Effects of Job Displacement on Social Participation of Job Displacement on Social Participation 5 self-acceptance, and social reciprocity on the relationship between displacement and

Effects of Job Displacement on Social Participation:

Findings over the Life Course of a Cohort of Joiners

Jennie E. BrandUniversity of North Carolina – Chapel Hill

Sarah A. BurgardUniversity of Michigan

Population Studies Center Research Report 07-623

May 2007

Direct all correspondence to Jennie E. Brand, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, CarolinaPopulation Center, CB# 8120, Room 308D CPC East, 123 West Franklin Street, Chapel Hill, NC27516, USA, email: [email protected], phone: 919.966.3796, FAX: 919.966.6638. Jennie E.Brand was supported by an NICHD training grant at the Carolina Population Center, University ofNorth Carolina – Chapel Hill.

This study uses data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS). Since 1991, the WLS has beensupported principally by the National Institute on Aging (AG-9775 and AG-21079), withadditional support from the Vilas Estate Trust, the National Science Foundation, the SpencerFoundation, and the Graduate School of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. A public use file ofdata from the WLS is available at http://dpls.dacc.wisc.edu/WLS/wlsarch.htm.

The ideas expressed herein are those of the authors.

Effects of Job Displacement on Social Participation 2

ABSTRACT

Career disorder and economic distress have been identified as potential causes of the observeddecline in social participation in the U.S. We examine the causal effect of job displacement, a careerdisorder-producing event that is associated with subsequent socioeconomic and psychologicaldecline, on social participation. Using more than 45 years of panel data from the WisconsinLongitudinal Study and difference-in-differences regression estimation, we find significant andlasting negative effects of displacement on subsequent social participation for workers displacedduring their prime earnings years, ages 35-53, while no effect for workers displaced in the yearsapproaching retirement, ages 53-64. Results also suggest that socioeconomic and psychologicaldecline resulting from job displacement do not explain the negative impact of job displacement onsocial participation.


INTRODUCTION

Americans’ commitment to social participation has been a defining feature of the cultural fabric of the

United States. Tocqueville wrote: “Nothing in my view deserves more attention than the intellectual and

moral association in America.” It is fitting that social participation holds an important place in

sociological study, representing, as it does, a link between individual action and societal function. Social

participation is important to participatory democracy, to healthy neighborhoods, and to effective schools

(Putnam 2000). Individuals who participate may also be advantaged in the labor market: social and

economic resources are embedded in social networks (Bourdieu 1983; Coleman 1988; Granovetter

1973),1 networks that may be formed through involvement in various social organizations and

associations. Social participation is also associated with better physical and mental health and well-being,

important outcomes in and of themselves, but also important for the labor market (Berkman 1995;

Durkheim 1933; House 1981; House, Landis, and Umberson 1988).

From the mid 1940s to the early 1970s, there was an unprecedented increase in social

participation in the U.S. This trend coincided with unprecedented and widespread economic prosperity,

marked by a low rate of unemployment and generally increasing real earnings. In recent decades,

however, average rates of social participation have declined (McPherson, Smith-Lovin, and Brashears

2006; Putnam 2000). Likewise, the trend toward increasingly widespread economic prosperity in the U.S.

has reversed: recent decades have been characterized by high and persistent unemployment, stagnating

average earnings, increases in income inequality, and waves of job insecurity, job displacements, and

difficulty replacing lost jobs with comparable reemployment (Brand 2006; Fallick 1996; Farber 2005;

Farley 1996; Levy 1995). Many scholars argue that the relationship between workers and firms has

shifted such that the expectation of a lifetime job has been eliminated for growing segments of the

workforce, and workers are increasingly seen by employers as costs that need to be minimized in order to

increase profits (Baumol et al. 2003; Fischer et al. 1996; Kalleberg 2000; Wetzel 1995).

Given the parallel rise and fall of widespread social participation and economic prosperity in the

U.S., economic distress has been indicted as a potential cause for the decline in social participation

(Bellah et al. 1985; Putnam 2000). Putnam (2000) contends that economic distress and associated

increases in depression, worry, and anxiety decrease most forms of social participation. The Great

Depression, for example, marked a significant interruption to an otherwise steady rise in social

participation in the first two-thirds of the twentieth century (Jahoda, Lazarsfeld, and Zeisel 1933). Beyond

the economic pressures resulting from changing macroeconomic circumstances, the erosion of norms of

reciprocity in the changing workplace, i.e. declines in social trust or the sense of mutual obligations, may

serve to dampen such norms in the community. Both economic distress and the erosion of norms of

reciprocity may result from job insecurity and job displacements, such that the event of a job


displacement may exert a causal impact on declines in social participation. There is some evidence to

suggest that stable employment and an orderly career marked by functionally related, hierarchically-

ordered jobs, i.e. the absence of job insecurity and displacement, is associated with higher levels of social

integration (Wilensky 1961; Wilson and Musik 1997).

Research Description and Goals

This paper examines four research questions. First, does job displacement cause a decline in

social participation? As a form of job loss that occurs when firms downsize, restructure, close plants or

relocate, job displacement is the result of economic and business conditions that are largely beyond the

control of the individual worker. Job loss among displaced workers is thought to be relatively exogenous

to individual characteristics in comparison to workers who quit or are fired, providing a unique

opportunity to assess the effects of changes in socioeconomic and job conditions that are less likely to be

strongly influenced by selection bias (Brand 2006). However, these conditions do not preclude the

possibility that displacement is conditioned by observed and unobserved factors that are also associated

with levels of subsequent social participation, leading to selection bias in the estimation of the effect of

displacement on participation. We therefore assess the extent to which observed differences in social

participation between displaced and non-displaced workers are the result of the displacement event versus

observed and (time-invariant) unobserved factors associated with being displaced from a job. The second

research question asks how the effect of job displacement on social participation differs over the working

life course. While some studies suggest that the effects of displacement on subsequent socioeconomic

status and psychological distress for older workers are as large as or even larger than those for younger

workers (Chan and Stevens 2001; Couch 1998; Gallo et al. 2000), we hypothesize that the causal effect of

displacement on social participation may be less severe as individuals age and approach retirement. If

workers are less stigmatized by unemployment and downward mobility in older age, they may be less

likely to withdraw from social life during such periods. Moreover, research on life course trends in social

participation indicate that all individuals are less likely to participate as they age (Freeman 1997; Putnam

2000), such that older workers who do not lose their jobs should also exhibit some decrease in

participation. Third, if there is an effect of job displacement on social participation, is this effect

explained by the downward socioeconomic mobility of displaced workers? To address this question, we

examine the extent to which the effects of job displacement on social participation are mediated by post-

displacement employment status, earnings, and occupational status. Fourth, is the effect of job

displacement on social participation mediated by post-displacement psychological distress and/or reduced

feelings of social trust or reciprocity, above and beyond experiences of downward socioeconomic

mobility? To address this question, we examine the potential mediating role of measures of depression,


self-acceptance, and social reciprocity on the relationship between displacement and participation, net of

downward social mobility.

