Schieman, Scott, Quan Mai, Phillip J. Badawy, and Ryu Won Kang. 2023. “A Forced Vacation? The Stress of Being Temporarily Laid Off During a Pandemic.

Question 1

social causation hypothesis

Answer 1

Suggests that environmental and social factors, like poverty or socioeconomic disadvantage, directly contribute to the development of health problems or mental illnesses

Question 2

social selection/drift hypothesis

Answer 2

Suggests that individuals with mental health issues or disabilities tend to gradually move into lower socioeconomic positions due to the limitations imposed by their condition, causing a “drift” downward in social class

Question 3

the stress process model

Answer 3

• When a disruptive event occurs, individuals often struggle to reestablish homeostasis, and this can be wearing and taxing
  
  • Theoretically, a stress like TLO should elevate distress because it is “involuntary, undesired and unscheduled”. It can also lead off to a series of other chronic stressors.

Question 4

wheaton’s hypothesis

Answer 4

○ In his elaboration of the consequences of stress, he noted the importance of social context in shaping stress exposure - potentially altering its meaning and threat level
Given the extraordinary context surrounding the pandemic and the temporary nature of the job disruption, an alternative view - the “forced vacation” hypothesis - argues that people who became TLO might report lower distress compared to people who continued working during the same period

Question 5

Why did workers who were TLO not report more distress than their peers who continued working?

Answer 5

○ Discovered themes
§ A temporary state
□ Many had a pause from work and were protected from ongoing work stress; they suddenly had more time for self-care
§ Reduced internal attribution
□ The normativity of being TLO allowed workers to perceive job disruption as a societal-level phenomenon affecting the labour market, rather than due to personal qualities
§ Alleviated financial strain
Financial strain linked to TLO was reduced by increased personal savings/reduced spending, government support, and employer-provided pay/benefits (“countervailing forces and buffers”)

Question 6

what did they use to gather information

Answer 6

semi-structured interviews
○ Personal introduction + details of study
○ Background information
§ Ex. first think back to before you were laid off, can you tell me about your job? Your job title?
○ How you learned that you would be laid off
§ Ex. can you recall when you first learned you would be laid off?
○ Experiences while being laid off
Ex. what was it that you missed most about work? (probe: “the people”, “the structure”, “the work itself”)

Question 7

context

Answer 7

• In Feb 2020, 19.2 million Canadians had a job/business
  
  • During the prior 12 months, the unemployment rate was between 5.4-5.9%
  • In March 2020, closure of non-essential businesses, restricted travel, social distancing
  • From Feb-March 2020, unemployment rate increased to 7.8%, the largest one-month increase since 1976
    By April 2020, it increased to 13%, with 97% of newly unemployed classified as temporary layoffs reached an all-time high of 1.2 million Canadians