If you don’t have a job, you might not want to keep reading.
According to a new study in the journal Social Science and Medicine, being unemployed will increase your chance of premature death by 63 percent.
Researchers controlled for pre-existing health conditions in the study, which compiled existing research covering over 20 million people in 15 countries over the last 40 years. They found that unemployment increases stress levels. Stress can then lead to unhealthy behavior, such as not having health care (Remember? You’re unemployed!), poor eating habits, a lack of exercise, and excessive smoking and drinking.
The increased mortality risk is 40 percent higher among men than it is in women. It’s also higher for those younger than 50.
“In our society, men are more expected to have a job and bring home a salary,” said Eran Shor, one of the researchers and a sociology professor at McGill University. “When they can’t do that, it is very stressful.”
First off, since the survey takes into account research from the past 40 years, I’m not sure how they can make broad sociological statements like that. The roles of men and women in the world are so different now, compared to what they were 40 years ago.
But, as we’ve written too many times before, there’s still some merit to what Shor says. There shouldn’t be, but there is.
Given past traditions and all the stories about men dying and slacking, there’s still pressure on guys to be the sole providers. It’s an outdated, outmoded pressure, but it’s still finding a way to mess with our heads.
Unemployment sucks. Try not to let some antiquated expectations make it worse.
—Photo kanu101/Flickr
To make matters worse, the unemployment boom has hit men much harder than women. But, nobody cares.