[Depressive features in unemployed individuals]

The present research deals with a psychometric evaluation of depressive features in a group of laid-off compared with a control group of full-time workers. Sex differences has been taken into account in the comparison. (The laid-off workers belong to a group under an unemployment fund, Cassa Integrazione Guadagni, which continues paying about 80% of the ex-employee's last wage for an undetermined period of time). The psychometric elements considered include the D and Ma scales of MMPI and their difference as proposed by Diamond, and the Beck Depression Rating Scale. The results, still preliminary, show that work deprivation, even with the financial subsidy from the unemployment fund, can be considered a life event able to provoke a depressive symptomatology.