Selection into long-term unemployment and its psychological consequences

The factors which predict a person's long-term unemployment were studied within the framework of an emotional and behavioural regulation model consisting of two orthogonal dimensions: behavioural inhibition versus expression, and low versus high self-control of emotions (Pulkkinen, 1995, 1996). The participants were drawn from the ongoing Jyyaskyla Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development, in which the same individuals have been followed up from age 8 (n = 369) to 36 (n = 311). In the present study, data collected at ages 8, 14, 27, and 36 were used. The findings showed that low self-control of emotions, especially aggression, at age 8 directly predicted long-term unemployment in adulthood, whereas behavioural inhibition (passive and anxious behaviour) predicted long-term unemployment indirectly (via poor educational attainment). Long-term unemployment in adulthood was related to an increased level of current psychological distress as measured by the presence of depressive symptoms and anxiety. Thus, the present study confirmed both the hypothesis concerning selection into unemployment, and the hypothesis concerning the psychological consequences of unemployment.