A test of Jahoda’s latent deprivation model with persons who are out of the labor force

We tested Jahoda’s latent deprivation model with employed persons, unemployed persons, and persons who are out of the labor force (OLF). The data were collected in a in a web-based survey. According to Jahoda’s model employment is the main provider of five specific categories of experience that are important for psychological well-being, i.e. time structure, social contact, collective purpose, status, and activity. As expected, deprivation of these so-called latent functions correlated with distress not only among employed and unemployed persons, but also among OLF-persons. The correlation between latent deprivation and distress was significantly larger than the correlation between financial difficulties and distress. Furthermore, OLF-persons reported significantly more latent deprivation than employed persons, but significantly less than unemployed persons. Latent deprivation also mediated the negative effects of unemployment and OLF-status on mental health.