Job Insecurity, Financial Threat, and Mental Health in the COVID-19 Context: The Moderating Role of the Support Network

The aim of this study is two-fold. Firstly, to analyze the relations between the perceptions of job insecurity and financial threat and general mental health during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. And secondly, to identify the potential moderating effect of the support network. We carried out a cross-sectional study on a non-probabilistic sample aimed at a general Chilean adult population to analyze this. The results show that both job insecurity (beta = -.183; p <.001) and financial threat (beta = -.309; p <.001) are associated with a decline in general mental health. Likewise, the results indicated a positive relationship between support network and general mental health in the two models analyzed (beta s = 0.322 and 0.182; ps < 0.001 and = 0.012, respectively), as well as a moderating effect of support network on the relationship between job insecurity and decreased general mental health (beta = .232; p <.001). The theoretical and applied scope of these findings are analyzed, and their challenges and limitations are discussed.