Abstract
Cognitive theories of adherence to difficult courses of action and findings from previous survey research on coping with a major life event-job loss-were used to generate a preventive intervention, tested by a randomized field experiment. The aim was to prevent poor mental health and loss of motivation to seek reemployment among those who continued to be unemployed and to promote high-quality reemployment. Ss were 928 recently unemployed adults from southeastern Michigan, representing a broad range of demographic characteristics; they were randomly assigned to either the experimental or control condition. The experimental intervention included training in job seeking with a problem-solving process emphasizing inoculation against setbacks and positive social reinforcement. A pretest was administered, followed by posttests 1 and 4 months after the experiment. The experimental condition yielded higher quality reemployment in terms of earnings and job satisfaction, and higher motivation among those who continued to be unemployed.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 759-769 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Journal of Applied Psychology |
Volume | 74 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Oct 1989 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Applied Psychology