Throughout this study, we use panel data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS), which

follows a cohort of 1957 Wisconsin high school graduates. Born in approximately 1939-1940, the WLS

cohort belongs to the generation Putnam (2000) describes as the “cohort of joiners.”2 Moreover, the

majority of WLS respondents have lived in the Midwest throughout their lives, a region of the country

with particularly high levels of social engagement (Putnam 2000). The use of the WLS therefore allows

us to assess the effects of job displacement on social participation for a particularly socially-engaged

sample of the U.S. population over the course of their lives. If job displacement significantly affects

average levels of social participation among members of the WLS cohort, who may be more strongly

committed to participating, it may have even larger effects among members of less-committed younger

cohorts.3 Use of the WLS also offers several strengths for a study of the causal effects of job

displacement. WLS data are rich in exogenous variables and are well-suited for constructing a

comparable control group of non-displaced workers. We exploit the panel structure of WLS data and

utilize a difference-in-difference (DID) regression estimator in this study. A DID estimator controls one

of the main threats to causal inference in observational studies, namely, unobserved heterogeneity due to

time-invariant unobservable characteristics of workers (Halaby 2004). We examine the effects of job

displacement on social participation over WLS respondents’ prime working years and prime social

participation years, ages 35-53 (1975-92), as well as the years when most respondents approach and enter

retirement, ages 53 to 65 (1992-05). With over 45 years of available data, the WLS provides a unique

opportunity to examine the relationship between job displacement and social participation over the life

course.

This study contributes to two literatures. First, we add to the literature on the effects of job

displacement. Despite a large and growing body of research examining the effects of job displacement on

subsequent levels of non-employment, earnings, job quality, and health, we know of no study that directly

examines the effects of displacement on social participation. Second, we add to the literature on the

relationship between work and social participation, which has evaluated the relationship between social

participation and employment status, earnings, and summary measures of career histories, but not the

event of a job displacement. By focusing on the effects of displacement, we examine within-individual

changes in socioeconomic and job conditions and associated changes in social participation. This focus

enables us to effectively draw on the methodological advances in causal inference and pay careful

attention to the possibility of selection bias influencing the relationship between employment,

socioeconomic mobility, and social participation.


RESEARCH ON THE EFFECTS OF JOB DISPLACEMENT

Job displacement has been linked to downward socioeconomic mobility and psychological distress. Most

estimates indicate that the average displaced worker experiences a substantial period of non-employment,

from many months to several years (Brand 2004; Fallick 1996; Farber 2005; Kletzer 1998; Podgursky and

Swaim 1987; Ruhm 1991; Topel 1990). Displaced workers also suffer substantial earnings losses,

estimated to be between 10 and 25 percent, and these losses are generally more persistent than non-

employment effects (Brand 2004; Farber 2005; Hammermesh 1989; Jacobson, LaLonde, and Sullivan

1993; Podgursky and Swaim 1987; Ruhm 1991; Seitchik 1991; Stevens 1997; Topel 1990). Beyond

employment and earnings losses, displaced workers may find when reemployed that their jobs are of

lower quality, including decreased occupational status and job authority, in comparison to both the jobs

they lost and the jobs held by their non-displaced counterparts (Brand 2006). There is evidence to suggest

that effects of job displacement persist throughout workers’ careers (Brand 2004) and that older workers

experience significant negative effects job displacement on subsequent employment and wages (Chan and

Stevens 2001; Couch 1998).

Job displacement usually includes a sequence of stressful events from anticipation of job loss

through the loss itself, to a spell of unemployment, to job search and training, to reemployment, often at

reduced wages and status. Initial movement into unemployment is associated with a number of economic

pressures, new patterns of interaction with family members, and personal assessment in relation to

individual values and societal pressures (Pearlin et al. 1981). It is therefore not surprising that a

significant association has been found between job displacement and psychological distress over the life

course: Displaced workers report lower levels of self-acceptance, self-confidence, morale, and higher

levels of depression and dissatisfaction with life (Burgard, Brand, and House 2007; Dooley, Fielding, and

Levi 1996; Gallo et al. 2000; Kessler, Turner, and House 1989; Turner 1995; Warr and Jackson 1985).

RESEARCH ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WORK AND SOCIAL PARTICIPATION

Despite the rather large literature on the negative effects of job displacement on socioeconomic status and

psychological well-being, we know of no study that directly examines the effect of job displacement on

social participation. Nevertheless, employment and career stability have long been considered important

factors in social participation (Durkheim 1933; Kohn and Schooler 1982; Rotolo and Wilson 2003;

Wilensky 1961; Wilson and Musik 1997). Durkheim (1933) argued that employment performs an

integrative role, drawing people into social life. Expanding on Durkheim’s theory, Wilensky (1961) found

that orderly careers, i.e. a succession of jobs related in function with elevations in status, free of

unexpected periods of unemployment and disorderly shifts in jobs, occupations, and industries, were

associated with strong attachment to one’s community and society for a sample of “middle mass” men in


the Detroit metropolitan area. Rotolo and Wilson (2003), in a replication of Wilensky’s (1961) study,

examine a sample of 686 individuals in Nebraska in 1989 and show that disorderly careers have the

potential to undermine social participation. While an interesting and provocative set of results emerge

from these studies, data restrictions, including small sample sizes, cross-sectional data, and lack of control

variables, make causal statements difficult.

Other empirical evidence suggests the potential for a relationship between job displacement and

social participation. Studies have linked some of the potential outcomes of job displacement, including

unemployment, low earnings, and psychological distress, to decreased levels of social participation

(Freeman 1997; Putnam 2000). Moreover, decreased levels of job authority and autonomy among

displaced workers (Brand 2006) may influence displaced workers’ levels of social participation: the

“spillover” theory asserts that being employed in a job that encourages initiative, thought, and

independence also indirectly encourages social participation (Kohn and Schooler 1982; Rain, Lane, and

Steiner 1991; Staines 1980; Wilson and Musik 1997). Additionally, “job strain” or “low decision latitude”

(Karasek and Theorell 1990), potentially more common among displaced workers’ reemployment jobs,

has been found to exert a negative effect on social participation (Lindstrom et al. 2006; Vezina,

Derriennic, and Monfort 2004). Finally, values and attitudes towards oneself and one’s society may

influence levels of social participation. Putnam (2000) argues that where positive social roles, social trust,

and norms of reciprocity flourish, individuals participate socially. However, displacement may negatively

alter individual attitudes and self-perception, and thus, reduce participation. Thus, the strain of insecure

employment, actual displacement events, periods of unemployment, reemployment in jobs with lower

earnings and/or lower quality, psychological distress, and the erosion of commitment to social reciprocity

may all contribute to decreased levels of social participation among displaced workers.

