EMPLOYABILITY MATTERS FOR WELLBEING. A PERSON CENTRED
PERSPECTIVE.
Sánchez-Queija*, Inmaculada; Ro hwell**, And ew; Va gas***, Reyes; Pa a*, Águeda
*Uni e sidad de Se illa (Spain), **Loughbo ough Uni e si y. UK, ***Escuela Uni e si a ia de Osuna (Spain).
INTRODUCTION
Finding and keeping employmen is bo h a de ini ion o employabili y
(Ro hwell & A nold, 2007) and one o he main issues/p eoccupa ions o
Eme ging Adul s, especially in Spain whe e 40% o people unde 25 yea s old
a e unemployed (EUROSTAT, 2021), being he highes young unemployed a e
in Eu ope.
Finding a job is an impo an ma ke o adul hood, ha p o ides
economic esou ces o become independen om pa en s and inc eases he
p obabili y o each pe sonal goals and aspi a ions (Pee e s e al., 2017) ha
esul s in be e wellbeing. Howe e , nowadays Spanish eme ging adul s ace
his de elopmen al ask in a cons an ly changing labou ma ke , ha p o ides
ew oppo uni ies and ha has placed all esponsibili y o ind a job in hei
hand (Fo ie & Sels, 2003). Thus, i becomes a key issue o s udy eme ging
adul s employabili y om he indi idual pe spec i e.
F om he indi idual pe spec i e, wo app oaches eme ge: indi idual
compe ences and disposi ions, and sel -pe cei ed employabili y (Vanhe cke e
al., 2014). The i s analyses he skills and abili ies which acili a e job- inding
oppo uni ies (De Vos e al., 2011). The second e e s o pe cep ion o one´s
own capaci ies and skills o inding a job wi h he pe cep ion o he impac o
he ex e nal labou ma ke and he impo ance o hei quali ica ions when
ying o ind a job (Ro hwell e al., 2008). In his esea ch we ha e examined
conjoin ly bo h app oaches o a pe son-cen e ed pe spec i e o y o know
how employabili y a ec eme ging adul s’ well-being. The sample we e
ec ui ed in 2015, in a con ex o economic c isis. Ou esea ch also includes a
ocus on esilience and emo ional in elligence as impo an skills ha could
acili a e inding a job.
METHOD
SAMPLE
1502 unde g adua es who we e eme ging adul s (Mage= 20.32; SDage= 2.13;
60.1% women) om he T ansi ion o Adul hood in Spain p ojec (TAE).
Pa icipan s we e ec ui ed om wo uni e si ies in Spain: UPV/EHU and US
and we e ep esen ed p opo ionally in he i e majo knowledge a eas: A s
and Humani ies, Sciences, Heal h Sciences, Social and Legal Sciences and
Enginee ing and A chi ec u e
MEASURES
-Demog aphic a iables: All pa icipan s indica ed hei age, sex and
educa ion le el.
-Sel -Pe cei ed Employabili y Scale ha e alua es in e nal ( α= .72) and
ex e nal (α= .80) sel -pe cei ed employabili y (Ro hwell e al., 2008; Va gas
e al., 2018)
-B ie Resilience Scale (Smi h e al., 2008, α= .80)
-B ie Emo ional In elligence Scale (Da ies e al., 2010, α= .67)
-Dep ession, Anxie y and S ess Scale (Bados e al., 2005, α= .89)
-Ry Wellbeing scale (Díaz e al., 2006, α= .87)
PROCEDURE
All pa icipan s we e in o med o he aim o he s udy and assu ances we e
gi en ha he su ey was bo h anonymous and con iden ial. All s uden s
pa icipa ed olun a ily. The s udy was app o ed by he Andalusian Biomedical
Resea ch E hics Commi ee.
DATA ANALYSIS
A K-meas clus e analysis, Chi-squa ed es (C amme ’s V and adjus ed
s anda dized esiduals we e calcula ed) and ANOVA was conduc ed
This esea ch has been ounded by MICINN and ERDF (RTI2018-097405-B-I00); MINECO (EDU2013-45687-R)
REFERENCES
•Bados, A., Solanas, A., & And és, R. (2005). Psychome ic p ope ies o he Spanish e sion o
dep ession, anxie y and s ess scales (DASS). Psico hema, 17(4), 679–683.
•De Vos, A., De Hauw, S., & Van de Heijden, B. I. J. M. (2011). Compe ency de elopmen and ca ee
success: The media ing ole o employabili y. Jou nal o Voca ional Beha io , 79(2), 438-447.
