Abstract

The present study was designed to explore the effects of success-failure experiences in job hunting on a variety of psychological functions of individuals. As participants 476 people in the twenties completed questionnaires of changes in life events, career attitudes, identity, mental health, life well-being, perceived control, and hopelessness. On the basis of attempts to hunt a job and subsequent sucess-failure experiences, participants were partitioned into four groups; complete success group, partial sucess group, complete failure group, and no attempt group. Results indicated that the complete failure group experienced the worst changes in life events and marked the lowest scores for mental health, perceived control, and life well-being. Instead, the complete success group was the best functional in a range of psychological respects, especially in preparation for and attitudes toward job. Although the no attempt group had a somewhat high level of life well-being, they reported a high score on the future hopelessness scale and revealed a low level of perceived control.