title: The persistence of depressive symptoms in older workers who experience involuntary job loss: results from the health and retirement survey.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between involuntary job loss among workers nearing retirement and long-term changes in depressive symptoms.
  
  
  METHODS
  Analyzing data from the first four waves (1992-1998) of the Health and Retirement Survey, we used longitudinal multiple regression in order to assess whether involuntary job loss between Wave 1 and Wave 2 was associated with depressive symptoms at Wave 3 and Wave 4. The study sample included 231 workers who had experienced job loss in the Wave 1-Wave 2 interval and a comparison group of 3,324 nondisplaced individuals. We analyzed the effect of job loss on depressive symptoms both in the full study sample and in subsamples determined by wealth.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among individuals with below median net worth, Wave 1-Wave 2 involuntary job loss was associated with increased depressive symptoms at Wave 3 and Wave 4. We found no effect of involuntary job loss for high net worth individuals at the later survey waves.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings identify older workers with limited wealth as an important group for which the potential effect of involuntary job separation in the years preceding retirement is ongoing (enduring) adverse mental health.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Yale University School of Medicine, One Church Street, 7th Floor, New Haven, CT 06510, USA. william.gallo@yale.edu
authors.forename: William T
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Gallo
authors.forename: Elizabeth H
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Bradley
authors.forename: Joel A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Dubin
authors.forename: Richard N
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: Tracy A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Falba
authors.forename: Hsun-Mei
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Teng
authors.forename: Stanislav V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Kasl
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D003710:Demography; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012179:Retirement / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014478:Unemployment / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*