Drawing from the foundations of developmental science and vocational psychology, the present study examines the career development of risk-immersed young adults (n = 543) confronted with challenges in the school-to-work transition. The present study leverages The Psychology of Working Theory (Blustein, 2006; Duffy, Blustein, Diemer, & Autin, 2016) and Career Construction Theory (Savickas, 2012) as two complementary career development frameworks that are well-suited to be integrated as a career-specific expression of Spencer’s (1997) Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory (PVEST); a broader theory of human development focused on young people developing in social contexts offering more risk than protective factors. The integration of these theories provides an identity-focused cultural ecological (ICE; Spencer, 2006) perspective on the career development of young people at risk of being derailed from productive career pathways during the critical school-to-work transition. The author employs a correlational, cross-sectional, quantitative research design to examine survey responses from a sample of 543 risk-immersed young adults. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the associations between contextual predictors (i.e., social marginalization, economic constraints) and vocational identity development, as well as the mediating role of psychosocial career constructs career adaptability and work volition. Results indicate that social marginalization had both direct effects on vocational identity development and indirect effects via work volition, but not career adaptability. Overall, results suggest that higher levels of social marginalization is associated with lower levels of vocational identity development and higher levels of self-doubt; in part, as a function of one’s perceived work volition. Additional positive direct associations were observed between mediating variables and vocational identity processes, suggesting that higher levels of career adaptability and work volition promote career exploration and commitment and reduce self-doubt about one’s career choice. Findings are discussed with a focus on implications for theory, research, practice, and policy to better serve the career development needs of risk-immersed youth. / 2021-09-28T00:00:00Z
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bu.edu/oai:open.bu.edu:2144/38214 |
| Date | 29 September 2019 |
| Creators | Flanagan, Sean |
| Contributors | Zaff, Jonathan F. |
| Source Sets | Boston University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
| Rights | Attribution 4.0 International, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
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