DID THE CRISIS REALLY HURT?
Effects of the 1980 - 1982 economic recession on satisfaction, mental health and mortality

CONTENTS:

Ruut Veenhoven and Aldi Hagenaars (eds)
Did the crisis really hurt? Effects of the 1980 - 1982 economic recession on satisfaction, mental health and mortality.
Universitaire Pers Rotterdam, 1989, The Netherlands, ISBN 90 237 2297.5., 305p.

Abstract chapter 1
DID THE CRISIS REALLY HURT?
By Ruut Veenhaoven and Aldi Hagenaars.

There are good reasons to expect that the 1980/1982 economic recession has 'hurt' the average citizen in afflicted countries, in particular that it has impaired mental and physical health and has lowered satisfaction. Yet. there are also good reasons to doubt these claims. It is worth knowing whether the recession has in fact done damage or not, and - if so -, whom it has hurt most. It is fairly well possible to find that out.
This book tries to assess whether and to what extent the last macro economic recession has caused harm at the individual level. by taking stock of the available time series data on 'health', 'mental disturbance' and 'satisfaction'. These data are compared through time, between nations and across social categories. Economic recessions are believed to involve more than just temporary discomfort. They are seen to disorganize the lives of a great many, thereby causing lasting harm. This 'harm' is thought to manifest itself in, among other things, poorer health, psychological disturbance and dissatisfaction.
The purpose of this book is to check this assumption on the case of the last world-wide economic recession, which took place in the years 1980- 1982. To that end, time series will be considered on 'mortality', 'mental disturbances' and 'dissatisfaction' in different countries. It will be checked whether these data do indeed show peaks after the onset of this recession. If such peaks do appear, it will be investigated whether the different aspects of individual well-being under consideration are equally sensitive to the economic tide.

Ruut Veenhoven and Aldi Hagenaars (eds)
Did the crisis really hurt? Effects of the 1980 - 1982 economic recession on satisfaction, mental health and mortality.
Universitaire Pers Rotterdam, 1989, The Netherlands, ISBN 90 237 2297.5., 305p.

Abstract chapter 2
LIFE SATISFACTION IN THE EC CONTRIES 1975-1984
by Sasqia Chin-Hon-Foei

Year to year fluctuations in economic growth in nine EC countries from 1975 to 1984 are compared with year to year fluctuations in life satisfaction. Variations in life satisfaction appear not to coincide with economic ps and downs, but there is a tendency for life satisfaction to follow economic fluctuations with a one year delay. Both average level of satisfaction (x) and spread in life satisfaction (SD) follow the economic tide. The effects are quite small and variable across countries. The effect is greatest in the countries that provide their citizens least social security.
The average level of life satisfaction appears somewhat more responsive to economic ups and downs among the poor, the unemployed and singles. The observed effects of economic ups and downs on life satisfaction mark short term fluctuations rather than a steady influence. In spite of substantial economic growth in the decade under review, the level of life satisfaction remained essentially the same.

Ruut Veenhoven and Aldi Hagenaars (eds)
Did the crisis really hurt? Effects of the 1980 - 1982 economic recession on satisfaction, mental health and mortality.
Universitaire Pers Rotterdam, 1989, The Netherlands, ISBN 90 237 2297.5., 305p.

Abstract chapter 3
EVALUATION OF INCOME THROUGH THE RECESSION: EC-COUNTRIES 1972-1987
by Rens Trimp and Jeroen Winkels

A time-series analysis of the yearly Consumer Surveys in the EC-countries shows that most Europeans feel that their financial situation has changed for the worse during the recession and improved when the economy recovered. In most countries this change for the worse and the better is paralleled by a decrease and increase of perceived adequacy of ones present income (Denmark, Belgium, France, Germany}, but in some opinion remains fairly stable through the recession Ireland, the Netherlands, UK}.
A cross-section analysis of household types in the Netherlands shows that the recession affected income satisfaction somewhat more in households transfers as the main source of income.In short: the crisis did hurt, in particular among the benefit dependant.

Ruut Veenhoven and Aldi Hagenaars (eds)
Did the crisis really hurt? Effects of the 1980 - 1982 economic recession on satisfaction, mental health and mortality.
Universitaire Pers Rotterdam, 1989, The Netherlands, ISBN 90 237 2297.5., 305p.

