Desemprego, autoestima e satisfação com a vida: estudo exploratório realizado em Portugal com beneficiários do Rendimento Social de Inserção

Abstract

This research aims to relate two psychological concepts integrated in the self system, namely, selfesteem and life satisfaction of unemployed Portuguese adults. Given the current socio-economic situation, unemployment rates have been increasing to historical levels, raising the need to know how this phenomenon relates to the perception of self-evaluation and of the evaluation of life satisfaction. This is a correlational study based on a sample of 80 unemployed subjects registered in a job center and who receive social protection through the Social Inclusion Income (SII). The results show significant positive correlations between self-esteem and life satisfaction, between the subjects' age and the duration of the unemployment situation, between the subjects' age and the duration of the period during which they receive the SII, and even between this period and the duration of unemployment. There was only one significant negative correlation between self-esteem and the duration of unemployment. We conclude that the overall duration of the unemployment situation affects the self-esteem and that social protection, as a primary means of subsistence, is not related to the variables of the self system under study, which are more sophisticated and with other implied needs. The study suggests that attention should be directed to the long-term unemployed subjects, who are older and therefore have been receiving social protection for a longer period of time. (English) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]