Employment, unemployment and the professional male: A study of perceived life stress

Professional unemployment and threatened unemployment are becoming an American economic reality. The present study was designed to test hypotheses that there are significant differences in the perceived stress and family functioning of employed, underemployed, and unemployed male professionals. A sample of 106 male petroleum geologists/geophysicists was obtained. Within the sample there were three subgroups of 38 employed, 42 underemployed and 26 unemployed geologists/geophysicists. Subjects were assessed on stress and family functioning measures. Descriptive data associated with the unemployment experience along physiological, psychological, financial, environmental and familial dimensions were also collected. The major stress hypotheses of the study were supported. Results indicated that underemployed and unemployed male professionals reported experiencing more negative stress than employed male professionals. The greater the perceived income inadequacy among the underemployed and unemployed groups, the higher were their levels of negative stress. The more dependent the underemployed or unemployed were on their wives' incomes, the greater their negative stress. Neither of the hypotheses relating underemployment and unemployment to less functional family behavior (in terms of cohesion and adaptability) was supported.; The unemployed of the study reported experiencing few physiological problems. The study did not support prior studies suggestion diminished psychological well-being due to job loss. There was evidence in the study to support divergent findings of previous research concerning the level of suffering associated with the financial impact of unemployment. For example, the study found there was significant negative stress associated with unemployment yet only half the spouses of the unemployed worked outside the home. There appears to be no support for social isolation among the unemployed of the study. The respondents reported few changes in the family that they would attribute to unemployment. One of the most important findings of this research suggested that the underemployed group experienced almost as much negative stress as the unemployed group. The study lends support to examining the underemployed group as a separate subgroup when considering issues associated with professional employment/unemployment.