Abstract chapter 4
DID THE CIRSIS HURT THE DANES?
By Eggert Petersen

On the basis of the three Danish studies it is concluded that the recession 1980-1982 - apart from a slight decline in real income - has not harmed the Danish population in general. Yet there is evidence of a harmful effect on the socially underprivileged groups. However, even at the lowest end of the social ladder, most people have managed to cope with the crisis.

Ruut Veenhoven and Aldi Hagenaars (eds)
Did the crisis really hurt? Effects of the 1980 - 1982 economic recession on satisfaction, mental health and mortality.
Universitaire Pers Rotterdam, 1989, The Netherlands, ISBN 90 237 2297.5., 305p.

Abstract chapter 5
SATISFACTION IN WEST GERMANY 1978-1988
By Roland Habich and Thomas Riede

The economic recession hit West Germany in the years 1980 and 1981: Realincome and private consumption decreased by some 2% in these years, while unemployment rose from 4% to 6%. In 1982 a recovery set in: Incomes and consumption have grown about 3% annually since this time, but unemploy-ment has risen to 9% and has remained at that level. Satisfaction was measured before (1978) during (1980) and after (1984-1988) the recession. Life satisfaction appears to have remained at the same level throughout the recession; income satisfaction declined slightly in 1980 and 1984; but job satisfaction seems rather to have increased somewhat. Though average satisfaction remained fairly stable throughout the recession, inequality in satisfaction has augmented. This is most clear in the case income satisfaction: in the lowest income quintile the dip in income satisfaction is most pronounced. Welfare development since 1978 shows a polarization between secure, established majorities and endangered minorities.

Ruut Veenhoven and Aldi Hagenaars (eds)
Did the crisis really hurt? Effects of the 1980 - 1982 economic recession on satisfaction, mental health and mortality.
Universitaire Pers Rotterdam, 1989, The Netherlands, ISBN 90 237 2297.5., 305p.

Abstract chapter 6
PSYCHOSOMATIC COMPLAINTS PRESENTED TO THE GENERAL PRACTITIONER IN A DUTCH TOWN 1971-1986
byHenk G.M. van der Velden

In the context of a Continuous Morbidity Registration project (C. M. R.) in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, four general practices recorded all morbidity from 1971 onwards.
The years of the recession witnessed no increase in incidences of morbidity, either for morbidity as a whole or for psychosomatic problems in particular. A decline rather than a peak in morbidity is seen in the years 1980-1983. This pattern is similar across social class and sex.
It is argued that this absence of harmful effect cannot be attributed to the insensitivity of the indicator. Probably the recession did not hurt because it did not really hit that hard in the Dutch welfare state.

Ruut Veenhoven and Aldi Hagenaars (eds)
Did the crisis really hurt? Effects of the 1980 - 1982 economic recession on satisfaction, mental health and mortality.
Universitaire Pers Rotterdam, 1989, The Netherlands, ISBN 90 237 2297.5., 305p.

Abstract chapter 7
PSYCHOSOMATIC COMPLAINTS THROUGH THE RECESSION IN SOME WESTERN NATIONS
by Marijke Mootz

This chapter takes stock of the survey data on psychosomatic complaints in Western countries that are available in time series and cover the years before and after the 1980/82 economic recession. Requests for information were sent to centers for QOL research in 14 countries. Data were available in only five countries (Denmark, West Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, USA.
These data show a rise of worries about economic matters during the recession and a decrease of these worries in the years after. However, general psychosomatic complaints, such as depression and loneliness, do not vary through the recession.

Ruut Veenhoven and Aldi Hagenaars (eds)
Did the crisis really hurt? Effects of the 1980 - 1982 economic recession on satisfaction, mental health and mortality.
Universitaire Pers Rotterdam, 1989, The Netherlands, ISBN 90 237 2297.5., 305p.

