Economic deprivation, experiential deprivation and social loneliness in unemployed and employed youth

One hundred and forty-eight youth were allocated to one of four occupationa l sub-groups: 47 unemployed with no access to paid work; 32 unemployed with access to some paid work; 30 unemployed with access to regular paid work; and 39 full-time employed. All participants were assessed for levels of Eco nomic Deprivation, Experiential Deprivation, Social Loneliness and Psycholo gical Distress. Results indicated that Economic Deprivation and Experientia l Deprivation varied according to occupational status, with those full-time employed having the least deprivation and those not attached to the work-f orce experiencing the most. Levels of deprivation were related to levels of Psychological Distress. Social Loneliness also varied across the occupatio nal groupings. The unemployed with access to regular paid work experienced the: least Social Loneliness; the unemployed with no paid work experienced the most. Lastly, both Economic and Experiential Deprivation were able to p redict Psychological Distress; only Experiential Deprivation was able to pr edict Social Loneliness. Results are discussed in the context of Jahoda's ( 1982) deprivation model and Weiss's (1973, 1974) social loneliness model. C opyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.