ANALYTICAL APPROACH

In this study, we utilize an approach based on potential outcomes and counterfactuals to conceptualize

causal effects and their estimation. The potential outcome approach has early roots in experimental

designs and economic theory, and has been extended and formalized for observational studies by

statisticians (e.g., Holland 1986; Rosenbaum and Rubin 1983; Rubin 1974), economists (e.g., Heckman

2005; Manski 1995), and sociologists (e.g., Sobel 2000; Winship and Morgan 1999). We conceptualize

the estimation of a treatment effect as hinging on a counterfactual: inferences must be made about

outcomes that would have been observed for displaced workers had they not been displaced. Let di = 1

indicate a treated unit, i.e. a worker displaced from a job, and di = 0 indicate a control unit, i.e. a worker

who was not displaced from a job. Two potential outcomes are indicated by yi1 and yi0, with yi1 the level of

social participation that would be observed if a worker was displaced from a job and yi0 the level of social


participation observed for the same worker had he or she not been displaced from a job. The fundamental

problem of causal inference is that it is impossible to observe the value of yi1 and yi0 for the same person

(Holland 1986).

Although the causal effect for an individual cannot be calculated, average treatment effects can be

identified with enough assumptions. As we note above, relative to persons who quit or are fired, job loss

among displaced workers is thought to be relatively exogenous to individual characteristics. Still, in

observational studies like this one, “ignorability,” the assumption that the potential outcomes are

independent of exposure status (Rosenbaum & Rubin 1983), is seldom plausible. The typical recourse in

this situation is to conjecture that the potential outcomes are mean-independent of treatment status d after

conditioning on a set of observable covariates X that capture pre-treatment characteristics of the units and

that may determine selection into treatment and control groups. As there may be systematic differences

between displaced and non-displaced workers’ levels of social participation even after conditioning on

observables, a common utilization of panel data to estimate the effects of events is to obtain two or more

time-separated measures of selected outcomes and use pre-treatment data to impute counterfactual

outcomes for the treated. A difference-in-differences (DID) estimator measures the effect of the treatment

by the difference between the treated and controls in the before-after difference in outcomes. In contrast

to a simple before-after estimator, the DID estimator allows for time-specific intercepts that are common

across groups. For example, to the extent that the level of social participation of non-displaced workers is

declining with age, the simple before-after participation change of displaced workers would overestimate

the true change in social participation resulting from the displacement event. DID estimation uses pre-

and post-treatment values of the outcome variable both for units for which d = 1 and those for which d =

0. The assumptions needed to justify the conditional DID estimator are weaker than the assumptions

invoked to justify cross-sectional estimators: Whereas for the cross-sectional estimator we assume that

that in the absence of treatment the average outcomes for treated and control units would be equal

conditional on the observed covariates, for the DID estimator, we need only assume that in the absence of

treatment the average outcomes for treated and control units would have followed parallel paths.

Estimating Treatment Effects

We estimate the effects of job displacement on subsequent social participation using a series of

estimators. The first estimator is a cross-sectional, simple bivariate estimator of the form:

yi = α+ (di) + εi, (1)

where di indicates displacement status and is the causal effect of displacement on yi. The assumption

needed to make-hat an unbiased estimate of is that di is uncorrelated with i. In an observational study,


this is almost always an implausible assumption. Second, we estimate effects using an ordinary least

squares (OLS) regression with adjustment for observed covariates, of the form:

yi = α+ (di) +β(Xi) +εi (2)

where X includes a set of observable, pretreatment covariates. Here, the assumption needed for -hat to

be an unbiased estimate of is that di is uncorrelated with i after controlling for the vector of exogenous

covariates. Third, we estimate effects using a DID regression with adjustment for observed covariates.

The equations for post- and pre-treatment values of the outcome variable are, respectively:

yt = αt + δ(d) +βv(Xvt) + βc(Xc) + (+ t) (3a)

yt’ = αt’ + βv(Xvit’) + βc(Xc) + (+t’) (3b)

where the unobserved differencesare divided into two components, those that are constant across time

and those that vary across time . Likewise, the covariates X have been divided into two components, a

vector of measured explanatory variables that are constant across time Xc and a vector of measured

explanatory variables that vary with time Xv. Differencing equations (3a) and (3b) yields the following

regression:

(yt – yt’) = (αt –αt’) +δ(d) +βv(Xvt – Xvt’) + (t – t’) (4)

where the measured explanatory variables that are constant across time Xci and temporally-invariant

unobserved differences i both drop out. Fitting this regression by OLS yields the covariate-adjusted DID

estimator of

DATA, MEASURES, AND DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS

The data used throughout this study, the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS), is a panel study of 10,317

1957 Wisconsin high school graduates; these graduates represent a ⅓ random sample of all seniors in

Wisconsin high schools in 1957. Data were collected from parents of the graduates in 1964 and from the

graduates themselves in 1975, when the graduates were approximately 35 years old. Follow-up surveys

were conducted in the early 1990s and again in the early 2000s, when WLS respondents were

approximately 53 and 65 years old, respectively. The WLS has enjoyed high rates of response and sample

retention: in 1964 and in 1975, the WLS had response rates of 87% and 89%, respectively. Out of 9,741

known survivors of the original sample, 87% completed telephone interviews in 1992, 35 years after the

initial data collection. Mail survey response, conditional on completed telephone interviews, was about

80%. In 2005, 7,265 sample members responded to the telephone survey and 6,467 to the mail survey.

WLS data are particularly well-suited for the study of job displacement and social participation.

As a panel study, the WLS lends itself to modeling efforts to control for unobserved heterogeneity.

