It's not just work: For young people, employment status shapes their identity

Twentysomethings with stable employment had better identity synthesis and experienced less identity confusion compared to those with unstable employment, researchers say. — Freepik

WE LIKE to think that there’s more to life than work.

Yet when we meet new people, we often ask them what they do for a living. Indeed, work can shape our personal identity, especially when just starting out in the professional world.

At least, so suggest researchers at Osaka Metropolitan University in Japan. In a paper, recently published in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence, they report that people may identify especially with their work when they’re in their 20s. This was demonstrated by conducting a longitudinal study involving 875 people in Japan.

The academics tracked the identity development of these volunteers between 2015 and 2019. At the start of the experiment, their average age was 24.74.

The participants were divided into five groups according to their employment status (full-time, part-time, unemployed, etc), to see if their professional situation played a role in the construction of their identity during this pivotal period of their lives.

And it turns out that it did.

The authors of the study found that young adults whose working lives changed abruptly (e.g from full-time to part-time, job loss, etc ) were more likely to experience an identity crisis at the same time.

Their self-image was shaken by this change of situation.

Benefit of stability

Conversely, adults in their 20s who were more stable in their careers had less difficulty building their adult identity, which contributed to their personal well-being. And this was true regardless of their profession.

The findings of this study show that personal identity is closely linked to professional stability in young adults.

“While identity has traditionally been considered a central issue during adolescence, our study is the first to show that it remains a crucial element supporting well-being in adulthood,” explains Kai Hatano, an associate professor at the Graduate School of Sustainable System Science of Osaka Metropolitan University and lead author of the study, quoted in a news release.

Public authorities must therefore make the professional integration of young people a priority. Many people in their 20s are struggling to find stable employment. Graduates tend to fare better than others, although this depends on the level and specialisation of their training.

In this context, it’s hardly surprising that some young adults are experiencing an identity crisis. For while work helps shape our identity, it can be difficult to build your self-image when you’re professionally unstable.

Perhaps it’s time to take a step back and refocus on the other aspects of our lives that make us who we are. – AFP Relaxnews