Development of a scale for psychological stressors in unemployment: Understanding from multiple perspectives

Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has led to a surge in unemployment globally. To address the lack of effective tools to assess psychological stressors, this study developed a scale for measuring psychological stressors faced by unemployed individuals multidimensionally from three perspectives. Following preliminary research involving qualitative interviews and quantitative surveys, we conducted an online survey with 1,000 unemployed men and women. The results indicated that the stressors of leaving a job included two factors: "other-blame or victim consciousness" and "self-blame or low self-esteem." Stressors associated with lives of the unemployed encompassed two factors: "decreased activity and disorder in life during unemployment" and "isolation and difficulty during unemployment." Stressors as a job seeker consisted of one factor. The reliability and validity of these factors were substantiated. The proposed scale may be helpful for informing the development of suitable psychological support for individuals experiencing unemployment.