Detailed job history records collected in 1992/93 and 2003-05 allow identification of job displacements


for employment spells spanning 30 years, and in 1975, 1992/93, and 2003-05, respondents were asked

about their involvement in various social groups, associations, and organizations. These outcome

measures enable DID estimation of the effects of job displacement on social participation between 1975

and 1992/3 and between 1992/3 and 2003-05. The data are also especially strong insofar as they capture a

wide range of pre-displacement exogenous variables, including social origins, cognitive ability,

educational attainment, and labor market experiences for a large sample that is broadly representative of

non-Hispanic white high school graduates throughout their life course. Thus, the data are well-suited for

minimizing omitted-variable bias in the estimation of the effects of displacement on participation.4 The

strengths of the WLS notwithstanding, there are some sample limitations that need to be noted. All

respondents are high school graduates, and most are white men and women who lived in Wisconsin when

surveyed.5 The segment of the U.S. population that is inadequately represented by the WLS, namely less-

educated ethnic minorities, is likely to have experienced more job displacement with more severe

economic losses than predominantly white high school graduates. It is less clear whether a decline in

social participation would be greater for the segment of the population inadequately represented in the

WLS. Still, restrictions that may compromise external validity may also reduce unobserved extraneous

variation, which should make for more reliable estimates. Nor is it a foregone conclusion, at least where

stratification processes are concerned, that findings from the WLS are radically different than what one

might find in a national sample (Jencks, Crouse, and Mueser 1983; Sheridan 2001).

We restrict our analyses to cases who responded to the 1975 survey (n = 9,138), the 1992/93

telephone and mail surveys (n = 6,690), and the 2003-05 telephone and mail surveys (5,299 cases). We

also restrict our analyses to those respondents who had a least one job spell (a paid job for six months or

longer) during the period 1975-2005 (5,155 cases) and who had no missing data on any of the variables

used in any of our analyses (4,541 cases).6 We classify a WLS worker as displaced if he or she reported

the termination of an employment spell as a result of a lay-off, downsizing or restructuring, or a business

closing or relocating. A total of 781 out of 4,541 workers (17%) experienced one or more displacement

events between 1975 and 1992 and 510 out of 4,247 workers (12%) experienced one or more

displacement events between 1992 and 2005.

Independent Variables

The risk of job displacement varies along a number of dimensions that in turn condition the extent

to which displacement may influence levels of social participation. Table 1 describes the social

background, human capital, job conditions, and family characteristics of respondents by displacement

status for the 1975-92 and 1992-05 periods. The measurement of most of these variables is

straightforward. Parent’s income in 1957 is truncated at $99,800 and a started log transformation is used


to reduce skewness.7 While parents’ income is often omitted in studies of the effects of job displacement,

it has been found to significantly influence the probability that a worker is displaced beyond the typical

set of human capital and job variables included in most models (Brand 2006). Mental ability is based on

the Henmon-Nelson high school IQ scores. We include a continuous measure of educational attainment.8

Displaced workers are on average less educated than non-displaced workers. Employer tenure

corresponds to 1975 tenure for 1975-92 analyses and to 1992 tenure for 1992-05 analyses. Employer

tenure equals zero for the unemployed.

The pre-displacement job characteristic variables pertain to the first job spell collected from the

1975-92 employment history for 1975-92 analyses and to the current or last job in 1992 for 1992-05

analyses. These include pre-displacement occupational earnings, class of worker (dichotomous variable

indicating private employer), industry (dichotomous variable indicating manufacturing), occupation

(dichotomous variable indicating blue-collar), union status, and whether or not the worker is eligible for

an employer-offered pension. The 1990-basis occupational status, or “occupational earnings,” score is the

percentage of persons in the 1990 Census in an occupation/industry/class-of-worker category who earned

at least $14.30 per hour in 1989 (Hauser and Warren 1997).9 Displaced workers have lower job tenure,

have lower occupational status, and are less likely to receive employer-offered pension benefits.

Displaced workers are more likely to be private sector workers and are more likely to be displaced from

jobs in manufacturing. Union coverage has been found to be an important factor predicting job security

(Kuhn and Sweetman 1998); WLS workers who are displaced have a lower percentage of union coverage

than WLS non-displaced workers. We also include an indicator of marital status and an indicator of the

whether or not the respondent had any children in 1975 and in 1992. Gender is not a significant predictor

of whether or not a worker is displaced; we therefore chose to include sex as a predictor, but not to

estimate separate models by sex.

Dependent and Mediating Variables

Our outcome of interest is a scale of social participation which consists of indicators of

involvement in business/civic groups, community centers, neighborhood organizations, political clubs,

parent-teacher associations, youth groups, charitable organizations, church-connected groups,

professional groups, country clubs, fraternal organizations, and sports teams. For each of these twelve

measures, respondents are grouped into 3 categories of stated involvement from “not involved” / “very

little involvement” (0), to “some involvement” (1), to “quite a bit” / “a great deal of involvement” (2). For

each of these twelve measures, we use data from 1975, 1992/3, and 2003-05. Scales are constructed using

the alpha command in STATA 9.0. The scale reliability is 0.51 for the 1975 scale, 0.69 for the 1992 scale,

and 0.66 for the 2005 scale. Table 2 provides descriptive statistics for these scales. Again, we use the


difference between outcomes in 1975 and 1992 and between 1975 and 2005 for workers displaced

between 1975 and 1992, and the difference between 1992 and 2005 for workers displaced between 1992

and 2005. At each wave, displaced workers are less likely to participate than non-displaced workers prior

to being displaced, indicating selection into job displacement.

We also assess the degree to which the effects of job displacement on social participation are

mediated by post-displacement socioeconomic status and psychological distress. Our measures of post-

displacement socioeconomic status include indicators of employment status, log hourly wages, and

occupational status (measurement described above) in 1992 and 2005. For workers displaced between

1975 and 1992, we examine the impact of including 1992 post-displacement conditions on effects on

1992 social participation and 2005 post-displacement conditions on effects on 2005 social participation;

for workers displaced between 1992 and 2005, we examine the impact of including 2005 post-

displacement conditions on 2005 social participation. Our measure of depression is based on the 20-item

Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). The scoring of individual CES-D index

items are based on a count of the number of days (0-7) in the last week that the respondent felt as

indicated in each of the twenty questions; items are summed for a total range of scores from 0 (least) to

140 (most depressed). Second, we include an index of self-acceptance based on seven items indicating

acceptance and confidence regarding achievements in life, where each indicator is based on a 6-point

scale ranging from ‘agree strongly’ to ‘disagree strongly;’ items are summed for a total range of 0 (lowest

level of self-acceptance) to 42 (highest). Third, we include an index of six items indicating social trust or

social reciprocity.10 The six items are summed for a total range of 0 (lowest level of reciprocity) to 36

(highest).

