Unemployment in the Community Research Assignment (Research Paper Sample)

Unemployment in the community
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Institution
Introduction
Unemployment is a sensitive issue because it affects the social, psychological and economic life of the unemployed. Also, unemployment affects third parties especially the family of the person facing unemployment issues. A high unemployment rate in a community is a factor that should warrant investigation to discover the main cause of unemployment. As described above, unemployment has family and individual consequence. Before investigating the effects of unemployment in a community, it is important to understand how it affects a person and his family. Unemployment is a contributing factor to mental health complications that arise because of stress (Conroy, 2010). Also, unemployment increases death rates because of health complications. People that are unemployment have a poor social life because of strained family relationships. An individual’s spouse and children will also experience psychological torment because of unemployment. According to Conroy (2010), people that have employment have a steady income and hence have a better psychological well-being compared to people that do not have unemployment. The loss of revenue is the primary factor that contributes to these challenges. Also, employed people have a better physical health and lower chances of experiencing marital problems.
According to Artazcoz, et. al, (2004), unemployed individuals in the community have a reduced life expectancy. There is numerous research that proves that unemployment is a sensitive issue that affects the person adversely. Research also demonstrates that unemployed men experience the adverse effects of unemployment at a higher rate compared to women. The society expects men to be family providers. A man with no substantial income will be stressed because he cannot provide for his family (Artazcoz, et. al, 2004). High-stress levels affect the physical health, cause diseases such as high blood pressure and affect the social life of an individual. Men who face unemployment issues are easily irritable and violent. Children suffer the most because the men are likely to release the tension and stress to children. Children, whose parents lack unemployment also lack necessities, feel inadequate among other children because of low self-esteem and have to witness the weak relationship between their parents. Therefore, children of parents who are unemployed face developmental issues.
The effect of unemployment in the community is a national problem because of the number of people affected. Issues of unemployment in the community is important to correct because unemployment is the primary cause of poverty (Saunders, 2002). Poor communities have a low level of living standard. With increased level of poverty in a community, crime levels are bound to elevate because people will look for other means to get resources. Poor neighborhoods have the low-quality infrastructure, few school establishments, no recreational facilities and substandard housing establishments Saunders, 2002). Also, poor communities have few employment opportunities. These characteristics contribute to political, social and economic problems in a community. It is, therefore, important to investigate the issue of unemployment in an individual and community perspective because of the psychological, social and economic challenges that people face because of unemployment.
This research focuses on the effects of unemployment, specifically, how it affects individuals at a community level. This research is important because it will investigate the causes of unemployment in a community. Also, the study will examine the possible solutions that the local authority can implement to tackle the problem amicably. It is impossible to derive a solution to a problem without understanding the problem through empirical research. Also, the cause of unemployment is not universal; the cause of unemployment in one community is not the same in another community. It is, therefore, important to conduct an empirical research to uncover the problem to formulate a solution that will address the said problem. Unemployment reduces the quality of life of an individual and those around them. Essentially, it is unfair that children have to face psychological problems because their parents are unemployed. Children whose parents are unemployed have a high chance of becoming criminals because their parents cannot afford to keep them in school. Also, they will result in crime to achieve societal goals. The right way to achieve societal goals is through proper employment or self-employment. However, unemployed individuals are likely to commit criminal activities such as robbery to gain resources. This will further aggravate the problem thus causing the community to experience additional challenges. This research will look into ways that the community can focus on to deal with unemployment issues.
The central research question that will guide the development of this proposal will be: “what are the effects of unemployment in the community? This research question will help determine how the community suffers because of unemployment. The community, in this perspective, refers to the people within a particular locality whose problem is unemployment. This means that the number of individuals who are unemployed surpasses those that are unemployed. Other than the primary research question, other questions will help develop the paper. For instance, the question, “what causes high unemployment rates in a community?” will help develop the scope of the paper. Furthermore, the study will answer the question, “how does high unemployment in the community affect the physical and mental development of children?” examining the correlation between high unemployment in the community and elevated crime rate. Therefore, the research question “How does high unemployment rate contribute to increased crime rate?” The paper will investigate the research questions using peer-reviewed articles. The paper will use peer-reviewed articles and books that discuss the different elements of unemployment, for example, increased crime. The proposal’s literature review section will examine the journals by highlighting the main issue that the author explains in the paper.
Literature review
Many communities have a problem with unemployment. Many of these communities live in poor backgrounds. A community that has high unemployment rates has a high poverty level. The communities live in subjected neighborhoods that do not have adequate infrastructure, for example, road, schools, and quality housing establishment. Poor communities report a high rate of crime because people have no means of getting financial resources. Also, there are many cases of psychological problems among the unemployed. Poor mental health is because of high-stress levels. People with mental disorders have a reduced lifespan because high-stress levels cause diseases. Some studies show the correlation between unemployment and suicide. This paper will focus on the issues discussed above with evidence from peer-reviewed articles. Unemployment in the community requires immediate action from the relevant authorities to reduce the adverse effects.
Unemployment and Mental Health
The most common type of mental disorder that the unemployed face is stress. High-stress levels are detrimental to an individual’s health because it can cause other diseases such high blood pressure and other cardiovascular diseases. According to Artazcoz, et.al, (2004) many types of research focus on mental health complications among unemployed men. There is little evidence-based research that investigates the effect of unemployment among women. Artazcoz, et.al, (2004) believes that the notion that the how women and men perceive their jobs plays a critical in influencing the development of mental health. Rather, the differentiated roles of men and females in the family setting have the most effect on the development of mental health complications. A man’s traditional role is to provide and protect (Artazcoz, et.al, 2004). The absence of employment opportunities in the community means that a man is unable to provide for the family. Also, social class can affect the development of mental health problem. People in the upper class will be less affected by unemployment in comparison to those in the lower social class. Artazcoz, et.al, (2004) argues that one of the ways to deal with the effects of unemployment in the community is for the government to provide economic support through financial grants and employment opportunities.
Unemployment and suicide
Past studies reveal a strong relationship between unemployment and high suicide rates. According to Milner, Page & LaMontagne (2013), the duration of unemployment has a direct influence on the likelihood of suicide. Results of the study reveal that people who have a high duration of unemployment are more likely to commit suicide compared to those that have faced unemployment in a short time. The researcher argues that only 16 studies have detailed information about the correlation between the probability of suicide and unemployment. However, numerous studies link unemployment to suicide, but not about the duration of unemployment. High risk of suicide among the unemployed is because of the feeling of despair and high-stress levels (Milner, Page & LaMontagne, 2013).
Effect of unemployment on psychological health
Most unemployed people report that they get psychological problems soon after unemployment (Conroy, 2010). A person’s mental health is important because it affects how a person perceives the world, forms social relationship and goes about daily duties. Unemployment results in poor psychological health because the affected individuals lose hope, get stress, experience a drop i...