Economic insecurity has numerous implications on the human brain. This is evident in this article as the authors have presented the relationship between mental health and economic insecurity. According to the article, economic insecurity causes anxiety to individuals (Cheng, Mauno, & Lee, 2014). People living without job security or other insured hazards are prone to develop depression. There are many other factors that can lead to mental illness among households but financial insatiability has been ranked among the highest causatives. Economic security is very important for human survival that the United Nations has declared it a basic and fundamental human right (Rohde, Tang, Osberg, & Prasada 2013).
Soon after the last global recession that disrupted most of the entire world’s economic system, the evidence of insecurity has been on the rise. This can be proven by the declining consumer confidence (Dittmar, Bond, Hurst, & Kasser, 2014). One of the fundamental means of a healthy mind is to avoid or limit the amount of stress. Economic insecurity heightens the level of stress especially in the current globalized world. Since economic depression that happened in 2008/2009, there has been an increasing level of inflation in the United States and many other major economies in the world.
Due to the rising inflation, the value of major trading currencies like the dollar and the euro have been reduced casing exportation and importation cost to rise. Ultimately, the cost of doing business and the cost of goods have sky rocketed. This has put unbearable stress to households a they struggle to make ends meet. The amount of stress caused by economic insecurity and uncertainty lowers the health and well being of individuals. According to this article, there are viable reasons to believe that economic stress is directly responsible for psychological and psychiatric illnesses.
According to the article, this can have other numerous and major effects. For instance, it has been proven that if psychological problems persist, they can cause other diseases. One of these diseases includes obesity and heart complications which are both potential occurrences when psychological issues persist. Such diseases can also cause further implications decreasing participation within the labor force. The main objective of this article is to find the relationship between economic insecurity and mental illness among people. The data collected from Household Income and Labor Dynamics in Australia is authentic and this was a right choice to collect data from.
This article has measured the level of economic insecurity by asking three main fundamental questions. One of these three questions is to identify the level of satisfaction in on individual’s main form of employment. This is to measure the level of contentment in individual’s financial gains from their regular income. It is important to gauge the level of individual satisfaction with one’s income in order to distinguish between financial stress and other forms of stress. The other fundamental question that needs to be answered is the overall financial satisfaction with all things held constant (Wight, Kaushal, Waldfogel, & Garfinkel, 2014).
The three questions that the authors sought to answer were how easily the respondents could access or raise emergency funds if there was a need to do so. The paper has outlined the extent of deterioration in mental health of people. O achieve this, the authors chose to use several insecurity measures to determine the level of fear have the prevalence of financial based stress. Among the findings in their report, the authors found out that negative health effects are as a result of exogenous changes in financial satisfaction (Wight, Kaushal, Waldfogel, & Garfinkel, 2014).
Mental health issues are more likely to occur among individuals who are insecure and unable to perform certain household functions. The effects of mental illness are mostly seen in people who are unable to provide or produce emergency funds when the need arises. Such kinds of people live in fear and anxiety hoping that nothing goes wrong. Mental illness accumulates in this category of people as they are anxious of what the future holds for them. Living in fear and anticipation of a dull future is one of the most worrying aspects of financial or economic insecurity.
The authors have also identified the downward income mobility that is seen as another major cause of stress. The downward income mobility causes individuals to accumulate stress since they are unable to meet their household expenses. Household expenses include, house rent, food, and clothing which are the most basic human needs. However, household needs vary from one home to another. These are items that are necessary for individual survival. It may include school fees for parents among other utility bills such as electricity and water bills.
Inability to meet one’s expenses is a crucial source of stress and anxiety. As mention above, these two results of financial incapability are major causes of metal instability and ultimately illness. Job insecurity is a major cause stress. There are some jobs that you cannot tell whether tomorrow you will be employed or not. These kinds of jobs include contractual jobs and some labor intensive jobs. Without an assurance of a job, an individual will suffer numerous anxiety and he or she can easily be mentally disoriented. Lack of a job means lack of other things like savings and investment for personal security.
As result, people who do not have savings or investment for their financial security have been identified as the most vulnerable individuals as far as mental health is concerned. In a nutshell, mental health and economic security a related in that lack of financial, or economic security leads to worry and anxiety hence causing mental disabilities. This article has clearly discussed several variables in the effort to promote and justify the notion that economic insecurity has an effect on mental health. The article gives numerous evidence and research results that have clearly displayed the implications of financial stress on the human mind.
This article has therefore demonstrated great understanding and knowledge of the subject. The authors seem to have dedicated enough time and resources to identify the exact points of relationship between economic s insecurity and mental illness. His article has clearly displayed a level of reporting prowess by providing analytical diagrams and graphs to demonstrate the authors’ arguments and to show their results. In essence, the report has clearly demonstrated that economic distress can have damaging implications on individuals’ mental health.
The use of various variables in the article has clearly shown the deliberate attempt by the authors to give authentic rationale to their argument. They have achieved reporting credibility by the use of credible source of information to gather their data. This repot has displayed and argued its point in the best way possible and its efficient display of source of information has added to its credibility.
References
Cheng, T., Mauno, S., & Lee, C. (2014). The buffering effect of coping strategies in the relationship between job insecurity and employee well-being. Economic and Industrial Democracy, 35(1), 71-94. Web.
Dittmar, H., Bond, R., Hurst, M., & Kasser, T. (2014). The relationship between materialism and personal well-being: A meta-analysis. Journal of personality and social psychology, 107(5), 879. Web.
Rohde, N., Tang, K., Osberg, L., & Prasada D. S. (2013). Does Economic Insecurity Cause Mental Illness? Evidence from Australian Panel Data, 1(1), 1-10. Web.
Wight, V., Kaushal, N., Waldfogel, J., & Garfinkel, I. (2014). Understanding the link between poverty and food insecurity among children: Does the definition of poverty matter? Journal of Children and Poverty, 20(1), 1-20. Web.