Affective reactions to employment and unemployment as a function of prior expectations and motivation

Self-esteem and depressive affect measures were obtained from 809 employed and 137 unemployed young people and compared with at-school measures taken three years earlier. Scores were analysed in relation to at-school expectations of obtaining employment and expressed importance of getting a job. In both employed and unemployed groups, low prior expectations of getting a job led to a greater increase in self-esteem than high prior expectations. Among the unemployed, those who had rated getting a job as relatively important showed a greater increase in depressive affect than those who had rated getting a job as relatively less important.