French Validation of Pinel's Stigma Consciousness Questionnaire Among Unemployed People: Links with Well-Being, Motivation, objective Job Search Behavior, and Access to Employment

Previous studies have shown that unemployed people carry a highly negative stigma. We examined whether their anticipation of being stigmatized, measured as stigma consciousness, predicted core psychological processes, objective job search behavior, and access to employment both after three months. We first translated the Stigma Consciousness Questionnaire (Pinel, 1999), which was originally designed for women, gay and Black people, into French, and adapted it to a population of jobseekers. We then sent a survey to a large and representative sample of unemployed people (N = 30,000; nrespondents = 2,055). Responses were linked to administrative databases of the French Public Employment Service to assess if stigma consciousness predicted objective job search behavior and access to employment. The scale showed good psychometric properties. Controlling for important confounders, stigma consciousness negatively predicted well-being, reported health, and life satisfaction, and positively predicted social and identified-regulated motivation to (re)work. Three months post-survey, stigma consciousness predicted increased job search efforts among jobseekers who had been unemployed for at least one year. However, this more intensive job search did not result in increased reemployment after three or five months. Our results depict active long-term jobseekers trying to manage their stigma by pursuing an individual mobility strategy, which did not lead to regaining employment. This could potentially increase their stigma consciousness, further deteriorating their well-being, health, and life satisfaction, in turn negatively affecting their ability to work, suggesting a detrimental cycle where stigma consciousness is a crucial factor.