We examined the relationship between job search and distress using the daily diary method that involved 100 unemployed job seekers in China. Three models were tested: a direct relationship model (examining the effect of job search on distress), a reversed relationship model (assessing the impact of distress on job search), and a third variable model (testing the extent to which daily financial strain accounts for the relationship between job search and distress). Results offered support for both direct and reversed models. The third variable model was not supported. Negative job search experience mediated the direct effect of job search on distress. Using a within-individual approach, our study provides an in-depth examination on the nature and directionality of the relationship between job search and distress and illuminates the dynamic nature of this relationship.
Ajzen, I.From intentions to actions: A theory of planned behavior. In J. Kuhl & J. Beckmann (Eds), Action control: From cognition to behavior . Berlin: Springer, 1985, pp. 11-39.
2.
Ajzen, I. & Fishbein, M.Understanding attitudes and predicting social behavior. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1980.
3.
Barber, A.E., Daly, C.L., Giannantonio, C.M. & Phillips, J.M.Job search activities: An examination of changes over time. Personnel Psychology, 1994, 47, 739-66.
4.
Baron, R.M. & Kenny, D.A.The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1986, 51, 1173-82.
5.
Beal, D.J. & Weiss, H.M.Methods of ecological momentary assessment in organizational research . Organizational Research Methods, 2003, 6, 440-64.
6.
Bolger, N. & Zuckerman, A.A framework for studying personality in the stress process. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1996 , 69, 890-902.
7.
Bolger, N., Davis, A. & Rafaeli, E.Diary methods: Capturing life as it is lived. Annual Review of Psychology, 2003, 54, 579-616.
8.
Borgen, W.A. & Amundson, N.E.The dynamics of unemployment. Journal of Counseling & Development, 1987, 66, 180-4.
9.
Brenner, M.Mental illness and the economy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1973.
10.
Brenner, S.O. & Levi, L.Long-term unemployment among women in Sweden. Social Science & Medicine, 1987, 25, 153-61.
11.
Cai, F.Report of population and labor in China (no. 4): Urban poverty in transitional China. Beijing: Social Science Academic Press, 2003.
12.
California Job Journal.The weekend job search, 11 April 2004. Available online at: [http://www.jobjournal.com/article_full_text.asp?artid=1103 ], accessed 17 March 2007.
13.
Caplan, R.D., Vinokur, A.D., Price, R.H. & van Ryn, M.Job seeking, reemployment, and mental health: A randomized field experiment in coping with job loss. Journal of Applied Psychology, 1989, 74, 759-69.
14.
Christensen, A.J., Benotsch, E.G., Wiebe, J.S. & Lawton, W.J.Coping with treatment-related stress: Effects on patient adherence in hemodialysis . Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology , 1995, 63, 454-9.
15.
Clark, A.Unemployment as a social norm: Psychological evidence from panel data . Journal of Labor Economics, 2003, 21, 323-51.
16.
Côté, S., Saks, A. & Zikic, J.Trait affect and job search outcomes. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 2006, 68, 233-52.
17.
Crossley, C. & Stanton, J.Negative affect and job search: Further examination of the reverse causation hypothesis. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 2005, 66, 549-60.
18.
Dooley, D., Fielding, J. & Levi, L.Health and unemployment. Annual Review of Public Health , 1996, 17, 449-65.
19.
Fielden, S. & Davidson, M.Stress and unemployment: A comparative review and research model of female and male managers. British Journal of Management, 1999, 10, 63-93.
20.
Firth-Cozens, J.Why me? A case study of the process of perceived occupational stress . Human Relations, 1992, 45, 131-42.
21.
Folkman, S. & Lazarus, R.Coping as a mediator of emotion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1988, 54, 466-75.
22.
Folkman, S. & Moskowitz, J.Coping: Pitfalls and promise. Annual Review of Psychology , 2004, 55, 745-74.
23.