RESULTS

Causal Effects of Job Displacement on Social Participation over the Life Course

We use a series of estimators to assess the effects of displacement on subsequent levels of social

participation: (1) simple bivariate estimation for differences in means of social participation between

displaced and non-displaced workers in 1992 (age 53) and 2005 (age 65); (2) cross-sectional estimation

with covariate adjustment in 1992 and 2005; and (3) difference-in-differences estimation with covariate

adjustment, i.e. the difference in social participation levels between 1975 and 1992, between 1975 and

2005, and between 1992 and 2005. For the DID estimation, we take the difference in participation at the

later year from the baseline measure, i.e. the pre-displacement measure, corresponding to 1975 for

workers displaced 1975-92 and to 1992 for workers displaced 1992-05. For workers displaced between

1975 and 1992 (ages 35-53), we assess social participation, or changes in social participation, in 1992 and


2005 (at ages 53, and 64, respectively), and for workers displaced between 1992 and 2005 (ages 53-65),

we assess social participation, or changes in social participation, in 2005 (at age 64). The control group of

non-displaced workers in 1975-92 will include workers who may have been displaced in 1992-05.11

Table 3 includes estimates of the simple bivariate test of mean differences between displaced and

non-displaced workers’ social participation measured in 1992 and in 2005. This test of differences

introduces basic patterns in the data and provides a benchmark against which to evaluate changes that

occur as a result of controlling for observed and unobserved factors influencing the observed association.

We find that WLS workers who were displaced between the ages 35 and 53 are less likely than workers

who were not displaced during this period to socially participate at age 53 (Model 1) and at age 64

(Model 2). These differences between displaced and non-displaced workers are statistically significant.

By contrast, workers who were displaced between the ages of 53 and 65 are no less likely to participate at

age 65 relative to workers who were not displaced in their fifties or early sixties (Model 3). Of course, as

we observed in Table 2, and as research on life course trends in social participation indicate, both

displaced and non-displaced workers are less likely to participate as they age (Freeman 1997; Putnam

2000). Thus, we conjecture that the general decline in levels of social participation among all workers

coupled with the possibility that job displacement is a less damaging event for workers as they approach

retirement, both economically and psychologically, leads to a negligible effect for those workers

displaced between ages 53 and 65.

The bivariate estimates in Table 3 are unbiased estimates of average treatment effects if

displacement is random with respect to observed and unobserved factors affecting levels of social

participation. As the descriptive statistics presented in Table 2 demonstrate, this is not a reasonable

assumption; displacement is associated with several variables that are known to affect social participation.

How do the estimated effects of job displacement on social participation change when observed pre-

treatment differences between displaced and non-displaced workers are accounted for?

Table 4 reports the results of OLS regressions. The estimates for the effect of displacement for

workers ages 35 to 53 on social participation are reduced; still, the lower level of social participation of

displaced workers relative to their observationally equivalent non-displaced counterparts is highly

statistically significant at age 53 (Model 4) and at age 65 (Model 5). The effect of displacement for

workers displaced at age 53-65 is still non-significant (Model 6). Other significant influences on social

participation work as expected based on existing literature: more educated respondents with higher levels

of occupational status, or those individuals with higher demands on their time, are more likely to socially

participate (Freeman 1997). Whether due to ambition and energy or skills and resources, studies have

generally found that education is the best predictor of engagement in civic life (Putnam 2000).


Government workers also appear to be somewhat more likely to participate than private-sector workers.

There is no effect of mental ability on social participation.

Table 5 reports covariate-adjusted DID estimates of the effects of job displacement on social

participation. The use of DID estimation enables an assessment of unobserved heterogeneity due to time-

invariant unobservables that may influence the results presented in Table 4.12 DID estimates of the effects

of job displacement on social participation are smaller than regression estimates which do not control for

unobserved time-invariant heterogeneity. Still, we continue to observe substantively and statistically

significantly lower levels of social participation for workers displaced in their prime earnings years

relative to non-displaced counterparts (Models 7 and 8). That job displacement occurring in the prime

earning years exhibits significant effects on social participation suggests the importance of considering

job displacement as a significant influence on whether or not individuals choose to participate in their

communities, neighborhoods, and societies.

Use of a differenced outcome modifies the interpretation of the coefficients from effects on social

participation at a single point in time to effects on the change in social participation between time t’ and

time t. This change has an important effect on several coefficients, such as education. Education only

exerts a marginally significant effect on the change in the level of participation between age 35 and age

53 (Model 7), and a negative effect on the change in participation between age 35 and 65 (Model 8) and

between age 53 and 65 (Model 9). In other words, while more educated individuals are more likely to

participate at each stage we observe over the life course (Models 4-6), this difference declines with age

(Models 7-9). There are several other interesting coefficients in Models 7-9. A higher level of parents’

income is associated with a decline in participation from age 35 to 53. Occupational characteristics

exhibit no significant effects on changes in social participation, while longer employer tenure at age 35 is

associated with a significant increase in participation at age 53 and age 65. There is also a significant

interaction between sex and employer tenure suggesting that men in long-term employment situations are

more likely to increase their level of participation over the prime earnings years, while women in long-

term employment situations decrease their level of participation over time. Union status is also associated

with an increased level of participation from age 35 to 65. Moreover, family status exerts a significant

effect on changes in levels of participation over time: men and women who are married and have children

decrease their level of involvement as they age, and as their children age, likely the result of declines in

involvement with associations such as the PTA.


Is the Effect of Job Displacement on Social Participation Mediated by Post-

Displacement Socioeconomic and Psychological Status?

Given the significant negative effect of job displacement on levels of social participation, we next

explore whether this effect can be explained by declines in socioeconomic status and psychological well-

being associated with being displaced from a job. Although there is existing evidence to suggest that job

displacement exerts an impact on these potentially mediating variables, Table 6 reports the effects of job

displacement on these six potentially mediating factors (i.e., employment status, earnings, occupational

status, depression, self-acceptance, and social reciprocity). We find that displacement that occurs between

ages 35 and 53 does exert a substantively and statistically significant effect on all three of our measures of

socioeconomic status, and on depression and self-acceptance, but not on social reciprocity. At age 65,

displacement between ages 35 and 53 continues to negatively impact all of these measures, with the

exception of depression. The effects on employment status and self-acceptance are reduced in magnitude,

while the negative effects on earnings and occupational status accumulate. Being displaced between ages

53 and 65 does not influence employment status or psychological well-being, but does exert a significant

negative effect on earnings and occupational status.

