Quality of Life and Its Related Factors in Chinese Unemployed People: A Population-Based Cross-Sectional Study

Xiaoshi Yang, Lutian Yao, Hui Wu, Yang Wang, Li Liu, Jiana Wang and Lie Wang
Additional contact information
Xiaoshi Yang: Department of Social Medicine, School of Public Health, China Medical University, Shenyang 110122, China
Lutian Yao: Department of Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang 110001, China
Hui Wu: Department of Social Medicine, School of Public Health, China Medical University, Shenyang 110122, China
Yang Wang: Department of Social Medicine, School of Public Health, China Medical University, Shenyang 110122, China
Li Liu: Department of Social Medicine, School of Public Health, China Medical University, Shenyang 110122, China
Jiana Wang: Department of Social Medicine, School of Public Health, China Medical University, Shenyang 110122, China
Lie Wang: Department of Social Medicine, School of Public Health, China Medical University, Shenyang 110122, China

IJERPH, 2016, vol. 13, issue 8, 1-14

Abstract: With the global economic crisis and industrial restructuring, the unemployed are suffering from job loss-related stress and loss of income, which is believed to impair their mental and physical health, while coping and self-efficacy could combat the adverse effects of unemployment on health. Thus, this study aims to describe quality of life (QOL) among unemployed Chinese people and explore the associated factors. A cross-sectional study was conducted by convenience sampling, composed of 1825 unemployed people, from January 2011 to September 2011. Questionnaires pertaining to demographic characteristics, the 36-item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36), the abbreviated version of the Cope Inventory (Brief COPE) and self-efficacy scales were used to collect information from unemployed people in the eastern, central, and western regions of China. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was performed to explore the related factors of QOL. A structural equation model (SEM) was used to test the relations among coping, self-efficacy, and QOL. Mental QOL was significantly lower than physical QOL in Chinese unemployed people. Coping had significant effects on both physical component summary (PCS) and mental component summary (MCS), while self-efficacy played the mediating role in the association between Coping and QOL. Unemployed Chinese people’s mental QOL was disrupted more seriously than their physical QOL. An increase in coping could improve QOL by promoting better management of issues brought about by unemployment. In addition, self-efficacy has the ability to reduce the impact of unemployment on QOL, through the mediating path of coping on QOL. This study highlights the need of coping skills training and self-efficacy enhancement for better management of unemployment in order to improve QOL and well-being.

Keywords: QOL; the unemployed; coping; self-efficacy; PCS; MCS (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/13/8/797/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/13/8/797/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:13:y:2016:i:8:p:797-:d:75557

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().