Reported illness after a CGE closure

Abstract

In March 1984, a Canadian General Electric factory in Toronto closed its doors. The result was unemployment for approximately 400 individuals. After the closure, three surveys were carried out, among other things, to assess the health of former employees and their spouses over a 27 month period. Overall, in the period following the closure, those affected by the shutdown reported far greater ill-health when adjustments had been made for age, sex, education, and employment status than the Ontario population as determined by the Canada Health Survey. While stress can be linked to illness in four basic ways, the most likely explanation for this observation is that former employees and their spouses, as a result of the stress attributed to the closure, engaged in 'illness behaviour'.