Unemployment and Family Structure The Sociological and Psychological Affective Dimensions of Unemployment on Family Structure

Human society has forces that sometimes create balances and imbalances among individuals within the society. With this premise, it can be said that some changes within the social structure may be beneficial to an individual and detrimental for the other. Indeed, one illustration of these imbalances in the society is the negative, or non-beneficial, effects of unemployment of an individual on his/her family. Although unemployment may be best viewed as an economic issue, the social and psychological effects that it brings to the individual and society makes it an essential issue to be discussed in the domains of sociology and psychology.

This paper aims to identify the relationship between unemployment and its affective nature on the family structure and posit that, there is a significant relationship between the two, wherein unemployment leads to the weakening of the family structure and decrease in self-esteem of the individual. Further, factors influencing family dissolution and low self-esteem or psychological well-being due to unemployment are also discussed. These objectives are achieved through study of related literature on the said topic. The texts that follow discuss the negative effect of unemployment on the individual and society (family) through the development of low self-being (esteem) and weakening of family ties, respectively.

K. Briar-Lawson et. al. (2001), on their study on family well-being...

According to the study, "Many persons... who are the only provider of wages for their family and who face layoffs also experience some form of downward economic skidding... without wages, they and their families have few other income sources to which to turn. Social isolation and marginalization may grow... there may be the loss of housing, resources, or other goods... family may splinter as members go in search of jobs or cope by self-medicating though alcohol or drugs" (84). The findings of this research establish the fact that indeed, unemployment does not only lead to family dissolution, but also contributes to the development of a negative psychological well-being, as the unemployed individual and his/her family members are unable to cope with the sudden economic changes within the family.
Support on the study's findings is found in Casper and King's (2004) research on how family structure is affected by low-wage jobs, even unemployment. Several factors and indicators influence the weakening and creation of negative sociological and psychological effects on the individual and family due to unemployment. The authors assert that "family structure... age of the individual, and his or her attachment to the labor force affect the economic well-being of... families" (55). This means that the higher the number of family members, there is greater difficulty of sustaining the family…