Transition from the University to the Workplace

Abstract

The present study investigated the structure of and changes in the personal projects, time perspective, and personal networks of Japanese university graduates prior to and after the transition from graduation to employment. Results revealed that the pretransition period is dominated by projects in the area of leisure, hobbies, and daily life and that in the posttransition period the newly employed participants increased projects in the area of professional life with little changes in the area of personality and self-actualization. Further, pretransition projects were generally conflicting and unintegrated although after half a year they regained some structural coherency. As to time perspective, just after beginning work, participants exhibited short-term time perspectives and feelings of time deficit. In 6 months after the transition they regained a long-term time perspective. As to personal networks, contact with the pretransition members decreased whereas those with posttransition network members increased. With respect to support functions, however, the graduates retained their reliance on the pretransitional network, mainly kin members even after a month following their graduation. These results are discussed in terms of the systematic processes of restructuring of the person-in-environment system during the transition and the function of core support networks.