Abstract chapter 8
USE OF PSYCHOTROPIC DRUGS AND ECONOMIC RECESSION IN THE EC-COUNTRIES 1978-1987
by Evert Ketting

This study explores the association between the economic decline and the consumption of psychopharmaceuticals in Western Europe in the early 1980s. It starts from the hypothesis that the recession had psychologically harmful effects, which caused an increase in the use of psychotropic drugs. National sales data of these drugs are analyzed.
The analysis shows that only the use of tranquilizers did in fact increase during the economic recession. The use of hypnotics and sedatives, anti-depressants and neuroleptics did not change consistently in the eight countries studied. Variations in the severity of economic decline between countries do not explain different changes in use levels.
However, variations in social security do make a difference: in countries with a low level of social security the use of neuroleptics increased during the recession, while in countries with a high social security level, use of these drugs tended to decline. Conversely, use of tranquilizers rose in countries with a high level of social security, while it remained stable in countries low in social security.

Ruut Veenhoven and Aldi Hagenaars (eds)
Did the crisis really hurt? Effects of the 1980 - 1982 economic recession on satisfaction, mental health and mortality.
Universitaire Pers Rotterdam, 1989, The Netherlands, ISBN 90 237 2297.5., 305p.

Abstract chapter 9
ECONOMIC RECESSIONS AND NEUROTIC PROBLEMS: THE NETHERLANDS 1930-1985
by Giel J.M. Hutschemaekers and Fons J.R. van de Vijver

It is commonly assumed that economic dips give rise to an increase in neurotic problems. The validity of this claim is investigated in an analysis of 4511 files of neurotic patients from nine different archives covering the last half century.
It was found that complaints among neurotics do not increase during recessions, but that they rather increase in times of prosperity. For unemployed neurotics the effects are most salient: a large decrease of neurotic complaints appears during economic depressions. A historical-contextual model is proposed to account for this pattern.
Rather than explaining the changes in occurrence of neurotic complaints by referring to a decrease or increase of mental health, the model considers the social interpretation which types of behavior receive as the major source of changing patterns of neurotic complaints.

Ruut Veenhoven and Aldi Hagenaars (eds)
Did the crisis really hurt? Effects of the 1980 - 1982 economic recession on satisfaction, mental health and mortality.
Universitaire Pers Rotterdam, 1989, The Netherlands, ISBN 90 237 2297.5., 305p.

Abstract chapter 10
ECONOMIC CHANGE AND MORTALITY IN FIRST WORLD COUNTRIES: POST WAR TO MID 1980's
by M. Harvey Brenner

This chapter examines the influence of national economic changes on the health of populations in industrialized countries over 1950- 1985. The most fundamental discriminator of health and longevity differentials within and among populations is socio-economic status. Socio-economic status, based on the rank ordering of populations by skill level and income, is also the most powerful and pervasive variable in chronic, mental, infectious, trauma- related and infant/child illnesses in industrialized (and developing) countries.

Ruut Veenhoven and Aldi Hagenaars (eds)
Did the crisis really hurt? Effects of the 1980 - 1982 economic recession on satisfaction, mental health and mortality.
Universitaire Pers Rotterdam, 1989, The Netherlands, ISBN 90 237 2297.5., 305p.

Abstract chapter 11
MORTALITY AND CAUSES OF DEATH DURING TWO MAJOR ECONOMIC RECESSIONS: THE NETHERLANDS 1915-1984
by Johan P. Mackenbach and Anton E.Kunst

This chapter presents an analysis of the mortality effects of two major economic recessions in the Netherlands, those of the 1930s and 1970/1980s respectively. Mortality trends during the 1930s were generally very favorable and do not suggest that the Great Depression had important mortality effects. Mortality trends during the 1970s and early 1980s were favorable too, and generally no less favorable in regions with a larger rise in unemployment.

Ruut Veenhoven and Aldi Hagenaars (eds)
Did the crisis really hurt? Effects of the 1980 - 1982 economic recession on satisfaction, mental health and mortality.
Universitaire Pers Rotterdam, 1989, The Netherlands, ISBN 90 237 2297.5., 305p.

