücke, 2023. "Is a Sorrow Shared a Sorrow Doubled? Parental Unemployment and the Life Satisfaction of Adolescent Children," CESifo Working Paper Series 10776, CESifo.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Job loss; Mental health; Income shock; Psychological well-being;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I00 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - General - - - General
    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure

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