COGNITIVE DETERMINATION OF EXPERIENCING A PERSONAL EMPLOYMENT CRISIS AMONG THE UNEMPLOYED YOUTH

Abstract

The present study assumes that the subjective experience of job loss or impossibility to get it due to the lack of demand on the labour market is determined by a system of cognitive determinants. It is validated that the semantic nature and modality of cognitive determination of experiencing the employment crisis in unemployed youth has its specific features.

The study examines the empirical correlates of cognitive determination of experiencing a personal employment crisis among unemployed youth – cognitive assessments of the individual situation of loss of employment or its absence due to unemployment. It was found that the most extremely young unemployed people experience frustration in such social spheres of their life as “lack of ability to use the profession” and “financial challenges”. Additionally, the most intense for the unemployed is also frustration in such psychological spheres of life as “uncertainty about the future” and “feeling of dependence on external circumstances”.

On the other hand, the unemployed youth are the least affected by the frustration in such social spheres (factors) of life as “decrease and loss of social contacts” and “change of attitude on the part of others”. This can be explained by an extensive social network, a more flexible system of social compensation mechanisms, their lack of strict determination by the professional environment, as well as age norms and social moratorium that require young people to have less personal responsibility than adults.

The unemployed are also the least affected by the frustration in such psychological spheres of life as “feeling of helplessness” and “feeling of inferiority”. This confirms the fact that young people have the optimal adaptive resource that can provide a high level of social and personal identity and personal integration in a situation of loss or absence of employment.