Physical Disability, Unemployment, and Mental Health.

Objective: Assess the joint mental health effects of unemployment and physical disability. Study Design: Face-to-face interviews with participants screened for the presence of a physical disability and a matched comparison sample obtained from the same geographic area. Participants: Five hundred fifty-six community-based physically disabled persons and 460 matched comparison participants. Outcome Measures: Mastery (L. I. Pearlin & C. Schooler, 1978) and self-esteem (M. Rosenberg, 1979), financial strain, and depression (L. S. Radloff, 1977). Results: Persons with disabilities are 5 times more likely than their nondisabled counterparts to be involuntarily unemployed. However, this difference accounts for only about 30% of the elevations in depression among the former. Furthermore, the emotional impact of unemployment appears to be greater among those with disabilities. Conclusions: There appears to be no overlap in the psychological impacts of physical disability and unemployment-the 2 stressors representing cumulative, and even synergistic, adversity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)