In these times of crisis, owning a job has become a fortune. Now, a team of scientists from the University of Stirling (United Kingdom) has delved into the effects of being unemployed on the personality and, according to their conclusions, the psychological damage is greater than previously thought .
Despite the fact that personality is considered a stable factor over time, the study has confirmed that unemployment leads to a drastic change in traits that were considered immovable : a reduction in the levels of friendliness, conscientiousness and extraversion; unemployed people lose motivation, they become less considerate and sympathetic, and their curiosity about the world around them suffers. The longer a person is unemployed, the more these personality changes worsen.
To reach these conclusions, the researchers involved 7,769 adults (3,733 men and 3,036 women) who filled out a standard personality test. Of all the volunteers, 210 people who had been unemployed for between 1 and 4 years were selected. On the other hand, another group of 251 participants who had been unemployed for less than 1 year but who had found a job after this period was studied. All study participants filled out the questionnaire at the beginning and at the end of the experiment.
The results revealed, for example, that, as regards women, each year unemployed represented a considerable drop in their kindness to others; With respect to men , the first two years of unemployment the trait of kindness increased, but after this time, it decreased considerably , having levels much lower than that of working men.
” The results challenge the idea that our personalities are ‘fixed’ and demonstrate that the effects of external factors, such as unemployment can have great impacts on our basic personality,” clarifies Christopher Boyce, leader of the study
The research, which has been published in the Journal of Applied Psychology , suggests that the effect of endemic unemployment on society is more than just an economic problem. The inevitable changes in personality could create an increasing cycle of difficulties in our society.
“A high national unemployment rate can have significant implications on society, for example, high unemployment can hinder the development of desirable social and economic behaviors, such as participation in social activities and better health habits. Policies to reduce unemployment are therefore vitally important not only to protect the economy, but also to allow the growth of positive personalities in people, ”says Boyce.
