Calling and Well-Being Among Adults: Differential Relations by Employment Status

With a sample of 194 adults, approximately half of which were involuntarily unemployed, the present study explored (a) how calling related to core self-evaluations and life satisfaction, (b) whether core self-evaluations mediated the relation of calling to life satisfaction, and (c) how these relations differed for employed/voluntarily unemployed and involuntarily unemployed adults. Mediation analyses among the three variables were tested for each group. For both groups, calling was a significant, moderate predictor of core self-evaluations. Further, core self-evaluations was found to fully mediate in the link between calling and life satisfaction among the involuntarily unemployed group and partially mediate this relation among the employed/voluntarily unemployed group. The results of the present study suggest that higher levels of calling (regardless of employment status) relates to life satisfaction via a more positive sense of self. For the employed/voluntarily unemployed group, there may be benefits of a calling beyond positive self-evaluations.