Latent deprivation among people who are employed, unemployed, or out of the labor force

Using a Web-based survey, the authors tested M. Jahoda's (1981, 1982, 1997) latent deprivation model among employed, unemployed, and out-of-the-labor-force (OLF) people. The model predicted that employment is the main provider of 5 specific subconstructs of experience important to mental health: time structure, social contact, collective purpose, status, and activity. As expected, deprivation of these latent functions correlated with distress not only among employed and unemployed people, but also among OLF people. OLF people reported significantly more latent deprivation than did employed people, but they reported significantly less latent deprivation than did unemployed people. Furthermore, latent deprivation mediated the negative effects of unemployment and OLF status on mental health. When the authors statistically controlled the influence of manifest deprivation, the effect of latent deprivation on mental health remained stable.