Unemployment and mental wellbeing: a factory closure study in Finland

The mental wellbeing of the entire personnel (n = 211) of a wood-processing factory located in Hämeenlinna, Finland was studied by mailing a questionnaire to the subjects 6 months after the factory was closed down. The entire personnel (n = 305) of a similar wood-processing factory acted as a control group. Mental wellbeing was measured by means of the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ score), the 13-item Beck Depression Inventory (BDI score), and the 13-item questionnaire assessing psychosomatic symptoms. Seventy-nine per cent of the study group and 65% of the control group returned the questionnaire. The two groups were similar sociodemographically. Mental wellbeing was poorer in the men of the study group than in the controls. No such difference was detected in women. Mental wellbeing was poorer in all age groups in the study group, especially in married men, than in the controls. The impaired mental wellbeing in the men in the study group was associated with insufficient social support, subjectively poor health, low income and uncertainty about the future. Based on a discriminant analysis, the two groups differed most in terms of GHQ score, income, sex and BDI score.