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Fear of Unemployment and its Effect on the Mental Health of Spouses

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  • Christian Bünnings
  • Jan Kleibrink
  • Jens Weßling

Abstract

Unemployment has been shown to have adverse effects on different aspects of a person's life, and even the fear of losing a job affects individuals negatively. In addition, not only the individuals directly affected but also their spouses and other family members might be affected. Using data from the German Socio‐economic Panel, this study analyzes the relationship between individual job worries and spouse's mental well‐being. The empirical results remain robust to different specifications and indicate that fear of job loss is negatively related to spouses' mental well‐being and that this relationship seems to be stronger in single‐income than in dual‐income households. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Suggested Citation

  • Christian Bünnings & Jan Kleibrink & Jens Weßling, 2017. "Fear of Unemployment and its Effect on the Mental Health of Spouses," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(1), pages 104-117, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:hlthec:v:26:y:2017:i:1:p:104-117
    DOI: 10.1002/hec.3279
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    6. Everding, Jakob & Marcus, Jan, 2020. "The effect of unemployment on the smoking behavior of couples," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 29(2), pages 154-170.
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    11. Briody, Jonathan & Doyle, Orla & Kelleher, Cecily, 2020. "The effect of local unemployment on health: A longitudinal study of Irish mothers 2001-2011," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
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    13. Zhao, Yuejun, 2023. "Job displacement and the mental health of households: Burden sharing counteracts spillover," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    14. Carrino, Ludovico & Glaser, Karen & Avendano, Mauricio, 2018. "Later Pension, Poorer Health? Evidence from the New State Pension Age in the UK," MPRA Paper 87575, University Library of Munich, Germany.
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