Unemployment as a Factor Influencing Mental Well-being

Abstract

To develop an adequate employment policy is hardly possible without consideration of the psychosocial state of the unemployed. Therefore, not only is the statement of individual peculiarities significant, but also the definition of typical regularities, which allows to choose the most effective forms of psychological assistance and support.This paper addresses the results of the cluster analysis of the MMPI test profiles of the unemployed and employed women in order to construct the most typical profiles of the unemployed women and to define the most optimal directions of psychological assistance. Those personality profiles which were identified in the MMPI polling were classified using the methods of the cluster analysis. The participants of the study were 50 employed women and 298 unemployed women, most of whom were students of re-qualification courses at two educational institutions in Riga. The constructed personality profiles were grouped into 5 clusters. This paper provides characteristics for each cluster and offers recommendations for psychologists, pedagogues and other professionals who engage in re-qualification training of the unemployed or provide other services to the unemployed.