Job Loss, Identity, and Mental Health
Job Loss, Identity, and Mental Health

Author: Dawn R. Norris

Publisher: Rutgers University Press

Published: 2016-06-13

Total Pages: 203

ISBN-13: 0813573823

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Our jobs are often a big part of our identities, and when we are fired, we can feel confused, hurt, and powerless—at sea in terms of who we are. Drawing on extensive, real-life interviews, Job Loss, Identity, and Mental Health shines a light on the experiences of unemployed, middle-class professional men and women, showing how job loss can affect both identity and mental health. Sociologist Dawn R. Norris uses in-depth interviews to offer insight into the experience of losing a job—what it means for daily life, how the unemployed feel about it, and the process they go through as they try to deal with job loss and their new identities as unemployed people. Norris highlights several specific challenges to identity that can occur. For instance, the way other people interact with the unemployed either helps them feel sure about who they are, or leads them to question their identities. Another identity threat happens when the unemployed no longer feel they are the same person they used to be. Norris also examines the importance of the subjective meaning people give to statuses, along with the strong influence of society’s expectations. For example, men in Norris’s study often used the stereotype of the “male breadwinner” to define who they were. Job Loss, Identity, and Mental Health describes various strategies to cope with identity loss, including “shifting” away from a work-related identity and instead emphasizing a nonwork identity (such as “a parent”), or conversely “sustaining” a work-related identity even though he or she is actually unemployed. Finally, Norris explores the social factors—often out of the control of unemployed people—that make these strategies possible or impossible. A compelling portrait of a little-studied aspect of the Great Recession, Job Loss, Identity, and Mental Health is filled with insight into the identity crises that unemployment can trigger, as well as strategies to help the unemployed maintain their mental strength.

Involuntary Exit
Involuntary Exit

Author: Robin Merle

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2021-10-18

Total Pages: 165

ISBN-13: 1647423104

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It can take less than a minute to get fired. Less than a minute to hear the words that change your life as you’ve known it. You’re stunned, shocked, humiliated—because your career has defined your life and you’ve been blindsided. You’re a company Loyalist with a capital L, and you’ve been sucker punched professionally. How do you even talk about this? Countless books focus on leadership and resilience, but none of them take you through what actually happens to women leaders who are suddenly let go, or who endure untenable circumstances and ultimately fire themselves. None of them take you, step by step, through the emotional process of acceptance and beginning again. And that’s where Involuntary Exit comes in. With advice for every unexpected twist, turn, and emotional trigger, this book is based on author Robin Merle’s experience at the top of billion-dollar organizations, as well as her interviews with accomplished women who were suddenly severed from their organizations and navigated their way back to success. The real-life examples she offers in these pages prove that you’re not alone—and that you, too, will get through this. Whether you’ve been fired or need to move on, Involuntary Exit will help you rediscover your value and emerge as a stronger leader on your own terms.

The Oxford Handbook of Job Loss and Job Search
The Oxford Handbook of Job Loss and Job Search

Author: Ute-Christine Klehe PhD

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2018-05-08

Total Pages: 633

ISBN-13: 0190903503

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Job search is and always has been an integral part of people's working lives. Whether one is brand new to the labor market or considered a mature, experienced worker, job seekers are regularly met with new challenges in a variety of organizational settings. Edited by Ute-Christine Klehe and Edwin A.J. van Hooft, The Oxford Handbook of Job Loss and Job Search provides readers with one of the first comprehensive overviews of the latest research and empirical knowledge in the areas of job loss and job search. Multidisciplinary in nature, Klehe, van Hooft, and their contributing authors offer fascinating insight into the diverse theoretical and methodological perspectives from which job loss and job search have been studied, such as psychology, sociology, labor studies, and economics. Discussing the antecedents and consequences of job loss, as well as outside circumstances that may necessitate a more rigorous job hunt, this Handbook presents in-depth and up-to-date knowledge on the methods and processes of this important time in one's life. Further, it examines the unique circumstances faced by different populations during their job search, such as those working job-to-job, the unemployed, mature job seekers, international job seekers, and temporary employed workers. Job loss and unemployment are among the worst stressors individuals can encounter during their lifetimes. As a result, this Handbook concludes with a discussion of the various types of interventions developed to aid the unemployed. Further, it offers readers important insights and identifies best practices for both scholars and practitioners working in the areas of job loss, unemployment, career transitions, outplacement, and job search.

