The professional identity, career commitment and subjective well-being of art therapy students

Abstract

This article explores the professional identity, career commitment, and subjective well-being of art therapy students compared with those of counseling psychology students. Art therapy graduate students (N=112) and counseling psychology graduate students (N=91) completed the My Vocational Situation (MVS), Career Commitment Measurement (CCM), and Concise Measure of Subjective Well-Being (COMOSWB) measures. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, regression analysis, t-tests, and x2-tests. The results of this study are as follows: First, correlation analysis results showed that professional identity is interrelated with career commitment and subjective well-being. Second, the results of regression analysis indicated that career commitment and subjective well-being were significant predictors of professional identity. Third, comparing art therapy students with counseling psychology students revealed that there were no significant differences in professional identity and career commitment between the two groups. However, art therapy students needed much more vocational information than counseling psychology students, and they were also more likely to complain of the economic difficulties they faced in pursuing their career. In addition, the two groups showed no difference on the overall subjective well-being scale, but the counseling psychology graduate students showed higher life satisfaction and reported more positive emotions than art therapy students. Finally, this study’s implications and limitations are presented.