An Exploration Of Life Crisis Experiences Of Employed And Unemployed Early Adults In Windhoek, Namibia

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to explore life crises prevalence of both employed and unemployed early adults in Windhoek, Namibia, by comparing differences in life crisis reporting between them. The study also aimed to determine gender differences in life crisis experiences of early adults, if any, and also the areas in which life crisis was most experienced. Guided by a quantitative approach, an Adult Crisis Episode Retrospective Self-Assessment Tool (ACERSAT) was used to collect the data. Snowball sampling and simple random sampling methods were used to select the employed and unemployed participants respectively. A total sample of 186 early adults participated, of which ninety-five (95) were officially employed and ninety-one (91) were unemployed. The data obtained were analysed through SPSS version 25.0 using descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages. A Chi-Square test of Independence was also conducted to determine if there was any significant relationship between life crisis reporting, occupation status, and gender. Overall, 82.8% of the sample conceded to experiencing an early adult life crisis. The employed participants reported more life crisis than the unemployed participants by 7.2%. Males reported a greater incidence of life crisis than females by 5.7% and most life crises reported were related to the career and/or family categories. No significant association was found between life crisis, occupation status and gender. The results indicated a prevalence of early adult life crisis experiences, especially amongst employed males. Career and family were the areas surrounding the majority of the reported life crisis. Therefore, it is recommended for secondary and tertiary level life skills education to include developmental psychology to better prepare early adults for prospective life crisis experiences. It is further recommended that future studies should address coping strategies for this group and possible post-crisis growth.