Frese, M.Alleviating depression in the unemployed: Adequate financial support, hope and early retirement. Social Science & Medicine, 1987, 25, 213-15.
24.
George, J. & Brief, A.Negative affectivity and coping with job loss. Academy of Management Review, 1996, 21, 7-12.
25.
Gowan, M.A., Riordan, C.M. & Gatewood, R.D.Test of a model of coping with involuntary job loss following a company closing. Journal of Applied Psychology , 1999, 84, 75-86.
26.
Grebner, S., Semmer, N. & Elfering, A.Working conditions and three types of well-being: A longitudinal study with self-report and rating data. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 2005, 10, 31-43.
27.
Hamilton, V., Hoffman, W., Broman, C. & Rauma, D.Unemployment, distress, and coping: A panel study of autoworkers. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1993 , 65, 234-47.
28.
Harrison, A. & Leamer, E.Labor markets in developing countries: An agenda for research. Journal of Labor Economics, 1997, 15, 1-19.
29.
Hobfoll, S.E.The ecology of stress. Washington, DC: Hemisphere, 1988.
30.
Hobfoll, S.E.Conservation of resources: A new attempt at conceptualizing stress . American Psychologist, 1989, 44, 513-24.
31.
Hobfoll, S.E. & Lilly, R.S.Resource conservation as a strategy for community psychology. Journal of Community Psychology, 1993, 21, 128-48.
32.
Hofmann, D.A.An overview of the logic and rationale of hierarchical linear models . Journal of Management, 1997, 23, 723-44.
33.
Hofmann, D.A. & Gavin, M.B.Centering decisions in hierarchical linear models: Implications for research in organizations. Journal of Management, 1998 , 24, 623-41.
34.
Kanfer, R., Wanberg, C.R. & Kantrowitz, T.M.Job search and employment: A personality-motivational analysis and meta-analytic review. Journal of Applied Psychology , 2001, 86, 837-55.
Kessler, R.C., Andrews, G., Colpe, L.J., Hiripi, E., Mroczek, D.K., Normand, S.L.T., Walters, E.E. & Zaslavsky, A.Short screening scales to monitor population prevalances and trends in nonspecific psychological distress. Psychological Medicine , 2002, 32, 959-76.
37.
Kessler, R.C., Turner, B. & House, J.D.Unemployment, reemployment, and emotional functioning in a community sample . American Sociological Review, 1989 , 54, 648-57.
38.
Knight, J. & Song, L.Toward a labour market in China. London: Oxford University Press, 2005.
39.
Kozlowski, S., Chao, G., Smith, E. & Hedlund, J.Organizational downsizing: Strategies, interventions, and research implications . In C.L. Cooper & I.T. Robertson (Eds), International review of industrial and organizational psychology, vol. 8. New York: Wiley, 1993, pp. 264-332.
40.
Larson, R.W. & Almeida, D.M.Emotional transmission in the daily lives of families: A new paradigm for studying family process. Journal of Marriage and the Family , 1999, 61, 5-20.
41.
Larson, R. & Csikszentmihalyi, M.The experience sampling method. In H. Reis (Ed.), New directions for naturalistic methods in the behavioral sciences. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1983, pp. 41-56.
42.
Latack, J., Kinicki, A. & Prussia, G.An integrative process model of coping with job loss. Academy of Management Review, 1995, 20, 311-42.
43.
Leana, C.R. & Feldman, D.C.When mergers force payoffs: Some lessons about managing the human resource problems. Human Resource Planning, 1989, 12, 123-40.
44.
Leana, C.R. & Feldman, D.C.Gender differences in responses to unemployment. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 1991, 38, 65-77.
45.
McCarthy, J. & Goffin, R.Measuring job interview anxiety: Beyond weak knees and sweaty palms . Personnel Psychology, 2004, 57, 607-37.
46.
McFadyen, R.G. & Thomas, J.P.Economic and psychological models of job search behavior of the unemployed . Human Relations, 1997, 50, 1461-84.
