A longitudinal study of career maturity of Korean adolescents: the effects of personal and contextual factors

The purpose of this longitudinal study is to examine the effects of personal factors and contextual determinants on the career maturity change of Korean adolescents over a 5-year period. This study used data from the Korea Youth Panel Survey which was administered to 3,449 junior high students from Grades 8 to 12, starting in 2003. A linear mixed-effects regression was used to test the study model. The results showed the levels of Korean adolescents?? career maturity were significantly influenced by personal predictors (gender, work values, career efficacy, self-efficacy, career development activities, school achievement, sex-role stereotyping, pressure for academic achievement, and part-time experiences) and contextual predictors (career conversations with parents, relationships with friends, and private education expense). Among career-related variables, only work values affected the slope of the career maturity growth curve. Implications for career counselors and educators are discussed.     

Improving the career decisions of deaf seniors in residential and day high schools.

Career development interventions can have positive effects on the career decisions that deaf seniors make before graduating from high school. Interviews with 189 seniors from 16 residential and day high schools revealed their career decisions and their experiences with career development activities. School staff evaluated the seniors' career decisions, career decision-making skills, and probable post-high school placements. The results indicated that seniors who had vocational training were more knowledgeable about their vocational aptitudes than were seniors who had no vocational training. Seniors with vocational training were also more likely to have considered other careers prior to making career decisions. Seniors who had received career counseling were more knowledgeable than those who had not about the skills needed to enter their chosen careers and were more interested in their career choices. More importantly, the amount of interest in one's career choice was determined to be related to ratings of motivation, readiness, and prospects for completing the postsecondary placement. The implications of these results are discussed below for professionals in education and rehabilitation.     

The Role of Self-Efficacy,Academic Abilities,and Parental Education in the Change in Career Decisions of Adolescents Facing German Unification

In times of dramatic social change, new career options emerge and old options may become obsolete. We investigated predictors of change in general career aspirations and of plans to attend a university of East German adolescents from 1989 (before German unification) to 1991 and 1995, respectively, after German unification. Higher pre-unification self-efficacy beliefs were associated with an increase in general career aspirations and a higher probability of switching from non-college-bound vocational training to attending a university. In addition, better pre-unification school grades and having parents who graduated from a university increased adolescents' probability to switch to a university. Furthermore, interaction effects of self-efficacy with grades and cognitive abilities appeared, indicating that for individuals with high self-efficacy, cognitive abilities became more important and grades less important in predicting the wish to pursue university studies. We concluded that beliefs in one's capabilities, and high academic abilities are important resources in vocational reorientation in times of social change.     

Family Interaction Patterns,Career Planning Attitudes,and Vocational Identity of High School Adolescents

The purpose of the current study was to examine how perceptions of family interaction patterns as defined along three dimensions of family environment (quality of family relationships, family goal-orientations, and degree of organization and control within the family system) predict vocational identity and career planning attitudes among male and female adolescents living at home. One hundred twenty three high school students completed measures of family environment, vocational identity, and career planning attitudes. Analyses revealed that the quality of family relationships (i.e., degree to which family members are encouraged to express feelings and problems) played a small, yet significant role in predicting career planning attitudes of adolescents.     

Trajectories of female student’s career decision between high school and college: organizationally separate but developmentally linked

This study examined the relationships between experiences in high school, the choice of college majors, and postcollege career decisions among female college students in Korea, applying growth curve modeling. Findings revealed that as students gained college experience, the possibility of a career-related decision increased each year, but slowly. High school type and experience with career-related decision-making during high school significantly increased the incidence of career-related decision-making in college. Results confirmed the salience of career guidance in high school. Choice of college major and occupationally oriented major was significantly related to the incidence of career-related decision-making in college. Students who had not decided on a career track in high school and entered the major-undeclared system in college increased their probability of a career-related decision. This study showed the causal effects of career indecision in high school and undeclared majors in college on career decisions in college. Significant relationship between major selection and career-related decision-making implied that selection of a major should coincide with the career planning process.     

