The interplay of gender, social context, and long-term unemployment effects on subjective health trajectories

Altweck, Laura; Hahm, Stefanie; Muehlan, Holger; Gfesser, Tobias; Ulke, Christine; Speerforck, Sven; Schomerus, Georg; Beutel, Manfred E.; Brähler, Elmar; Schmidt, Silke

BACKGROUND: While a strong negative impact of unemployment on health has been established, the present research examined the lesser studied interplay of gender, social context and job loss on health trajectories. METHODS: Data from the German Socio-Economic Panel was used, which provided a representative sample of 6838 participants. Using latent growth modelling the effects of gender, social context (East vs. West Germans), unemployment (none, short-term or long-term), and their interactions were examined on health (single item measures of self-rated health and life satisfaction respectively). RESULTS: Social context in general significantly predicted the trajectories of self-rated health and life satisfaction. Most notably, data analysis revealed that West German women reported significantly lower baseline values of self-rated health following unemployment and did not recover to the levels of their East German counterparts. Only long-term, not short-term unemployment was related to lower baseline values of self-rated health, whereas, in relation to baseline values of life satisfaction, both types of unemployment had a similar negative effect. CONCLUSIONS: In an economic crisis, individuals who already carry a higher burden, and not only those most directly affected economically, may show the greatest health effects. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-021-10324-8.