Estime de soi, comparaisons sociales et temporelles, et ...

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Comparaisons et chômage de longue durée
Social and temporal comparisons, self-esteem, and job-search activity among long-term
unemployed people
Abstract
This study concerns the role of temporal-self and social comparisons in self-esteem regulation
and job-search activity among 85 persons unemployed for up to one year. Four types of
comparisons were operationalized : social comparisons with the ingroup (unemployed
people), and with an outgroup (workers), temporal-past and temporal-future comparisons.
Participants completed a questionnaire assessing the frequency of each type of comparison
according to its direction (upward versus downward) and responded to the Rosenberg Self-
esteem Inventory and questions about job-search behaviors. Results, based on the Partial
Least Squares approach to Structural Equation Modeling, revealed that upward social
comparisons with the outgroup negatively contributed to participants self-esteem. Results also
showed that upward temporal-future comparisons was related to high levels of self-esteem
and job-search activity. By contrast, social comparisons with the ingroup (whatever their
direction) predicted neither self-esteem nor job-search activity. These findings are notably
discussed in the light of previous results concerning other disadvantaged groups.
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