Employment History and Psychological Well-Being in the Young Unemployed

Abstract

Data are reported from a study of 78 young people in which those currently unemployed were compared with those in satisfactory employment and full-time tertiary students on various measures of psychological well-being. Although as a group the unemployed were significantly worse off, this did not apply to the 22 who described themselves as having been “mostly employed” in the past. In research on the unemployed one should take into account not only the current situation, but also the employment history.