Reviews : Growing Up with Unemployment: A Longitudinal Study of its Psychological Impact
| Author | Martin Roscoe |
| Published date | 01 October 1993 |
| Date | 01 October 1993 |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455059304000314 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
158
individualised
practice
and
back
to
broader
values
and
perspectives
that
I
felt
as
a
student,
vowed
not
to
lose
and
sometimes
have
done
as
a
consequence
of
professional
survival.
However,
I
don’t
want
to
give
the
impression
that
this
book
is
all
rhetoric
or
politic.
Rather
there
is
a
strong
sense
of
honest
commitment
by
the
authors
to
break
down
hierarchies
and
work
collectively.
For
’clients’,
read
participants
and
for
social
workers,
’enablers’.
The
authors’
hope
is
that,
with
Social
Action
high
on
the
agenda
of
the
EC
Commission,
the
British
social
worker
in
the
’90s
as
’bogey
figure ...
concerned
only
with
cruelty’
will
transform
into
a
dynamic
force
for
action
and
change.
Vicky
Harris
Probation
Officer,
Norwich
Growing
Up
with
Unemployment:
A
Longitudinal
Study
of
its
Psychological
Impact
Anthony
H
Winefield
et
al
Routledge,
1993;
pp
200;
£12.99
pbk
Why
are
the
unemployed
held
responsible
for
their
plight?
The
assumption
that
jobs
are
available
to
those
who
try
hard
enough
may
maintain
motivation;
its
greater
effect
though
is
to
encourage
the
internal
attribution
of
responsibility.
So
long
as
these
attitudes
prevail,
capitalism
has
little
to
fear
from
the
unemployed;
instead
of
getting
angry,
they
get
depressed
and
perceive
themselves
as
failed
members
of
a
reasonable
society
rather
than
victims
of
injustice.
This
long
term
study
of
young
people
in
South
Australia
who
left
school
in
1980-1982
followed
them
through
to
1989
and
shows
in
detail
the
psychological
impact
of
unemployment
on
young
people.
It
shows
school
children
highly
committed
to
finding
work
and
optimistic
about
their
chances
of
doing
so.
In
the
event
of
being
unemployed,
many
said
they
would
not
sign
on
the
dole,
disassociating
themselves
from
recipients
of
‘welfare’.
On
leaving
school,
it
shows
the
majority
of
school
leavers,
whether
employed
or
unemployed,
experiencing
an
increase
in
psychological
well-being
on
most
measures -
self
esteem,
personal
control,
absence
of
depression.
It
appears
that
in
many
ways
leaving
school
rather
than
getting
a
job
is
the
more
psychologically
significant
transitional
event
m
a
young
person’s
life.
This
is
particularly
so
for
girls
who
display
disproportionate
increases
in
self
esteem
and
absence
of
depression.
The
authors
suggest
that
a
co-educational
school
environment
may
be
psychologically
damaging
for
girls.
Children
who
stay
on
at
school
display
none
of
the
psychological
improvement
on
the
school
leavers.
However,
as
those
who
stay
on
at
school
become
students
in
tertiary
education,
their
psychological
well-being
improves
to
outstrip
their
unemployed
counterparts.
Subsequent
measures
show
psychological
well-being
to
be
highly
associated
with
gaining
satisfactory
employment;
the
unemployed
or
people
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