The need for control is a fundamental human motivation, that when deprived can lead to broad and substantial changes in human behavior. The authors aimed to assess the consequences of control deprivation in a real-life situation that poses a severe threat to personal control: a prolonged unemployment.
Using a sample N = 1055 of unemployed (n = 748) versus working (n = 307) individuals, they examined predictions derived from two models of reactions to control deprivation: control-regaining and disengagement/withdrawal.
They found that length of unemployment is correlated with a psychological state strongly interfering with psychological as well as social functioning. While control-regaining models of responding to lack of control have received virtually no support from our findings, their results provide evidence that long-term unemployed individuals are more disengaged than working individuals. They are more apathetic, less likely to engage in control-regaining efforts and in active forms of construing one’s own future.
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The link to the article: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jopy.12967