Prolonged unemployment is associated with control loss and personal as well as social disengagement

The need for control is a fundamental human motivation, that when deprived can lead to broad and substantial changes in human behavior. We aimed to assess the consequences of control deprivation in a real‐life situation that poses a severe threat to personal control: a prolonged unemployment. Using a sample N = 1055 of unemployed (n = 748) versus working (n = 307) individuals, we examined predictions derived from two models of reactions to control deprivation: control‐regaining and disengagement/withdrawal. We found that length unemployment is correlated with a psychological state strongly interfering with psychological as well as social functioning. While control‐regaining models of responding to lack of control have received virtually no support from our findings, our results provide evidence that long‐term unemployed individuals are more disengaged than working individuals. They are more apathetic, less likely to engage in control‐regaining efforts and in active forms of construing one's own future.