Social-Cognitive Factors Affecting Clients’ Career and Life Satisfaction After Counseling

Abstract

This study examines factors affecting clients’ career and life satisfaction in the first 6 months after having participated in career counseling. In particular, we tested a large subset of the recent social-cognitive model of work satisfaction of Lent and Brown using a longitudinal data set of 195 former counseling clients. Our results showed that clients’ goal self-efficacy at the end of the career counseling had a positive impact on their career satisfaction 6 months later. This relationship was fully mediated by external barriers, goal progress, and subsequent goal self-efficacy. The level of career satisfaction 6 months after the counseling was in turn positively related with clients’ life satisfaction. Also personality traits had an influence on clients’ career and life satisfaction, though only indirectly via goal self-efficacy.