Work, Unemployment and Mental Health - Tapa dura

Research into the effects on mental health of both work and unemployment has been extensive, but it remains scattered and unintegrated. This book examines comprehensively what is known, setting it in an original and logical conceptual framework. Nine primary characteristics of any environment are introduced, and it is suggested that these influence mental health in a non-linear fashion. The way in which primary features of environments combine in their impact is also considered, and interactions between personal characteristics and aspects of both jobs and unemployment are systematically examined. Findings and speculations are brought together in an explicit definition of "mental health" which embodies both affective and behavioural components. A central theme is that the same nine environmental factors give rise to the harmful and beneficial consequences of both work and unemployment. Professor Warr's analysis is developed through the detailed description of particular job and unemployment environments. Relatively "good" and "bad" jobs and relatively "good" and "bad" unemployment are thus construed in the same terms.