Impact of the recession
Abstract
Over the last few years, Canada and many other
industrialized nations have been facing serious
economic and fiscal crises. There is some evidence
indicating that this kind of economic contraction is a
significant source of psychosocial stress, and that
during times of economic recession or uncertainty a
relationship exists between economic events and
measures of health and well being at both the
individual and societal level.
An exploration of the nature and strength of any
such relationship is important in identifying
individuals that may be at high risk due to economic
contraction, and to identify what factors may buffer
against the negative effects of recession. The present
study was designed to assess the impacts of the current
economic recession on a university student population.
In addition to the exploratory aspect of this study,
the relationship between economic events and depression
and hopelessness was investigated within the framework
of self-efficacy theory.
The specific objectives were: to evaluate the relative contributions of domain specific (economic)
self-efficacy, general self-efficacy, and outcome
expectations in the determination of depression and
hopelessness; and to investigate students' perceptions
of the impact of economic recession on themselves and
other students.
Path analyses showed that depression was more
strongly associated with beliefs about one's selfefficacy
in general, while feelings of hopelessness
were more strongly related to beliefs about personal
control over economic issues. Outcome expectations
were found to have no additional predictive value in
understanding depression and hopelessness scores.
These findings support the role of cognitive processes
(self-efficacy beliefs) in the mediation of the effects
of stressors such as negative economic events on mental
health.
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- Retrospective theses [1604]