This article addresses the question what factors have an impact on specific dimensions of being conscious of the stigma referring to being unemployed (awareness, denial, disaffiliation). We use a Mixed Methods Design which sequentially combines qualitative and quantitative methods. On a theoretical level, Goffman's stigma concept is used as a sensitizing concept to derive the hypotheses from the qualitative interview material. The hypotheses are tested using data from the German panel study ‘Labour Market and Social Security’. (...)