Behind Dislike: Adaptive Purposes for Undergraduates’ Negative Emotions in the Career Decision-Making Process

Keith A Puffer,Kris G Pence

doi:10.3390/su12198071

Keith A Puffer, Kris G Pence

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su12198071

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Abstract

The first career interest inventory emerged in the late 1920s. The response options for the questions in the Strong Vocational Interest Blank included ‘like’ and ‘dislike.’ Both answers are emotional reactions. Regrettably, clients within the context of vocational counseling often regard negative feelings (e.g., dislikes) as inconsequential. Yet, negative emotionality can be adaptive and feasibly assist career decision-makers. In the literature on college students’ career development and emotional functioning, there is a paucity of information about how negative emotions advance the career decision-making process and how career decision-makers apply such knowledge. Hence, a sample of undergraduates (n = 256) was recruited to ascertain imaginable adaptive career decision-making benefits from negative affect. Employing a Mixed Methods-Grounded Theory methodology, the present study tabulated the negative emotional reactions of college students to vocations that were self- or computer-reported. In addition, their answers to two investigative questions about the selection of their negative emotions were analyzed. From the data, three negative meta-emotions emerged as reactions to participants’ reported occupations; four adaptive purposes for their selected negative affect were also discovered. A theoretical framework and applicative suggestions from the findings are presented.

Highlights

In 1909, a book by Frank Parsons stressing the importance of vocational preparedness was published
Researchers collect, analyze, interpret, and integrate quantitative and qualitative data [57]. In this way, closed-ended data are combined with open-ended data to allow for a richer understanding and interpretation of the phenomena being investigated, drawing on strengths inherent in qualitative and quantitative methodologies [58]
We employed frequency counts, percentage calculations, statistical analyses (e.g., Chi-Square), and positivistic principles in the discovery of the main kinds of negative emotions selected by the college students

Summary

Introduction

In 1909, a book by Frank Parsons stressing the importance of vocational preparedness was published. He argued, “It is better to sail with compass and chart than to drift into an occupation [haphazardly] or by chance or uninformed selection” [1] K. Strong published the first career interest inventory [2]; he designed it to assist people’s preparation for entering the world of work. Response options included ‘like’ and dislike’ [2]. Both answers are emotional responses; in particular, the latter alternative, ‘dislike’, is an aversive reaction or a feeling of disapproval [3]

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Conclusion