Self-Esteem and the Psychological Impact of Unemployment

The study examines the relationship between employment status and self-esteem among highly educated Israeli adults. The self-esteem of employed and unemployed individuals and other variables indicative of their psychological well-being were assessed by questionnaires at two points in time, six months apart. Cross-sectional comparisons and longitudinal analysis show that depressive affect, morale and anxiety are affected by employment status, but, contrary to conventional wisdom, self-esteem is neither sensitive to employment status nor to changes in employment status. It is further shown that self-esteem moderates the relationship between employment status and psychological well-being-the psychological well-being of low self-esteem individuals is more sensitive to employment status than that of high self-esteem individuals. Low self-esteem unemployed individuals also tend to be more flexible in some respects when considering job offers. These findings are more in line with self-consistency theory than with the socio-cognitive approach to the self-concept.