Skip to Navigation
Auburn University Homepage
A-Z Index | Map | People Finder
Auburn University Logo
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Skip to Main Content
Main Navigation 
  • AUETD Home
  • Graduate School
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.
View Item 
  •   AUETD Home
  • View Item
  •   AUETD Home
  • View Item

Career Preparation during the Transition from High School

View/Open
Final Dissertation (583.5Kb)
Date
2010-07-20
Author
Stringer, Kate
Type of Degree
dissertation
Department
Human Development and Family Studies
Metadata
Show full item record
Abstract
Preparing for an adult career through careful planning, choosing a career, and gaining confidence to achieve career goals is a primary task during adolescence and early adulthood (Erikson, 1968; Skorikov, 2007b). The theory of career construction (Savickas, 2005) suggests that career adaptability is a mechanism through which career identity is developed. Career adaptability consists of an exploration and commitment component. The commitment component has been defined as career preparation and includes career planning, career decision-making, and career confidence. We know that youth are preparing for their adult careers and that career preparation dimensions are associated with adjustment cross-sectionally and longitudinally during high school and six months after high school (Skorikov, 2006b). However, we do not know how each career preparation dimension changes over time during the transition from high school to post-secondary education and/or employment, and we do not know how growth in each dimension predicts adjustment after leaving high school. In other words, are high school graduates becoming more decided about their careers, engaging in increased career planning, and becoming more confident about achieving their career goals? And, are these tasks predictive of adjustment during the early twenties? The current project addressed these questions in two studies. In the first study parallel process models that tested associations among the slopes and intercepts of each career preparation dimension with the other dimensions were examined. For the second study, models were constructed that tested the effect of each career preparation dimension’s growth on adjustment 4.5 years post-high school. Results of the first study iii showed that the career preparation dimensions were not developing similarly over time, although each dimension was associated cross-sectionally and longitudinally with the other dimensions. Results also suggested that career planning and decision-making precede career confidence. The second study showed that increases in career planning and career confidence and decreases in career indecision were predictive of adjustment, defined for the current study as positive aspects of mental health, 4.5 years after high school, controlling for initial adjustment during 12th grade. Overall, results support and extend extant theory and empirical research that suggests career planning, decision-making, and confidence are interrelated dimensions that are associated with adjustment.
Files
Name:
Stringer_Dissertation_FINAL1.pdf  
Size:
583.5Kb
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10415/2238

Browse

All of AUETDBy Issue DateAuthor / AdvisorTitlesDepartments

My Account

Login

Auburn University Libraries | 231 Mell Street | Auburn, Alabama 36849 | (334) 844-4500 or (800) 446-0387 |

 

Auburn University |Auburn, Alabama 36849 |(334) 844-4000 |

Website Feedback |Privacy |Copyright ©