DISSERTATIONS 2019

THE WORK EXPERIENCE OF ADOLESCENT APPRENTICES: AN ANALYTICAL PSYCHOLOGY APPROACH

Camila Costa

Advisor: Prof Dr Liliana Liviano Wahba
Keywords: Adolescence. Labor. Brazilian Young Aprenttice Program. Analytical Psychology.

ABSTRACT:Analytical psychology conceives adolescence as a trajectory in which an impulse for personal maturation occurs. Because it is a period of intense mobilization of psychic energy, initiation rites help adolescents in the transition to adulthood. The insertion in the world of work is one of the processes that marks this transition throughout the psychological development. However, adolescents confront countless adversities when they start working. Taking these findings into account, the objective of this research was to understand the work experience of adolescents participating in Brazilian Young Apprentice program. We explored the relationship of aprentices' future expectations with their motivations to work, emotional support figures and psychological management of difficulties arising from the work environment. In addition to this specific objective, we investigated how participants perceived the experience of being a young apprentice in the labor market. To achieve these objectives, we carried a mixed method research, applying the following instruments: the Future Expectancy Scale, a questionnaire specifically designed for this research and a semi-structured interview. Quantitative data were submitted to multivariate statistical analysis, while qualitative results were analyzed according to Bardin’s content analysis. The sample consisted of 60 adolescents between the ages of 18 and 21 years. The quantitative results showed that the expectation of professional and financial success is the main motivation for adolescents to enter the Young Apprentice program and the reason to remain persistent in face of difficulties in the occupational environment. In addition, we identify the counselor as the main support figure in the process of professional learning. According to the qualitative results, one of the challenges of being a young apprentice in the labor market is to maintain the engagement in the process of occupational training despite of the prejudice suffered for being an apprentice. These findings point to the conclusion that the work experience of adolescent apprentices represents a long rite of passage. The process starts from the need for a transition, it has the counselor in the capacity of an elder mentor and, in the end, the young apprentices are able to return to the occupational world as professionals suited to the demands of the labor market.