自尊在社会支持与专业决策自我效能间的中介作用

为了解高中生专业决策自我效能的总体状况,以及专业决策自我效能与高中生自尊、社会支持状况之间的关系,研究者选取了山东省两城市的600名高中生进行了调查研究。结果发现：（1）高中生专业决策自我效能处于中等稍偏上的水平;（2）高中生专业决策自我效能在性别、城乡、年级以及是否为独生子方面存在差异;（3）相关分析表明,高中生自尊、社会支持和专业决策自我效能之间,存在两两显著正相关;（4）中介效应检验结果表明,自尊在社会支持与高中生专业决策自我效能之间起着部分中介作用。     

Motivational predictors of young adolescents' participation in an outdoor adventure course: A self-determination theory approach

Outdoor education is emerging as a compulsory component of the school curriculum in Singapore. As more and more young people are involved in outdoor education programmes, the motivational factors that influence students' participation in outdoor activities is an important area of study. The purpose of this study was to use the self-determination theory framework to examine post course satisfaction level among young adolescents. A total of 314 secondary school students aged from 12 to 16 years took part in the survey. Results showed that external regulation negatively predicted self-reported satisfaction whereas intrinsic motivation positively predicted participants' satisfaction levels of the course. It is highlighted that young adolescents should not be coerced into outdoor education programmes. They should be provided with a meaningful rationale for participation, given some autonomy for decision-making and to have a positive and enjoyable experience during the programme.     

Time spent on the Internet by multicultural adolescents in Korea

This study analysed The 8th Online Survey of Adolescent Health and Behaviour in 2012, which is a government-approved statistical survey of Internet use and patterns in Korea. We conducted a propensity score matching (PSM) to control for economic status differences between monocultural and multicultural families and an ANOVA to estimate the effects of multicultural family status, adolescents’ gender, school grades, locality, and parents’ academic background on adolescents’ Internet use (for studying and entertainment). The study revealed the following: with regard to Internet use patterns, adolescents from both monocultural and multicultural families selected gaming as their first choice, followed by studying and data searching. Furthermore, main and interaction effects of independent variables on adolescents’ time spent on the Internet for studying were not significant. However, the interaction effects of multicultural family status and mothers’ academic background on adolescents’ time spent on the Internet for entertainment were statistically significant. Specifically, adolescents’ time spent on the Internet for entertainment was higher in multicultural families with mothers whose education level was lower than middle school. Finally, we suggested that the government should provide full support to less educated mothers in multicultural families for effectively and constructively controlling their children’s Internet use and teaching it to them.     

Classifying Korean adolescents’ career preparedness

Latent class analysis was used to examine the career preparation of 5,227 11th-grade Korean adolescents taken from the Korean Education Longitudinal Study of 2005 (KELS:2005). Three career preparedness groups were identified, to reflecting Skorikov’s (J Vocat Behav 70:8–24, 2007) conceptualization of career preparedness: prepared, confused, and unprepared. Most individual, family, and school factors selected for study were statistically significant predictors of group membership. Results provided insight about career decidedness and career planning from a Korean context.     

Making a good career choice: A decision-analytical intervention to enhance proactive decision-making and career choice self-efficacy in high school students

At the end of high school, teenagers must deal with the first life-changing decision of determining what to do after graduation. For these decisions, adolescents need to be able to make good choices. However, most schools have not yet implemented decision trainings into their curricula. A new intervention called “KLUGentscheiden!” was developed to train complex decision-making in high school students to close this gap. The intervention targets three key components of good decision-making: envisioning one's objectives, identifying relevant alternatives, and comparing the identified alternatives by a weighted evaluation. We assumed that successfully training those decision-analytical steps should enhance self-perceived proactive decision-making skills. In addition, the training should also enhance self-assessed career choice self-efficacy. The intervention was evaluated in a pseudorandomized control study including 193 high school students. Compared to a control group, the intervention group significantly increased proactive decision-making skills and career choice self-efficacy. Although different long-term evaluations are still pending, the KLUGentscheiden! intervention provides an important tool to train complex decision-making in high-school students. It also has the potential to apply to other career choices of young individuals, such as choosing majors, a final thesis, a job, or a field of work.     

