The role of career optimism and career desicion regret in predicting 'not in education, employment or training' (NEET) teachers' life satisfaction

Youth unemployment is one of the important problems they face when starting out in life. Individuals who have advanced their workforce studies, completed their formal education, and continue to hold a job or combine professional products are referred to as 'not in education, employment or training'. Even though these individuals' education has ended, they face various difficulties in finding a job to sustain their lives. Levels of changes in living conditions are also affected by these negativities. Especially in university education, when individuals become unemployed, they cannot receive compensation for their activities and their departments may continue to deteriorate in terms of their profession. Having daily expectations that the problem will be encountered with life events is a factor that will strengthen individuals against the difficulties they experience. People with high career optimism can more easily find alternative solutions by struggling with difficulties. Within the scope of this research, the predictive power of career optimism and professional decision regret on the life satisfaction of teachers who are neither in education nor in employment will be examined. When the literature was examined, it was seen that the number of mental health studies on youth unemployment was limited. In this research, Life Satisfaction Scale, Career Optimism Scale, Career Decision Regret Scale and Personal Information Form prepared by the researcher were used as data collection tools. The sample of the research consisted of 484 teachers aged 21-30, who completed their university education and were not employed. The sample population was reached through the 'Google Forms' application using the snowball sampling method, and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), independent sample T Test and multiple linear regression analysis were used in data analysis. As a result of the research, it was seen that the majority of NEET teachers were living with family support and spouse income, and were preparing for various exams in order to get a job in the public sector. According to NEET teachers, the main reasons for being unemployed are harsh and unfavorable working conditions, insufficient wages offered, inability to find a suitable job and lack of experience. Life satisfaction and career decision regret scores show significant differences according to age and duration of unemployment. The longer individuals remain unemployed, the more they are affected by the negative consequences of unemployment. In cases of unemployment lasting more than 2 years, regret towards the chosen profession increases and life satisfaction decreases. As a result of the multiple linear regression analysis, it was seen that career optimism and professional decision regret had a significant predictive power on the life satisfaction of teachers who were neither in education nor in employment.