Causal attributions and beliefs about work and unemployment among adolescents in state and Independent secondary schools

Abstract

Boys and girls (N = 650) in Years 9 and 10 in State and Independent secondary schools in South Australia answered a questionnaire that contained specific questions concerning expectations of getting a job, attractiveness or positive valence of employment, need for a job, depressive affect about possible unemployment, reasons or attributions for unemployment, and other items about the job market. The questionnaire also included background and demographic questions and general measures of self-esteem, potency, depression, tension, hopelessness, and external control. The results showed reliable differences on a number of the variables between boys and girls and between the State school students and the Independent school students. These differences were taken to reflect variations between individuals in the way they construct or represent social reality depending on their location in the social fabric and the influences they are exposed to. Evidence that the students were more internal in their attributions than unemployed young people tested in two previous studies (Feather & Barber, 1983; Feather & Davenport, 1981) was taken to illustrate possible “observer” effects in the attributions made by the students. Results supported the expectancy-valence prediction that depressive affect about unemployment will be positively related to need for a job and attractiveness of employment.