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Job Loss Anxiety Hurts More Than No Job at All

Smoking, hypertension worse than unemployment fear

By Wesley Oliver, Newser Staff

Posted Aug 29, 2009 5:33 PM CDT

(Newser) – Worried about your job? It may be better for your health if you just quit, new research suggests. Looking at studies of nearly 2,000 adults, scientists at the University of Michigan have found job loss anxiety can be more harmful to your health than unemployment, hypertension, or even smoking, Ann Arbor News reports. “These findings apply much more broadly today than they did even a few years ago," sociologist Sarah Burgard tells LiveScience.

The research is based on how participants viewed their own physical health. "We found that people who were persistently concerned about losing their jobs reported significantly worse overall health in both studies and were more depressed in one of the studies than those who had actually lost and regained their jobs recently," Burgard says.

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If you?re feeling insecure in your job, it might be better for your health if you just quit, new research suggests. (Shutter Stock)

Job anxiety may be more detrimental to your health that unemployment, scientists say. (Shutterstock)

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Chronic job insecurity was a stronger predictor of poor health than either smoking or hypertension in one of the groups we studied.
- Sarah Burgard, University of Michigan

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COMMENTS

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Showing 3 of 5 comments

jagerhans

Aug 30, 2009 10:11 AM CDT

maybe it is the time for you US folks to think about employment policies that forbid the business owner to sack employees for no good reason. It is law in Italy, but of course since the coming of the right wingers, may them burn in the seven hells, they started to devise plans to eliminate this heart-saving insurance. So they started substituting the forceful re-employment with a mere money compensation. Since we know what is going on in berlusconi's brains we suspect that in the future maybe if you shall get fired for nothing the law will give you the right of being beaten by police too. Of course the employer can dismiss workers if he plans to reduce the size of the enterprise, but he can't fire anybody just to replace them with other ones for no good reason. People, call this socialism but if you are wage earners and want to improve your condition and not just sit down in front of your TV set dreaming billions of $$$ you gotta take a look to old Europe and its manners, then ask your representatives , you that still have them.

riffran

Aug 30, 2009 7:22 AM CDT

Ive been lucky..lol...Ive always had the next job lined up and in the bag before any sacking could happen...dodged the bullet more than anything.....ya know the more I read you're post the more I regret not actually knowing you....You seem to lead a very full and intresting life, and some of the points you make show great insight and even crack me up on occasion :)

brawne

Aug 30, 2009 6:42 AM CDT

Never been fired Rif? I thought you danced that way a couple of times in your twenties at least--Everybody out on the dance floor--I got fired from my first job after I had my PhD. I was supposed to teach a bunch of numb nuts about cognitive linguistics. As you can imagine, I let fly with a few profanities to the dullards and wham they tossed me out. It was OK that's how I started just writing books, but man, I really wanted to teach. After that, I got fired from a fricking waitress job. I'll never forget that manager looking me in the eye and saying you are in the weeds--you can't do this.

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health • hypertension • work • smoking • stress • University of Michigan • jobless

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Job Loss Anxiety Hurts More Than No Job at All