A Longitudinal Study of Relationships Between Vocational Graduates’ Career Adaptability, Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy, Vocational Identity Clarity, and Life Satisfaction

Career construction theory proposes that high career adaptability leads to positive adaptation outcomes during career transition. However, the specific pathways of how this happens remain underexplored. Drawing on the career construction model of adaptation, we hypothesized that career decision-making self-efficacy mediates the link of career adaptability with vocational identity clarity and life satisfaction as two measures of adaptation outcomes. We conducted a three-wave survey with an initial sample of 3126 Czech upper-secondary vocational graduates transitioning from vocational school to the labor market. Structural equation modeling revealed that career decision-making self-efficacy fully mediated the relationship between career adaptability before graduation and vocational identity clarity 20 months later. In contrast, the mediation effect of career decision-making self-efficacy on the relationship between career adaptability and life satisfaction was not supported. Additionally, in contrast to the previous literature, career adaptability was not directly related to vocational identity clarity and life satisfaction. Nevertheless, our findings demonstrated a positive long-term association of career adaptability with adaptation outcomes within the working life domain. Practical implications and future directions are discussed.

The Impact of Emotional Intelligence on Career Decision-Making Difficulties and Generalized Self-Efficacy Among University Students in China

Purpose

University life is a critical time when students start thinking about their careers in the future. Emotions and confidence are important factors in the career decision-making process. This process of choosing a specific direction towards a career often opens students to many uncertain situations, leading them to stress and anxiety. Emotional intelligence and generalized self-efficacy facilitate students in effective career decision-making by coping with difficulties during academia. The present study aimed to find the impact of emotional intelligence (EI) on career decision-making (CDM) and generalized self-efficacy (GSE) among university students in China.

Patients and Methods

The study included 310 undergraduate students from different universities of China. A cross-sectional research design was used and a convenient sampling technique was utilized. For the present study, Wong and Law emotional intelligence, generalized self-efficacy, and career decision-making difficulties scales were utilized.

Results

Findings of the study show that there is a significant relationship between EI, GSE, and career decision-making difficulties. Results revealed a significant positive relationship of GSE with emotional intelligence. GSE has a significant negative relationship with career decision-making difficulties. Moreover, EI has a significant negative relationship with career decision-making difficulties.

Conclusion

The study will help students to utilize emotional intelligence skills during academic and vocational life. For future research, qualitative studies would be conducted to better explore the underlying causes behind career decision-making difficulties.

Mediating role of career self-efficacy between clinical learning environment and professional identity in nursing students

AIMS

To explore whether the clinical learning environment (CLE) has an indirect effect on professional identity through the mediation of career self-efficacy (CSE) in nursing students.

BACKGROUND

The shortage of nurses has become a universal problem worldwide. Improving nurses' professional identity is considered an effective way to reduce the turnover rate of nurses. However, little is known about the relationship between the CLE, CSE and professional identity.

DESIGN

An observational, questionnaire-based, cross-sectional study.

METHODS

A web-based survey was completed by 212 undergraduate nursing students from June to August 2018. Measures included Chinese translations of the CLE, the Career Self-Efficacy Scale, and the Professional Identity Scale.

RESULTS

Both the CLE (r = 0.552, p < 0.01) and CSE (r = 0.868, p < 0.01) correlated positively with professional identity. The indirect effect of the CLE on professional identity through CSE was positive (β = 0.342, p < 0.05) and the effect was 77.2%.

CONCLUSIONS

A better CLE and higher scores in CSE were associated with professional identity in nursing students, and a better CLE had an indirect effect on the professional identity of students through CSE.

Validation of the Vocational Identity Status Assessment (VISA) Using Chinese Technical College Students

Developing a vocational identity is one of the most important tasks facing any adolescent, and vocational identity has become a focus of attention in career education and guidance for decades. However, few studies have been conducted on this topic in China due to a lack of relevant measures. The purpose of this study was to validate a Chinese version of the Vocational Identity Status Assessment (VISA) using 1,650 Chinese technical college students. The 30-item VISA–Chinese Version was found to have sound reliability and validity and with measurement invariance across age groups. This study contributes to the vocational identity literature by demonstrating the usefulness of VISA–Chinese Version.

Reciprocal Associations Between Career Self-Efficacy and Vocational Identity: A Three-Wave Longitudinal Study

We examined the changes in career decision-making self-efficacy (CDSE) and vocational identity (VI) and their reciprocal associations among 1,026 senior high school students, comprising 493 from Hong Kong (age in 10th grade: M = 16.31, SD = 0.65; 238 girls) and 533 from Shanghai (age in 10th grade: M = 16.50, SD = 0.56; 237 girls). They completed measures for assessing their CDSE and VI annually from 10th to 12th grades. Latent growth curve analyses indicated that both CDSE and VI significantly increased over time in the Hong Kong sample. Cross-lagged path analyses indicated that the reciprocal positive effects between CDSE and VI over time were supported in both samples. These findings indicated that CDSE and VI are generally dynamic and interrelated dimensions for Chinese adolescents’ career development with some regional differences.