We next examine the degree to which post-displacement socioeconomic and psychological

distress mediates the relationship between displacement and social participation. Models 10-12, presented

in the first three columns of Table 7, control for post-displacement employment status, log wages, and

occupational earnings.13 Despite the fact that there are significant effects of job displacement on these

measures of socioeconomic status, and significant effects of these measures on social participation, there

is almost no change in the estimated effect of job displacement on social participation. If anything, the

negative effect is slightly strengthened for workers displaced in the 1975 to 1992 period on social

participation in 1992. One reason may be that although employment and higher occupational status are

associated with a positive change in social participation, higher earnings is associated with a negative

change.14 In Model 12, at age 65, employment is associated with a lower level of social participation. The

other coefficients in Models 10-12 are similar to the corresponding Models 7-9.

Our final set of models, Models 13-15, further control for depression, self-acceptance, and

feelings of social reciprocity. Like Models 10-12, despite several significant effects of these mediating

variables, and despite the fact that these mediating influences are also influenced by job displacement,

these variables have almost no impact on the relationship between displacement and social participation.

These results suggest that being displaced from a job negatively impacts social participation, but that this

association is not explained by displaced workers’ subsequent socioeconomic and psychological status.


SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION

This study makes two important contributions. First, this study provides evidence for yet another negative

outcome of job displacement: we find significant and long-term declines in social participation for

workers displaced between ages 35 and 53 relative to their non-displaced counterparts. Despite evidence

for important effects of job displacement on subsequent socioeconomic and psychological status,

controlling for these factors does not explain the relationship between displacement and participation.

This suggests that experiencing job displacement leads to decline in social involvement even in the

absence of socioeconomic and psychological decline. Workers displaced later in the career, between ages

53 and 65, show no significant difference in levels of social participation than their non-displaced

counterparts. Job displacement appears to have less impact on social engagement as workers approach

retirement.

Second, by focusing on job displacement, a relatively exogenous event, and employing

difference-in-differences estimation for a large sample of workers over the course of their lives, we

demonstrate a causal relationship between work histories and participation. Failing to control for

unobserved heterogeneity leads to some overstatement of the negative effects of displacement on social

participation; nevertheless, we continue to find a substantively and statistically important decline in social

involvement as a result of being displaced from a job during the prime working years using difference-in-

differences estimation. Thus, our findings provide robust evidence for Wilensky’s (1961) early thesis that

disorderly experience in the economic system is associated with a retreat from social life.

The presumption of comparatively modest starting salaries coupled with steady increases until

midlife were defining characteristics that distinguished a career for much of the past century. Job

displacement is affecting long-term steady employment, hindering workers’ ability to sustain a successful

career characterized by upward mobility. Our study indicates that job displacement also exerts a

significant negative effect on the probability that an individual will choose to participate in his or her

social surroundings. Given the potential importance of social capital to individuals’ position in the labor

market, most potently in the form of job networks, a decline in participation may further impede displaced

workers’ ability to secure agreeable reemployment.


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ENDNOTES

1 Mouw (2003) argues that often used measures of social capital, such as the average education or jobprestige of contacts, have a spurious rather than causal effect, at least on wages. This does not necessarilymean that social capital does not matter, but that we may need better measures of it.2 Rotolo and Wilson (2004) argue that once appropriate controls for socio-demographic trends areimposed, generational differences in levels of social participation disappear. In other words, while thereare observed cohort differences in levels of social participation, these differences are the results ofdifference in socio-demographic variables.3 It is possible that the reverse is true. It may be the case that although there may be higher observed levelsof social participation among the WLS cohort members of the cohort were more loosely connected tosocial life, such that events such as job displacement might have larger effects on declines in socialparticipation than for younger cohorts.4 See Brand (2006) for further discussion of the WLS as compared to other datasets that have been used inthe study of job displacement on career outcomes.5 Although about 19% of the sample is of farm origin, this is not inconsistent with national estimates forcohorts of the late 1930s.6 Using data for many, sometimes sensitive, measures from multiple waves over many decades results in alarge amount of attrition. We examine differences in descriptive statistics between the “full sample,” i.e.before we delete cases, and our analysis sample and find that average levels for many measures for thefull sample indicate slightly greater disadvantage (results available from the authors upon request). To theextent that those individuals who are the least likely to socially participate are also the least likely toparticipate in surveys, our results may be conservative estimates of the impact of displacement onparticipation.7 A started log means that a small positive constant is added to each respondent’s value before taking thelog.8 Although we might have operationalized educational attainment as a series of dichotomous measures ofyears of schooling completed, supplementary analyses (not presented) show that our results are notsensitive to this choice of operationalization.9 Hauser and Warren (1997) recommend that a started logit transformation of these percentages be used tocorrect for heteroskedasticity. The started logit transformation takes the form: SL(oe) = ln [(oe+1)/(100-oe+1)], where oe is occupational earnings. We do not include baseline wages as this was not a significantpredictor of job displacement controlling for occupational status.10In the WLS, this index is called “agreeableness.” We, however, feel that it taps into many of thetheoretical constructs described by Putnam (2000) of social trust, consideration and cooperation forothers, and general reciprocity. Thus, for theoretical consistency, we label this index “social reciprocity.”11 It is indeed the case that 11% of those workers non-displaced in 1975-92 were displaced in 1992-05. Ofthose workers displaced in 1975-92, 18% were displaced in 1992-05. Inclusion of units treated in laterperiods is recommended by Brand and Xie (2007) in their approach for dealing with treatments that varyover time.12While several of the variables we include in these models, such as sex and parents’ income, areconsidered time-invariant variables, and therefore should drop out of the DID equations, these variablesare time-invariant in the DID framework only insofar as they have constant effects upon the outcomes ofinterest. This is not necessarily the case: the effects of these variables on the level of social participationin 1975, for example, may be different than the effects on the level of social participation in 1992.Therefore, a model that includes the “time-invariant” variables can be understood to allow them to have


different coefficients at the two times, and therefore be construed as a more rigorous estimator of thecausal effect. All DID results, therefore, include the full set of covariates.13 In order to retain all the individuals in the sample, even those who were not reemployed post-displacement, our measure of occupational status corresponds to a respondent’s current or last job, whichfor worker’s who were never reemployed post-displacement, corresponds to the job the worker wasdisplaced from. This concession may serve to understate the degree to which occupational status mediatesthe impact of displacement on participation.14 Effects are not substantively influenced by whether or not we include 1992 and 2005 status or thedifferences between 1992 and 1975 and 2005 and 1992 socioeconomic indicators, respectively. Wecontrol for baseline occupational status and baseline employment status (via employer tenure), andbaseline earnings is not a significant predictor of job displacement. We also test all possible interactionterms between job displacement and socioeconomic status and none of these terms were staticallysignificant. As such, and for ease of interpretation, we do not include these interactions in Models 10-15.

