The web of coping resources and pathways to reemployment following a job loss

Structural equation modeling analyses of data from 2 longitudinal community studies of recently laid-off workers examined the interrelationships and pathways from personal coping resources to job-search intensity and the extent and quality of reemployment at 2 follow-ups (at 6 months and at 12 or 24 months). In both studies, the proposed models for predicting reemployment and reemployment quality provided a good fit to the data with the same pattern of results, which demonstrated that job-search motivation increased reemployment at all follow-ups but did not affect reemployment quality. At both the 6- and 12-month follow-ups, level of depressive symptoms decreased the extent and quality of reemployment. The results also highlighted the dual role of financial strain, which on the one hand facilitates reemployment by increasing job-search motivation and job-search intensity and on the other hand inhibits it by increasing depressive symptoms. Since the Great Depression, social psychological research on job loss and unemployment has focused primarily on the negative mental health and physical outcomes of unemployment. Numerous studies doc-ument the negative impact of job loss on the mental health and well-being of unemployed worker