Effects of Economic Uncertainty on Mental Health in the COVID-19 Pandemic Context: Social Identity Disturbance, Job Uncertainty and Psychological Well-Being Model

Abstract

Psychological well-being is a major global concern receiving more scholarly attention following the 2008 Great Recession, and it becomes even more relevant in the context of COVID-19 outbreak. In this study, we investigated the impact of economic uncertainty resulting from natural disasters, epidemics, and financial crisis on individuals’ mental health. As unemployment rate exponentially increases, individuals are faced with health and economic concerns. Not all society members are affected to the same extent, and marginalized groups, such as those suffering from chronic mental illnesses or low-income families cannot afford the downsizing, mass lay-offs and lack of access to public health services. Psychiatric profession is familiarized with the phenomenon of intolerance of uncertainty (IU), and we examine how this concept is associated with job uncertainty and social identity disturbance. Several studies have formally investigated the effects of IU, but to our knowledge, this is the first research integrating the psychological well-being, job uncertainty and identity disturbance caused by economic breakdown. Literature points to many reported cases of PTSD, anxiety, depression and suicidal tendencies following major social disasters. Yet, we have undertaken to analyze the subjective experiences underlying the self-harming behaviors in an attempt to fill the methodological gap by drawing insights from prominent psychological, sociological and economic theories. We find economic uncertainty to have a positive relation to job uncertainty and identity disturbance, and a negative relationship with psychological well-being. Psychological well-being depends on coherency between both abstract subjective and concrete objective identity, and when these perceptions are inconsistent, cognitive dissonance arises resulting in identity disturbance. We argue that stability is not associated with monetary advantage only, but also with a wide range of other benefits that are crucial for individuals’ growth, satisfaction and sense of identity. Therefore, we propose the implementation of social support and public welfare policies to mitigate health risks during the turbulent socio-economic changes.

Immediate impact of stay-at-home orders to control COVID-19 transmission on mental well-being in Bangladeshi adult population: Patterns, Explanations, and future directions

“…Retrospective research indicates a strong link between nancial solvency and good mental well-being [20]. Similar to our results, a report found that business and career uncertainty have a substantial adverse effect on the mental health of the adult population [21].…”

Perceived Job Insecurity and Depressive Symptoms among Italian Dentists: The Moderating Role of Fear of COVID-19

“…Regarding our main hypotheses, we found support for the association between perceived job insecurity and depressive symptoms, as well as for the moderating role of a fear of being infected by COVID-19 in this relationship. The relationship between perceived job insecurity and negative mental health outcomes is well established in literature [14][15][16][17][18] and might be explained by virtue of the fact that pandemics (e.g., the COVID-19 outbreak) may produce a great uncertainty about the future [39] and even about one's own job, thus causing a temporary economic uncertainty. Indeed, although not directly assessed in the current study, it is plausible to hypothesize that many factors (e.g., the severity of the lockdown measures, the severe containment measures adopted by governments to reduce the risk of contagion within healthcare contexts, the regional economic conditions, the perceptions of alternative work, or the client portfolio of the dentists) may have affected the dentists' perception of job insecurity, creating a strong economic uncertainty.…”

“…Indeed, although not directly assessed in the current study, it is plausible to hypothesize that many factors (e.g., the severity of the lockdown measures, the severe containment measures adopted by governments to reduce the risk of contagion within healthcare contexts, the regional economic conditions, the perceptions of alternative work, or the client portfolio of the dentists) may have affected the dentists' perception of job insecurity, creating a strong economic uncertainty. As a consequence, such an economic uncertainty, together with the uncertainty about one's own job and the future in general, may have produced in turn severe psychopathological conditions, such as depressive symptoms [39]. Based on our results, this seems particularly significant with respect to older workers, who have a lower level of perceived occupational mobility and a greater sensitivity to economic insecurity than their younger counterparts [14], and with respect to those who have a personal knowledge of people who have died due to COVID-19, as mourning may exacerbate depressive feelings.…”

Beliefs in conspiracy theories, intolerance of uncertainty, and moral disengagement during the coronavirus crisis

“…Plohl and Musil (2020) explored why people deliberately disregard or ignore the health measures imposed during the current pandemic, suggesting that the perception of the SARS-CoV-2 risk and trust in science might predict people's compliance with the general prevention guidelines. The current situation is highly unpredictable regarding the pandemic's health, economic, social, and psychological consequences (Godinic et al, 2020). Therefore, the variations in people's SARS-CoV-2 risk estimates and consequent cautiousness and compliance might be partly explained by their general cognitive and emotional approach to uncertainty.…”