The Effect of Psychological Factors and Decent Work on Un/Underemployed Workers Mental Health in the COVID-19 Pandemic
Abstract
Previous work crises have shown that unemployment and underemployment can have detrimental mental health effects. Workers facing issues related to employment and decent work, now have the added stress of real physical harm from the respiratory disease known as COVID-19. This situation presents workers with threats to financial security, physical health, and mental health. However, the presence of coping skills such as perceived social support, resilience, self-esteem, and social class could have a protective effect on mental health outcomes. The aim of this descriptive study was to examine how conditions during a pandemic affect underemployed and unemployed workers’ mental health and psychological well-being. Participants were recruited online from SONA-Systems, MTurk, and Reddit (r/Coronavirus, r/SampleSize, r/psychologystudents). Measures selected to examine the impact of likely contributing factors to mental health outcomes of workers affected by COVID-19 were used to obtain data for this study. This included the Decent Work Scale, Economic Constraints Scale, Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist for DSM-5, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and Differential Status Identity Scale. A demographic questionnaire was used to obtain information about workers’ age, education level, gender, marital status, mental health status, race/ethnicity, SES, social status. Data was analyzed using a Pearson correlation analysis, One-way MANOVA and One-way ANOVA.
Subject Area
Counseling Psychology|Mental health|Medical personnel
Recommended Citation
Taylor N Roberts,
"The Effect of Psychological Factors and Decent Work on Un/Underemployed Workers Mental Health in the COVID-19 Pandemic"
(2021).
ETD Collection for Tennessee State University.
Paper AAI28647683.
https://digitalscholarship.tnstate.edu/dissertations/AAI28647683