Table 1. Descriptive Statistics of Independent Variables: WLS

Variables Mean Std. Dev. Mean Std. Dev. Mean Std. Dev. Mean Std. Dev.

Sex .47 .50 .49 .50 .49 .50 .48 .50

Social BackgroundLog parents' income 8.67 .57 8.66 .59 8.67 .56 8.67 .58

Human CapitalMental ability 103.15 14.34 103.02 14.68 103.34 14.48 102.85 14.11

Educational attainment* 13.66 2.30 13.32 2.01 13.92 2.41 13.33 2.03

Job Conditions*Employer tenure 5.76 5.69 4.73 5.20 13.95 10.46 12.77 10.46

Occupational status -.96 1.11 -1.01 1.04 -.92 1.07 -.96 1.13Class of worker (priv.) .64 .48 .79 .41 .60 .49 .78 .41

Industry (manuf.) .21 .41 .30 .46 .20 .40 .30 .46Occupation (blue-coll.) .26 .44 .28 .45 .25 .43 .20 .40

Union status .23 .42 .20 .40 .24 .43 .13 .34Pension .60 .49 .52 .50 .69 .46 .63 .48

Family Life*Marital status .96 .18 .95 .22 .85 .36 .83 .37

Presence of children .93 .25 .93 .25 .93 .26 .92 .27

Sample Size

* Variables pertain to 1975 for non-displaced and displaced workers 1975-92, and to 1992 for non-displaced and displaced workers 1992-05.

Displaced 1975-92

Non-Displaced 1975-92

Displaced 1992-05


3760 781 3737 510

Table 2. Descriptive Statistics of Dependent and Mediating Variables: WLS

Variables Mean Std. Dev. Mean Std. Dev. Mean Std. Dev. Mean Std. Dev.

Social ParticipationParticipation scale 1975 .29 .25 .26 .23 .29 .25 .27 .24Participation scale 1992 .36 .36 .30 .32 --- --- --- ---Participation scale 2005 .25 .23 .20 .19 .24 .23 .23 .23

Socioeconomic StatusEmployment status 1992 .90 .30 .85 .36 --- --- --- ---Employment status 2005 .44 .50 .47 .50 .48 .50 .46 .50

Hourly Wages 1992* 22.58 29.32 17.92 25.53 --- --- --- ---Hourly Wages 2005* 22.09 27.30 17.92 25.53 23.20 27.87 19.34 25.26

Occupational status 1992 .68 .77 .58 .64 --- --- --- ---Occupational status 2005 .69 .75 .57 .64 .68 .75 .65 .74

Psychological Well-BeingDepression (CES-D) 1992 15.54 14.74 17.15 15.40 --- --- --- ---Depression (CES-D) 2005 13.28 13.68 14.22 13.74 13.23 13.56 13.85 13.81

Self-acceptance 1992 33.32 6.05 32.45 6.32 --- --- --- ---Self-acceptance 2005 24.59 3.86 24.08 3.83 24.53 3.84 24.55 3.85

Social Reciprocity 1992 28.27 4.63 28.31 4.74 --- --- --- ---Social Reciprocity 2005 28.70 4.32 28.43 4.31 24.72 3.79 24.67 3.63

Sample Size

* In 2004 dollars;Notes: Occupational status is measured as the percentage of persons in the 1990 Census in an occupation/industry/class-of-worker category who earned at least $14.30 per hour in 1989. Depression is measured using the CES-D, range of 0-126. Self-acceptance is a 7-item index with a final range of 0-42. Social reciprocity is a 6-item index with a final range of 0-36.


Displaced 1992-05


Displaced 1975-92

3760 781 3737 510

Displacement 1975-92 -.060 *** -.044 *** ---(4.30) (4.99)

Displacement 1992-05 --- --- -.006(.59)

Sample Size 4541 4541 4247

†p<.10 *p <. 05 **p < .01 ***p < .001 (two-tailed tests)

Social participation is a scale indicating involvement in business/civic groups, community centers, neighborhood organizations, political clubs, parent-teacher associations, youth groups, charitable organizations, church-connected groups, professional groups, country clubs, fraternal organizations, and sports teams.

Notes: Numbers in parentheses are t-ratios.

Table 3. Bivariate Estimates of the Effects of Job Displacement on Social Participation

Model 1: 1992

Participation

Model 2: 2005

Participation

Model 3: 2005

Participation

Displacement 1975-92 -.043 ** -.038 *** ---(3.10) (4.26)

Displacement 1992-05 --- --- .002(.19)

Sex -.015 .007 -.010(.81) (.59) (.76)

Mental ability .000 .000 -.001 †(.88) (.74) (1.82)

Parents' income .000 -.002 -.006(.02) (.31) (.95)

Educational attainment .023 *** .013 *** .016 ***(7.85) (6.59) (8.65)

Employer tenure .001 .001 .000(.90) (1.39) (.74)

Occupational status .019 ** .016 *** .017 ***(3.08) (4.01) (4.07)

Class of worker (private) -.020 † -.014 † -.014 †(1.66) (1.74) (1.68)

Industry (manuf.) -.033 * -.001 -.016 †(2.31) (.08) (1.65)

Occupation (blue-coll.) -.046 ** -.037 *** -.026 **(3.25) (4.08) (2.71)

Union status .003 .000 -.017 †(.18) (.04) (1.85)

Pension -.006 -.007 -.002(.50) (.84) (.19)

Marital status .008 .025 .017(.31) (1.42) (1.62)

Presence of children -.033 -.008 -.014(1.61) (.58) (1.03)

Sex * Employer tenure .000 -.003 * .000(.10) (2.41) (.32)

Sample Size 4541 4541 4247




Table 4. Regression Estimates of the Effects of Job Displacement on Social Participation

Model 4: 1992

Participation

Model 5: 2005

Participation

Model 6: 2005

Participation

Independent variables (with the exception of sex, parents' income, and mental ability) pertain to 1975 statuses for models examining the effects of job displacement 1975-92, and to 1992 statuses for models examining the effects of job displacement 1992-05.

