Complicated Grief following job loss: The role of neuroticism and self-efficacy

Abstract

Job loss has been repeatedly associated with poor mental-health, like any other life-stressor. It has not only been related to grief-like symptoms before but, most importantly, it has been associated with complicated grief. The current study investigated the relationship of certain individual characteristics with the intensity of Complicated Grief (CG) following involuntary job loss. Increasing the knowledge on these relationships could prove valuable in the efficiency of identifying vulnerability following job loss and in the implementation of suitable interventions to prevent the development of CG. Neuroticism as a personality trait was hypothesized to have a positive relationship to CG, while self-efficacy as a personal resource, on the other hand, was hypothesized to have a negative relationship to CG. Moreover, it was expected of those characteristics to both have a significant relationship with CG levels when measured together. The design of the study was cross-sectional, with the use of three questionnaires in online safe environment. Τhe final sample consisted of 79 Greek individuals who had lost their jobs in the last five years. The data were analyzed using simple linear regression for the first two hypotheses and multiple regression for the last hypothesis. Results confirmed the two first hypotheses; neuroticism was found to have a positive significant relationship to CG and self-efficacy was found to have a negative significant relationship to CG. Yet, results showed no evidence for the last hypothesis, since neither neuroticism nor self-efficacy contributed to CG when measured in the same model. Further research could investigate more personality traits in order to better and more widely comprehend the development and maintenance of CG, as well as identify more resources that could act as protective factors.