Parental career-specific behaviours and adolescent career adaptability

Abstract

Parents are a major influence on adolescents’ career development. However, past studies have mostly explored general rather than career-specific parenting aspects. According to Dietrich and Kracke (2009) parental support, parental interference, and lack of parental career engagement are basic dimensions of career-specific parental behaviours. This study examined the relationship between these parental behaviours and career adaptability in a sample of high school students (N = 197; Mage = 16.79). The data were collected in a group online testing. Student career adaptability was measured with the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale (Savickas & Porfeli, 2012) and parental career-specific behaviours were measured by the scale developed by Dietrich and Kracke (2009). Parental support emerged as the most important positive predictor of career adaptability since it predicted both global career adaptability and separate dimensions. Parental interference negatively predicted career control, career confidence, and overall career adaptability but only when parents’ career engagement was higher. The results point out that in understanding parental influences in students’ career development it is important to consider different parenting practices and also examine separate students’ career adaptability resources. Parents should be helped to recognise their career-related parenting practices and to understand the potential of these behaviours in facilitating their children’s career adaptability. Special counselling interventions should be provided for students who perceive that their parents are not providing enough career-related support.