Abstract
In Japan, young part-time workers are referred to as a freeter. Recently, it has been observed that affirmative attitudes toward the freeter have become widely diffused among Japanese youth. This study investigated the factor structure of this affirmative attitude, and relationships between outcome expectations and attitudes were examined. Outcome expectations were assessed by subjective estimation of advantages and disadvantages of living a life as a freeter. Participants were students (N=588; 333 females, 253 males, 2 unknown) attending universities, junior colleges, and vocational schools located in the Kanto area. The result of exploratory factor analysis of the affirmative attitudes toward freeter revealed three factors named “social contribution of freeters”, “freeters as a tentative process”, and “enthusiastic sympathy for freeters”. Causal analysis using structural equation modeling indicated the following: positive appraisals such as, “people can enrich one’s experience by working as a freeter,” were a significant positive determinant of the affirmative attitudes in general. Conversely, negative appraisals such as, “a past record as a freeter would impede future career development,” were a significant negative determinant of freeter as a tentative career process. Based on these results, it was concluded that guiding youth toward accurately assessing the merits and demerits of being a freeter have an effect to change attitudes toward future career among youth.
