The proposed research involves a longitudinal survey of the effects of unemployment on both marital strain and psychological distress in Mexican Americans and Anglos in San Antonio, Texas. A sample of recently unemployed, married males (aged 20 to 45) applying for unemployment benefits will be identified through the Texas Employment Commission; a matched control group of employed males will be drawn from a community sample. The sample will be stratified by ethnicity. A subsample of wives will be asked to take part in order to evaluate the impact of unemployment on families as well as individual workers. Two interviews, four months apart, will be conducted.
The aims of the study are to: 1) assess changes in marital strain and types of psychological distress (depression, anxiety, somatization, and alcohol use) over time among unemployed Mexican American and Anglo males and among their wives; 2) examine differences between husbands and wives in the kinds of personal and social coping resources used to deal with unemployment; and 3) examine the influence of culturally-relevant coping resources such as fatalism and familism as mediators or moderators of the impact of unemployment on marital strain and psychological distress in Mexican Americans and Anglos. The significance of the proposed study derives from the fact that existing research on the psychosocial impact of unemployment has not specifically addressed the consequences of job loss for disadvantaged minority groups such as Mexican Americans. Rates of joblessness for Mexican Americans are higher and more sensitive t downturns in the economy than those for Anglos. Since Mexican Americans constitute the second largest and most rapidly-growing ethnic group in the United states, examination of the psychosocial impact of unemployment in this group is particularly important.