Displacement 1975-92 -.030 * -.025 * ---(2.12) (2.35)

Displacement 1992-05 --- --- .006(.41)

Sex .005 .026 † -.003(.26) (1.88) (.18)

Mental ability .000 .000 .000(.76) (.50) (.59)

Parents' income -.023 * -.025 ** -.002(2.39) (3.46) (.22)

Educational attainment .006 † -.005 * -.011 ***(1.80) (2.30) (3.94)

Employer tenure .005 ** .005 *** -.001 †(3.07) (4.09) (1.83)

Occupational status .007 .004 -.009(1.15) (.88) (1.59)

Class of worker (private) -.008 -.002 .001(.66) (.18) (.09)

Industry (manuf.) .002 .034 ** .015(.11) (3.05) (1.06)

Occupation (blue-coll.) .000 .009 .007(.00) (.83) (.49)

Union status .035 * .032 ** -.010(2.38) (2.98) (.75)

Pension -.007 -.008 .029 *(.59) (.84) (2.53)

Marital status -.047 † -.031 -.017(1.69) (1.48) (1.13)

Presence of children -.122 *** -.096 *** -.024(5.73) (6.04) (1.19)

Sex * Employer tenure -.006 ** -.009 *** .001(2.71) (5.48) (.90)

Sample Size 4541 4541 4247




Table 5. Difference-in-Differences Regression Estimates of the Effects of Job Displacement on Social Participation

Model 7: 1992-1975

Participation

Model 8: 2005-1975

Participation

Model 9: 2005-1992

Participation

Independent variables (with the exception of sex, parents' income, and mental ability) pertain to 1975 statuses for models examining the effects of job displacement 1975-92, and to 1992 statuses for models examining the effects of job displacement 1992-05.

Displacement 1975-92 -.052 *** -.295 *** -.126 *** 1.314 * -.716 ** .094(4.30) (6.05) (4.70) (2.23) (2.94) (.51)

Sample Size 4541 4541 4541 4541 4541 4541

Displacement 1975-92 .033 † -.339 * -.138 *** .655 -.348 * -.175(1.68) (6.25) (4.64) (1.21) (2.29) (1.04)

Sample Size 4541 4541 4541 4541 4541 4541

Displacement 1992-05 -.028 -.202 *** -.079 ** .368 .150 -.080(1.19) (3.72) (2.80) (.58) (.83) (.40)

Sample Size 4247 4247 4247 4247 4247 4247


Table 6. Regression Estimates of the Effects of Job Displacement on Potential Mediating Variables

1992 Depression

1992 Self-Accept.

1992 Soc. Reciprocity

1992 Employ. Status

1992 Earnings

1992 Occup. Status

All models are adjusted for all variables described in Table 1. Dependent variables are described in Table 2.

2005 Depression

2005 Self-Accept.

2005 Soc. Reciprocity


2005 Employ. Status

2005 Earnings

2005 Occup. Status

Displacement 1975-92 -.032 * -.025 * --- -.031 * -.025 * ---(2.23) (2.33) (2.13) (2.30)

Displacement 1992-05 --- --- .006 --- --- .006(.41) (.39)

Sex .012 .026 † -.002 .019 .025 † -.008(.63) (1.79) (.08) (1.01) (1.79) (.44)

Mental ability .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000(.51) (.53) (.61) (.46) (.47) (.37)

Parents' income -.022 * -.025 ** -.003 -.023 * -.025 ** -.003(2.30) (3.47) (.28) (2.39) (3.47) (.30)

Educational attainment .006 † -.005 * -.011 *** .006 * -.006 * -.011 ***(1.95) (2.32) (3.91) (2.07) (2.41) (3.91)

Employer tenure .005 ** .005 *** -.002 † .005 ** .005 *** -.002 †(3.14) (4.07) (1.89) (3.17) (4.06) (1.88)

Occupational status -.001 .003 -.011 -.002 .002 -.011(.15) (.47) (1.33) (.27) (.40) (1.31)

Class of worker (private) -.007 -.002 .000 -.006 -.002 .000(.54) (.20) (.03) (.45) (.17) (.02)

Industry (manuf.) .001 -.034 ** .013 .002 .034 ** .014(.09) (3.05) (.98) (.16) (3.10) (.98)

Occupation (blue-coll.) -.001 .009 .007 .002 .009 .005(.04) (.83) (.49) (.15) (.85) (.33)

Union status .038 ** .033 ** -.014 .040 ** .033 ** -.015(2.60) (3.00) (1.01) (2.74) (3.02) (1.09)

Pension -.003 -.008 .026 * -.005 -.008 .027 *(.21) (.80) (2.18) (.36) (.85) (2.27)

Marital status -.045 -.031 -.017 -.043 -.031 -.015(1.61) (1.47) (1.19) (1.53) (1.47) (1.05)

Presence of children -.121 *** -.096 *** -.023 -.121 *** -.097 *** -.021(5.71) (6.03) (1.15) (5.71) (6.07) (1.06)

Sex * Employer tenure -.006 ** -.009 *** .001 -.006 ** -.009 *** .001(2.78) (5.46) (.86) (2.86) (5.44) (.84)

Mediating VariablesEmployment status .070 * .002 -.022 * .073 * .002 -.021 *

(2.17) (.21) (2.13) (2.28) (.22) (2.03)Log wages -.027 ** -.001 .002 -.029 *** -.001 .002

(3.38) (.38) (.43) (3.60) (.48) (.51)Occupational status .019 * .003 .002 .018 * .002 .001

(2.36) (.60) (.23) (2.23) (.41) (.16)Depression --- --- --- .000 .000 .000

(.93) (.04) (.26)Self-acceptance --- --- --- .003 * .002 † .000

(2.51) (1.87) (.13)Social reciprocity --- --- --- .002 † -.001 -.004 †

(1.93) (1.17) (3.22)

Sample Size 4541 4541 4247 4541 4541 4247


Independent variables (with the exception of sex, parents' income, and mental ability) pertain to 1975 statuses for models examining the effects of job displacement 1975-92, and to 1992 statuses for models examining the effects of job displacement 1992-05. Mediating variables correspond to 1992 statuses for 1992 outcome models, and to 2005 statuses for 2005 outcome models.Social participation is a scale indicating involvement in business/civic groups, community centers, neighborhood organizations, political clubs, parent-teacher associations, youth groups, charitable organizations, church-connected groups, professional groups, country clubs, fraternal organizations, and sports teams.


Table 7. Difference-in-Differences Regression Estimates of the Effects of Job Displacement on Social Participation with Post-Displacement Socioeconomic Status and Psychological Well-Being / Attitudes as Mediating Variables

Model 13: 1992-1975

Participation

Model 14: 2005-1975

Participation

Model 15: 2005-1992

Participation

Model 10: 1992-1975

Participation

Model 11: 2005-1975

Participation

Model 12: 2005-1992

Participation

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Effects of Job Displacement on Social Participation of Job Displacement on Social Participation 5 self-acceptance, and social reciprocity on the relationship between displacement and