•Da ies, K. A., Lane, A. M., De onpo , T. J., & Sco , J. A. (2010). Validi y and eliabili y o a B ie
Emo ional In elligence Scale (BEIS-10). Jou nal o Indi idual Di e ences, 31(4), 198.
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V. (2006). Adap ación española de las escalas de bienes a psicológico de Ry . Psico hema, 18( 3), 572-577
•Pee e s, E., Nelissen, J., De Cuype , N., Fo ie , A., Ve b uggen, M., & De Wi e, H. (2019). Employabili y
capi al: A concep ual amewo k es ed h ough expe analysis. Jou nal o Ca ee De elopmen , 46(2), 79-
93.
• Ro hwell, A., & A nold, J. (2007). Sel ‐pe cei ed employabili y: de elopmen and alida ion o a
scale. Pe sonnel e iew, 36(1), 26-41.
•Fo ie , A., & Sels, L. (2003). The concep employabili y: A complex mosaic. In e na ional jou nal o
human esou ces de elopmen and managemen , 3(2), 102-124.
• Ro hwell, A., He be , I. and Ro hwell, F. (2008), “Sel pe cei ed employabili y: cons uc ion and ini ial
alida ion o a scale o uni e si y s uden s”, Jou nal o Voca ional Beha io , 73, 1-12.
•Smi h, B. W., Dalen, J., Wiggins, K., Tooley, E., Ch is ophe , P., & Be na d, J. (2008). The b ie esilience
scale: assessing he abili y o bounce back. In e na ional jou nal o beha io al medicine, 15(3), 194-200.
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psychological app oach. Pe sonnel Re iew, 43(4), 592–605.
•Va gas, R., Sánchez-Queija, I., Ro hwell, A., Pa a, A. (2018). Sel -pe cei ed employabili y in
Spain. Educa ion & T aining, 60 (3). 226 - 237.
-0,68
0,17
0,48
-0,91
0,31
0,57
0,03
-0,99
0,7
-0,46 -0,36
0,66
-1,2
-1
-0,8
-0,6
-0,4
-0,2
0
0,2
0,4
0,6
0,8
Clus e 1 Clus e 2 Clus e 3
Resilience Emo ional in elligence
Ex e nal Employabili y In e nal Employabili y
Fig 1. Clus e Analysis.
The i s one clus e is composed by young ha who sco e poo ly on pe sonal
skills ( esilience, emo ional in elligence, in e nal employabili y) and we e in he
mean o ex e nal employabili y. The second one emphasizes a weak
unde s anding o he labou ma ke and poo con idence in he oppo uni ies
ela ed o hei s udies. The hi d one clus e is composed by people wi h good
pe sonal skills and wi h high ex e nal and in e nal sel -pe cei ed employabili y.
Women a e o e ep esen ed a clus e 1 and 2, and men in clus e 3 (X2= 53.36,
p< .001, C ame ´s V= .19). S uden s om enginee ing, a chi ec u e and heal h
sciences a e o e ep esen ed in clus e 3, meanwhile s uden s o a s and
humani ies, social and legal sciences and pu e sciences a e o e ep esen ed a
clus e 2 (X2= 147.21, p< .001, C ame ´s V= .22). Finally, people wi h highe
pe cei ed economic s a us a e o e ep esen ed in clus e 3 (X2= 17.90, p<=
.001, C ame ´s V= .08)
-0,59
0,03
0,49
0,31
-0,03
-0,24
-0,8
-0,6
-0,4
-0,2
0
0,2
0,4
0,6
Clus e 1 Clus e 2 Clus e 3
Gene al Wellbeing Psychological Dis ess
Fig 2. Rela ionships be ween Clus e s and Wellbeing/Dis ess.
Pa icipan s in clus e 1 a ed hemsel es as lowe in wellbeing (M= 4.22, SD=
.63) and highe psychological dis ess (M=38.12, SD= 23.33). In addi ion, in
ascending o de appea in clus e 2 (M= 4.6, SD= .56; M=30.75, SD= 19.16) and
clus e 3 (M= 4.89, SD= .48; M= 26.2, SD= 19.35 o wellbeing and dis ess
espec i ely)
TAKE AWAY
People ha pe cei e hemsel es as employable pe cei e
ha hey ha e pe sonal skills such as esilience and
emo ional in elligence, ha hese p omo e well being and
a e a p o ec i e ac o o gene al dis ess.