A Study of the Decision-Making Behaviours of Turkish Adolescents

The research reported in this paper aimed to examine the relationships between decision-making behaviours, self-esteem, and the perceived problem-solving skills of adolescents and to investigate the contributions of self-esteem and perceived problem-solving skills in predicting decision-making behaviours (decision response styles, decisional self-esteem, and decisional stress). Another aim of the study was to investigate whether there is a difference in the decision-making behaviours of adolescents considering gender and school type. For this purpose, Decision Behaviour Questionnaire, Self-Esteem Inventory, and Problem-Solving Inventory were administered to 511 adolescents (276 females and 235 males) in Turkish high schools. The findings revealed that decisional behaviours were positively correlated with self-esteem and problem solving. At the same time, self-esteem (general, social, academic, and home/family) and problem-solving were significant predictors of decisional behaviours. There were significant differences in decisional behaviours according to gender and type of school.     

Motivational predictors of young adolescents' participation in an outdoor adventure course: A self-determination theory approach

Abstract

Outdoor education is emerging as a compulsory component of the school curriculum in Singapore. As more and more young people are involved in outdoor education programmes, the motivational factors that influence students' participation in outdoor activities is an important area of study. The purpose of this study was to use the self-determination theory framework to examine post course satisfaction level among young adolescents. A total of 314 secondary school students aged from 12 to 16 years took part in the survey. Results showed that external regulation negatively predicted self-reported satisfaction whereas intrinsic motivation positively predicted participants' satisfaction levels of the course. It is highlighted that young adolescents should not be coerced into outdoor education programmes. They should be provided with a meaningful rationale for participation, given some autonomy for decision-making and to have a positive and enjoyable experience during the programme.     

Determinants of adolescents’ career development competencies in junior secondary schools of South Korea

More attention is needed on the career development of adolescents, specifically disadvantaged students deemed at risk of school failure. We investigated the determinants on career development competencies of 9th graders in secondary school in South Korea. The data in this study included 394 principals, 6635 students, and the students’ parents. Our research confirmed that students with low academic achievement, less parental support, and low family income are relatively disadvantaged in their school-based career development. We suggest that schools provide more preferential attention and care, as well as special career interventions for these disadvantaged students.     

Influence of Gender and Academic Risk Behavior on Career Decision Making and Occupational Choice in Early Adolescence

In this study we examined the main and interactive effects of academic risk status and gender on the early career development of adolescents, including career decision-making and occupational aspirations and expectations. Male adolescents were more likely than female adolescents to feel discouraged, lack necessary information about careers, perceive external barriers, and lack interest in making choices. Students identified as being at substantial academic risk were more likely to feel discouraged and indicate a lack of information needed to make career choices. Gender and at-risk status did not significantly influence occupational aspirations. However, adolescents at substantial academic risk reported significantly lower occupational expectations and had larger discrepancies between occupational aspirations and expectations than their peers. Implications of these findings for research and practice are examined.     

