The credit crunch and mental health

Men could be more prone to mental-health problems as a result of the recession, according to a study by researchers at Cambridge University. The study found that although more women had actually lost their jobs men who thought they could be fired or made redundant were likely to become more stressed and depressed than women. Men had fewer ways of defining themselves outside the workplace and felt their masculinity would be under threat if they lost their jobs. The study also found that when unemployed men moved into insecure jobs they showed no improvement in their psychological health whereas women doing the same did. The decline in mental wellbeing can be worse for people under threat of losing their jobs than for those actually made redundant.

You can find out more about this research at

http://uk.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUKTRE5293QB20090310?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews&sp=true