Richter Ernst Peter, Brähler Elmar, Stöbel-Richter Yve, Zenger Markus, Berth Hendrik
Division of Psychological and Social Medicine and Developmental Neurosciences, Research Group Medical Psychology and Medical Sociology, Technische Universität Dresden, Fetscherstr. 74, 01307, Dresden, Germany.
Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center, Universität Mainz, Untere Zahlbacher Str. 8, 55131, Mainz, Germany.
Health Qual Life Outcomes. 2020 Nov 9;18(1):361. doi: 10.1186/s12955-020-01608-5.
Economic disruption in East Germany at the time of reunification (1990) resulted in a noticeable increase in unemployment. The present study provides data from a German cohort for over 20 years. The aim was to examine how the frequency of experiencing unemployment affects life satisfaction and whether their relationship changes over time.
In the Saxon Longitudinal Study, an age-homogeneous sample was surveyed annually from 1987 to 2016. Since 1996, 355 people (54% female) have been examined for issues related to unemployment. Life satisfaction was measured with both the Global Satisfaction with Life Scale and the Questions on Life Satisfaction questionnaire.
In 1996, the participants were 23 years old and 50% of the sample was affected by unemployment. At all 16 different measuring points, participants who were never unemployed indicated higher life satisfaction than those who were once unemployed. The repeatedly unemployed consistently reported the lowest values of life satisfaction. In each year, there were significant differences with small to medium effect sizes.
Our results support the notion that the adverse effects of unemployment on life satisfaction increase with the time spent unemployed. In 2016, only 2% of the cohort were currently unemployed, but differences between people with and without unemployment experience still exist. This indicates that the negative effect of the unemployment experience will last for a very long time. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that demonstrates the effect so persistently at so many measurement points for over 20 years.
两德统一（1990年）时，东德的经济动荡导致失业率显著上升。本研究提供了来自一个德国队列长达20多年的数据。目的是研究经历失业的频率如何影响生活满意度，以及它们之间的关系是否随时间变化。
在萨克森纵向研究中，从1987年到2016年每年对一个年龄同质的样本进行调查。自1996年以来，对355人（54%为女性）进行了与失业相关问题的调查。生活满意度通过全球生活满意度量表和生活满意度问卷进行测量。
1996年，参与者的年龄为23岁，样本中有50%受到失业影响。在所有16个不同的测量点，从未失业的参与者的生活满意度高于曾经失业的参与者。多次失业者一直报告生活满意度最低。每年都存在显著差异，效应大小为小到中等。
我们的结果支持这样一种观点，即失业对生活满意度的不利影响会随着失业时间的增加而增加。2016年，该队列中目前只有2%的人失业，但有失业经历和没有失业经历的人之间仍然存在差异。这表明失业经历的负面影响将持续很长时间。据我们所知，这是第一项在20多年的这么多测量点上如此持续地证明这种影响的研究。