Examining the occupational aspirations of Taiwanese Aboriginal adolescents based on the developmental-contextual model of career development

In Taiwan, the occupational achievement of indigenous people has been well below that of their non-indigenous counterparts. Studies have confirmed that the occupational aspirations of adolescents significantly influence their adult career choices and achievements. Therefore, this study tested the proposed theoretical model of occupational aspirations among Taiwanese Aboriginal adolescents by utilizing the developmental-contextual model of career development as its framework. This study simultaneously examined the relationships among the distal contextual variable (social welfare resources), proximal contextual variables (parental occupational aspirations for the child, school support, and neighborhood cohesion), individual-level variable (self-concept), and occupational aspirations in the proposed model. The data were collected from a questionnaire survey of 564 Taiwanese Aboriginal senior high school students and were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results supported the proposed research model, which explained 62.6?% of the variance in occupational aspirations. The study found that social welfare resources influenced parental occupational aspirations for the child, school support, and neighborhood cohesion, which, in turn, directly and indirectly influenced occupational aspirations vis-à-vis their effects on self-concept. In turn, self-concept influenced occupational aspirations. Overall, the results confirmed that the proposed model based on the developmental-contextual model of career development was effective in explaining the development of occupational aspirations among Taiwanese Aboriginal adolescents.     

Longitudinal analysis of Chinese high school student’s stress in school and academic achievement

In previous research, few studies have examined the effects of adolescents’ stress in school on the change rates of their academic achievement. In the present study, we seek to examine the longitudinal relationships between adolescents’ stress in school and the change rates of their academic achievement. The results indicated that for those whose academic achievement significantly declined over time, the students’ stress from teacher–student interaction significantly predicted the change rates of their academic achievement. The findings provided support to the notion that stress was a risk factor in students’ academic development.     

Gender and family influences on Spanish students’ aspirations and values in stem fields

Drawing on expectancy-value theory, this study examines gender and family influences on students’ career aspirations and attached values. 796 secondary Spanish students (M age?=?16 years old, S.D.?=?0.81) participated. 53% were boys. The results show that boys and students with mothers who have completed intermediate level education were more interested in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) architecture and technology. Girls and students with highly educated mothers born in Spain were more likely to aspire to STEM health and experimental studies. Furthermore, boys and students planning to pursue STEM-technology studies attached higher extrinsic values to these studies. On the contrary, girls and participants with interest in experimental and health studies attached less extrinsic values to these studies. Moreover, students with highly educated mothers and interested in STEM architecture and technology reported higher extrinsic values. Understanding the interaction of gender and family factors shaping adolescents’ career aspirations in STEM fields seems to be crucial to designing significant and effective school and family grounded interventions.     

Three Factors of School Achievement

Abstract

In an attempt to examine the structure of achievement measures used in public school systems, assessments of achievement at different points in the child's academic career were obtained for a sample of 671 students. A factor analysis of 21 achievement variables yielded a clearly defined three-factor structure. The factors emerging from this analysis were: (1) Objective Achievement defined by all the intelligence measures and most of the standard achievement test scores; (2) Early Citizenship defined by early measures of citizenship and marks; and (3) High School Achievement defined primarily by 9th and 12th grade marks. From this analysis, it would appear that children are assessed relatively independently on each of these three factors as they proceed through their school career.     

Socioeconomic trends in school bullying among Finnish adolescents from 2000 to 2015

Bullying at school has far-reaching impacts on adolescent well-being and health. The aim of this study was to examine trends in bullying at school according to socioeconomic adversities among Finnish adolescents from 2000 to 2015. A population-based school survey was conducted biennially among 14–16-year-old Finns between 2000 and 2015 (n = 761,278). Distributions for bullying, being bullied and socioeconomic adversities were calculated. Associations between bullying involvement, time and socioeconomic adversities were studied using binomial logistic regression with results shown by odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals. At the population level, the likelihoods of bullying and being bullied varied only slightly between 2000 and 2015. Bullying and being bullied were associated with socioeconomic adversities (low parental education, not living with both parents and parental unemployment in the past year). Unlike in the general population, the likelihoods of bullying and being bullied increased markedly among adolescents with most socioeconomic adversities. The increased socioeconomic differences in bullying involvement observed in this study add to the mounting evidence of polarization of adolescent health and well-being. Socioeconomic adversities should be considered in the prevention of bullying at school. In addition, socio-political measures are needed to decrease socioeconomic inequalities among Finnish adolescents.