Abstract chapter 12
MORTALITY AND ECONOMIC CHANGE IN POST-WAR NETHERLANDS: 1950-1985
by M. Harvey Brenner
The question arises as to whether the Netherlands, a country with highly developed welfare state and health care systems, should give evidence of changed mortality patterns resulting from recession during the 1980s. In this study we examine the impact of the early 1980s recession in the context of ( 1) business cycle activity, (2) economic growth patterns, and (3) changing epidemiologic risks since World War II. To understand the economic consequences of the early 1980s, one must bear in mind that several phenomena are occurring simultaneously.
First, the recession is increasing the rates of: unemployment (people who have lost, and are seeking, employment), movement out of the labor force altogether (e.g. through early retirement), business failures, and losses of salary, wage and investment income.
Secondly, the 1980s recession is in force at a time of general economic restructuring of western, industrialized countries. In this case, it is a dramatic decline in manufacturing employment concurrent with a much slower increase in services employment. In general, the combination of recessional and structural (or technological) job losses and business failures, and long term growth in income and employment in parts of the services industry lays the foundation for much increased economic inequality. It is therefore necessary to estimate the effects of 1980s economic activity by taking into account several principal economic indicators. Further, it is important to estimate as much of the lagged effects as possible - short (under 3 years), medium-term (approximately 4-9 years), and long (10-15 years). Short lags of recessio are assumed to influence mortality directly through stress and diminished social integration; medium-long lags would involve the indirect effects of increased illness-disability leading to further decline in social and economic position. In addition, long-term downward mobility leads to the solidification of lower socio-economic status and to stresses which elevate health risks - e.g. use of alcohol and tobacco.
Finally, there is considerable epidemiologic evidence that consumption rates of alcohol, tobacco and fat (especially saturated fats) are major factors which underlie change in the 'epidemic' pattern of major chronic diseases in the twentieth century (heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, cirrhosis) Mackenbach and Kunst ( 1989) were unable to control for major changes in the multiple economic aspects of recession (especially per capita income, labor force participation, business failures). They were also unable to control either for the medium-long term effects of recession or for traditional epidemiologic risk factors. Under those constraints, their analysis was unable to identify a short-term relation between unemployment and mortality rates in the Netherlands in two recessional periods.
In this chapter we investigate whether potential short-, medium- and long-term effects of recession are statistically linked to mortality, under controls for major economic indicators and epidemiologic risks.

Ruut Veenhoven and Aldi Hagenaars (eds)
Did the crisis really hurt? Effects of the 1980 - 1982 economic recession on satisfaction, mental health and mortality.
Universitaire Pers Rotterdam, 1989, The Netherlands, ISBN 90 237 2297.5., 305p.

Abstract chapter 13
SUICIDE, DEPRESSIION AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS
by Rene F. W. Diekstra

This chapter concerns the strength and the nature of the association between unemployment and suicidal behavior. Since the recent increase in suicide rates in the majority of North-West and Central European countries has coincided with an increase in unemployment, the hypothesis has been put forward by several authors, that unemployment could be the principal agent of the rise in suicide.
First the literature is briefly reviewed. It is concluded that the evidence for a direct causal relationship between unemployment and suicidal behavior is weak. The same holds true for the role of unemployment as a moderator or intermediate variable between psychiatric illness and suicidal behavior, but this is mostly the result of a scarcity of studies in which the relationships between those three variables is investigated.
The second half of this chapter reports two studies, both carried out in the Netherlands. The first study analyzes trends in national rates of suicide and attempted suicide separately as well as in relationship to trends in unemployment and in indicators of subjectively experienced emotional disturbances between 1970-1987. There is an association between changes in depressed mood, unemployment, and incidence of suicide and attempted suicide. This association is particular close for males. The study does not, however, provide any conclusive evidence about the ( causal) links between depressed mood, unemployment and suicidal behavior.
The second study uses data from a sample of psychiatric inpatients. It considers the relationships between suicidal behavior (attempted suicide) on the one hand and behavior repertoire, unemployment and personality characteristics on the other hand in such a way that the relative importance of each of those variables interacting with the other ones in causing suicidal behavior could be established. The results confirm the hypothesis that unemployment is not directly related to the occurrence of suicidal behavior. Unemployment increases the probability of suicidal behavior, but only in the presence of certain other conditions, such as 'suicidal behavior repertoire' in the individual concerned and/or his social context.
The findings imply that in cultures ( such as in many western countries today ) or subcultures ( such as psychiatric institutions) where attitudes towards suicidal behavior are relatively permissive and the incidence an visibility of suicidal acts relatively great, any life event or condition that involves an important loss with a concomitant high probability of dysphoric or depressive mood disturbance (such as economic recession causing an increase in unemployment) will in turn cause an increase in fatal and non- fatal suicidal acts.