Impact of Community Service on Latent Deprivation of Social Assistance Recipients

Purpose: This study examined the impact of community service on latent deprivation and mental health of long-term unemployed receiving social assistance by using a two-wave quasi-experimental design with an untreated control group. According to the latent deprivation model, we hypothesized that unpaid participation in community service for the period of three months would alleviate the participants' experience of latent deprivation and improve their mental health. Method: A total of 209 participants (105 in intervention and 104 in the control group; M-age = 44.7, SD = 10.47, 58.9% males) completed pretest and posttest measures. Results: Multivariate analysis of variance, followed by the analysis of variances and post-hoc group comparisons, revealed significant effects of the intervention on several dimensions of perceived latent deprivation, but not on the mental health of social assistance recipients. Conclusion: Community service might mitigate the lack of latent benefits of work associated with unemployment by enhancing time structure, regular social contacts, status, and collective purpose.