How does unemployment affect depressive symptoms amongst adults living in the Netherlands?

Abstract

This study examines the influence of unemployment on depressive symptoms in adults living in the Netherlands. It is examined whether unemployed people experience more depressive symptoms than employed people and it is examined whether the found result was moderated by gender and type of work using three different hypotheses. The analyses were based on data from the Longitudinal Internet studies for the Social Sciences (LISS), administered by CentERdata. The results indicate that unemployment positively affects depressive symptoms and that this effect is stronger for blue-collar workers than for white-collar workers, consistent with what was hypothesized. Evidence for the effect of unemployment on depressive symptoms being stronger for women was also found, contradicting the third hypothesis. The social causation theory is supported with unemployment as a social factor.