47.
McKee-Ryan, F., Song, Z., Wanberg, C. & Kinicki, A.Psychological and physical well-being during unemployment: A meta-analytic study. Journal of Applied Psychology, 2005 , 90, 53-76.
48.
Minnesota Department of Economic Security. Creative job search. 2001.
49.
Mroczek, R. & Almeida, D.The effect of daily stress, personality, and age on daily negative affect . Journal of Personality, 2004, 72, 355-78.
50.
Nordenmark, M. & Strandh, M.Towards a sociological understanding of mental well-being among the unemployed: The role of economic and psychosocial factors. Sociology, 1999, 33, 577-97.
51.
Park, C.L., Folkman, S. & Bostrom, A.Appraisals of controllability and coping in care-givers and HIV+ men: Testing the goodness-of-fit hypothesis. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 2001, 69, 481-88.
52.
Price, R.H. & Fang, L.Unemployed Chinese workers: The survivors, the worried young and the discouraged old. The International Journal of Human Resource Management , 2002, 13, 416-30.
53.
Price, R.H., Choi, J.N. & Lim, S.Beyond the Iron Rice Bowl: Life stage and family dynamics in unemployed Chinese workers. In G. Lee & M. Warner (Eds), Unemployment in China: Economy, human resources and labor markets. New York: Routledge, 2006, pp. 108-27.
54.
Price, R.H., van Ryn, M. & Vinokur, A.D.Impact of a preventive job search intervention on the likelihood of depression among the unemployed. Journal of Health and Social Behavior , 1992, 33, 158-67.
55.
Rabe-Hesketh, S. & Skrondal, A.Multilevel and longitudinal modeling using stata. College Station, TX: Stata Press, 2005.
56.
Rantakeisu, U. & Jönsson, L.Unemployment and mental health among white-collar workers: A question of work involvement and financial situation? International Journal of Social Welfare, 2003, 12, 31-41.
57.
Saks, A.M. & Ashforth, B.E.Change in job search behaviors and employment outcomes. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 2000, 56, 277-87.
58.
Sandell, S.H. & Baldwin, S.E.Older workers and employment shifts: Policy responses to displacement . In I. Bluestone, R. J.V. Montgomery & J.D. Owen (Eds), The aging of the American work force. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press, 1990, pp. 126-49.
59.
Schönpflug, W.Goal directed behavior as a source of stress: Psychological origins and consequences of inefficiency. In M. Frese & J. Sabini (Eds), The concept of action in psychology. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1985, pp. 172-88.
60.
Schönpflug, W. & Battmann, W.The costs and benefits of coping. In S. Fisher & J. Reason (Eds), Handbook of life stress, cognition and health. New York : Wiley, 1988, pp. 699-714.
61.
Seo, M., Barrett, L.F. & Bartunek, J.M.The role of affective experience in work motivation . Academy of Management Review, 2004, 29, 423-39.
62.
Song, Z., Wanberg, C., Niu, X. & Xie, Y.Action-state orientation and the theory of planned behavior: A study on job search in China. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 2006, 68, 490-503.
63.
Spector, P.E., Zapf, D., Chen, P.Y. & Frese, M.Why negative affectivity should not be controlled in job stress research: Don't throw out the baby with the bath water. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 2000, 21, 79-95.
64.
Stumpf, S.A., Colarelli, S.M. & Hartman, K.Development of the career exploration survey (CES). Journal of Vocational Behavior, 1983, 22, 191-226.
65.
Thoits, P.A.Stress, coping and social support process: Where are we? What next?Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 1995 , 36, 53-79.
66.
US Department of Labor.Mass layoff statistics, 2004. Available online at: [http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/surveymost ], accessed 8 February 2004.
67.
Van Hooft, E.A.J., Born, M.P., Taris, T.W., Van Der Flier, H. & Blonk, R.W.B.Predictors of job search behavior among employed and unemployed people . Personnel Psychology, 2004, 57, 25-59.
