The research was published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The findings indicate the link between the two may be in part by the feeling of having a lack of control over one’s life.
Ellen Chou, the lead study author and researcher of the University of Virginia, said the study’s findings reveal that it physically hurts to be economically insecure.
Participants were told to think about entering an uncertain job market, as well as entering a stable job market, while keeping their hand in a bucket of ice water. This was to measure their pain tolerance.
Thinking about entering a stable job market led to no changes in pain tolerance, while thinking about entering an unstable job market reduced participants’ pain tolerance.
The study’s results highlight the importance of distinguishing between experiences that are objective and experiences that are subjective.
The researchers wrote that subjective interpretations of one’s own economic security has crucial consequences above and beyond those of objective economic status.
