Abstract

TOMAS, José Manuel; GUTIERREZ, Melchor  and  FERNANDEZ, Irene. Consequences of unemployment on the mental health of a sample of Angolan youth. Escritos de Psicología [online]. 2017, vol.10, n.1, pp.58-68. ISSN 1989-3809.  https://dx.doi.org/10.5231/psy.writ.2017.11511.

Commonly found effects of unemployment on mental health include a loss of confidence, a higher incidence of depression and a loss of psychosocial resources. Objective: To test the effect of strain-mitigating variables on mental health in a sample of unemployed Angolan youth using a structural model with latent variables. Effects of social support (from parents, friends, and others), resilience, and coping strategies on mental health were tested, while controlling for the effects of being economically self-sufficient. The model was tested on a sample of 283 Angolan youth (age range, 18-30 years). The structural model was estimated using EQS 5.7. The model had an adequate fit to the data. The results suggest that social support, resilience, and coping strategies have an alleviating effect on the negative consequences of unemployment on mental health. The results indicate the need to foster parental support and the need for social institutions to encourage the active search for employment. We discuss the results in the light of previous evidence and highlight the limitations related to the cross-sectional nature of the study and incidental sampling.

Keywords : perceived social support; resilience; coping; mental health; Angola.

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