68.
Van Hooft, E.A.J., Born, M.P., Taris, T.W., Van Der Flier, H. & Blonk, R.W.B.Bridging the gap between intentions and behavior: Implementation intentions, action control, and procrastination. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 2005, 66, 238-56.
69.
Van Ryn, M. & Vinokur, A.D.How did it work? An examination of the mechanisms through which an intervention for the unemployed promoted job-search behavior. American Journal of Community Psychology, 1992, 20, 577-97.
70.
Veit, C.T. & Ware, Jr, J.E.The structure of psychological distress and well-being in general populations. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 1983, 51, 730-42.
71.
Vinokur, A. & Caplan, R.D.Attitudes and social support: Determinants of job-seeking behavior and well-being among the unemployed. Journal of Applied Social Psychology , 1987, 17, 1007-24.
72.
Vinokur, A.D. & Schul, Y.Mastery and inoculation against setbacks as active ingredients in the JOBS intervention for the unemployed. Journal of Counseling and Clinical Psychology, 1997, 65, 867-77.
73.
Vinokur, A.D. & Schul, Y.The web of coping resources and pathways to reemployment following a job loss . Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 2002, 7, 68-83.
74.
Vinokur, A., Price, R.H. & Caplan, R.D.Hard times and hurtful partners: How financial strain affects depression and relationship satisfaction of unemployed persons and their spouses. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1996 , 71, 166-79.
75.
Vinokur, A.D., van Ryn, M., Gramlich, E.M. & Price, R.H.Long-term follow-up and benefit-cost analysis of the Jobs program: A preventive intervention for the unemployed. Journal of Applied Psychology , 1991, 76, 213-19.
76.
Vuori, J. & Vesalainen, J.Labour market interventions as predictors of re-employment, job seeking activity and psychological distress among the unemployed . Journal of Occupational & Organizational Psychology , 1999, 72, 523-38.
77.
Wanberg, C.R.Antecedents and outcomes of coping behaviors among unemployed and reemployed individuals. Journal of Applied Psychology, 1997, 82, 731-44.
78.
Wanberg, C.R., Glomb, T., Song, Z. & Sorenson, S.Job-search persistence during unemployment: A ten wave longitudinal study . Journal of Applied Psychology, 2005 , 90, 411-30.
79.
Wanberg, C.R., Hough, L. & Song, Z.Predictive validity of a multidisciplinary model of reemployment success . Journal of Applied Psychology, 2002, 87, 1100-33.
80.
Wang, W., Zhang, Q. & Wang, J.Analysis of labor market circulating in Shenyang. Journal of Shenyang University, 2007, 19, 23-5.
81.
Warr, P.B.Work and unemployment. In P.J.D. Drenth , H. Theirry, P.J. Willems & C.J. deWolff (Eds), Handbook of work and organizational psychology. Chichester: Wiley, 1984 , pp. 413-43.
82.
Waters, L.Coping with unemployment: A literature review and presentation of a new model . International Journal of Management Review, 2000, 2, 169-82.
83.
Westaby, J.Behavioral reasoning theory: Identifying new linkages underlying intentions and behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Process , 2005, 98, 97-120.
84.
Whelan, C.T.The role of income, life-style deprivation and financial strain in mediating the impact of unemployment on psychological distress. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 1992 , 65, 331-44.
85.
Zapf, D., Dorman, C. & Frese, M.Longitudinal studies in organizational stress research: A review of the literature with the reference to methodological issues. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 1996, 1, 145-69.
86.
Zhang, S., Sun, S., Uy, M.A., Song, Z. & Shi, K.Exploring unemployment stressors: Scale development and preliminary testing . Unpublished manuscript, 2007.
87.
Zhang, S., Zheng, J., Sun, S. & Zhao, X.A study of coping styles of unemployed individuals. Journal of Beijing University of Posts Telecommunications, 2005, 7, 60-4.