Exploring the Impact of Involuntary Job Loss and Unemployment on Meaning Violation and Spiritual Struggle
Exploring the Impact of Involuntary Job Loss and Unemployment on Meaning Violation and Spiritual Struggle

Author: Ian A. Gutierrez

Publisher:

Published: 2018

Total Pages:

ISBN-13:

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Psychological theory on unemployment has posited that involuntary job loss violates a person's sense of meaning, but few studies have directly tested this proposition. Moreover, research has yet to explore whether involuntary job loss is associated with religious or spiritual struggles, such as blaming God for one's circumstances, doubting one's religious belief, or grappling with one's understanding of meaning in life. The present study followed unemployed persons (N = 162) who had recently lost employment involuntary at three time points over a period of two months to examine (1) the relationships between religious and spiritual struggles and mental health among the unemployed, (2) whether and how these relationships change over time, (3) the role that religiousness plays as a possible protective factor against poor mental and physical health outcomes among the unemployed, (4) the interactions between religiousness and struggles on mental and physical health, and (5) the role that perceiving a calling has on mental health and well-being following involuntary job loss. Quantitative analyses revealed that core belief violation and meaning-related struggles were associated with poorer overall mental health and higher rates of internalizing symptoms among the unemployed. Meaning-related struggles became more strongly linked to psychiatric distress over time, involvement with organizational religiousness served as a protective factor against worsening mental health, and perceiving a calling was positively associated with mental health outcomes and well-being. Findings are considered within the context of the changing landscapes of work and faith in American life.

Overcoming the Grief of Involuntary Job Loss
Overcoming the Grief of Involuntary Job Loss

Author: Mark J. Myers

Publisher: Mark Myers

Published: 2022-12-09

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13:

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Vanessa had been grieving over the involuntary job loss and haunted by legal fights over her unfair treatment at an oil-gas (O&G) corporation in Texas. The shock of unexpected job loss stopped Vanessa's brain and she felt pain, denial, and anger kick in. She bargained to keep the promise to fight her legal battle all the way while suffering from anxiety and depression. Bereaved with sadness, Vanessa took a step backward to old feelings and could not change what had happened using legal proceedings. However, she could alter her reflection and defense in her legal fights. The O&G employer offered to settle Vanessa's complaint out of court, which helped her to move forward through the seven stages of grief from shock to acceptance. Vanessa was determined to research the feelings of involuntary job loss that caused the sense of disrupted self. At first, she did not understand the stage of the grieving process that led her to find meaning in her transforming grief, which resulted in peace and renewal. Vanesa found purpose through her research and examination of other adults' involuntary job losses. Her quest for meaning through research is an essential addition to grief literature that will be a vital tool for those healing from involuntary job loss.

Involuntary Job Loss and Changes in Personality Traits
Involuntary Job Loss and Changes in Personality Traits

Author: Silke Anger

Publisher:

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 45

ISBN-13:

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Economists consider personality traits to be stable, particularly throughout adulthood. However, evidence from psychological studies suggests that the stability assumption may not always be valid, as personality traits can respond to certain life events. Our paper analyzes whether and to what extent personality traits are malleable over a time span of eight years for a sample of working individuals. Furthermore, we specifically look at changes in personality traits after a major adverse life event: involuntary job loss. We use data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) from 2004 to 2014 - a period over which individuals' Big Five personality inventory was measured three times. Our dataset allows us to exploit detailed employment information, particularly reasons for job termination and unemployment spells. We focus solely on plant closures as a reason for job termination. Job loss due to plant closure is widely used as a relatively exogenous event to identify causal effects. Our results suggest that personality traits are indeed malleable during adulthood. Although the Big Five measures are relatively stable within the overall population of workers, we find an increase in openness, that is, the willingness to seek new experiences, for the average displaced worker. This increase, however, is fully driven by individuals with high educational attainment and by those who find a new job immediately after dismissal. The other dimensions of the Big Five personality inventory remain nearly unchanged after an involuntary job loss. Our findings hold for a number of robustness checks and are supported by the results of a falsification test using a placebo treatment.