Testing the incongruence model with longitudinal data: How employment status preferences affect mental health over time

According to the incongruence model, unemployed people experience incongruence between their actual as compared to their desired employment status, which is an important source of distress. In contrast to other theories, this model is able to explain why unemployed people feel worse not only compared to employed people but also compared to people in other life situations, such as students, homemakers and retirees, who are assumed to experience low levels of incongruence. The current study analysed two longitudinal samples (n = 1066 and n = 1036 at T1) that were followed over 2.5 and 1.5 years, with six and five measurement points, respectively. The results show that (1) unemployed people who found new jobs experienced a reduction in their incongruence levels; (2) changes in incongruence were associated with changes in mental health; (3) changes in incongruence mediated the effects of changes in employment status on mental health. In addition, (4) mental health changes associated with other employment status changes such as entering (or leaving) the labour force (i.e., becoming a student, homemaker or retiree) were also mediated by changes in incongruence levels. Furthermore, the effects remained stable when the influence of the latent and manifest functions of employment was controlled.