1 Introduction: Stress and the Life Course during Hard times -- Micro versus Macro Approaches -- Stress and Coping Models -- Unemployment as a Stressor -- Overview of the Book -- 2 The Study: Sites, Sample, Method, and Measures -- The Sites -- The Historical Context -- Studying the Effects of Plant Closings -- The Survey Questions -- Overview -- 3 Unemployment and Reemployment -- Trends in Jobs -- Reemployment -- Conclusions -- 4 Feelings: Downsizing's Effects on Individuals and Families -- Distress over Time -- Depression and Unemployment over Time -- Effects on the Family -- Conclusions -- 5 The Structure of Stress: Workers' Characteristics and the Stress Process -- At the Beginning of the End: Worker's Reactions at Wave 1 -- Depression and Unemployment over Time Results -- Over the Long Run: Methodology -- The Long Run: Results -- Conclusions -- Race and Human Capital -- Gender and the Meaning of Unemployment -- Thoughts about Vulnerability -- 6 A Question of Worth: Financial Circumstances, The Self, and Distress -- Financial Hardship -- Trends in Financial Hardship -- Financial Hardship as Part of the Stress Process -- Conclusions I: Financial Worth -- Psychological Worth -- Mastery and Self-Esteem in the Stress Process -- Summing Up: Worth and Worthlessness -- 7 The Persistence of Stress: Negative Life Events in the Recent and Distant Past -- Stress across the Life Course -- Negative Life Events in the Immediate Past -- Carryover Effects of a Prior Stressor -- Cumulative Stressors, the Self, and Distress among Working Class Men -- Conclusion: Exploring the Process -- 8 Psychological Resources and Distress -- Stress and Coping Revisited -- Collective Woes and Individual Self-Blame -- Self-Blame and Distress (Especially Depression) -- Conclusions -- 9 Individual versus Collective Resources -- Getting Help: Does it Help? -- Help is All Around -- Effects of Collective Supports on Depression and Self-Blame -- Conclusions -- 10 Conclusions: What Have We Learned? -- What We Found -- References.