What motivates individuals to invest time and effort and overcome obstacles (i.e., strive for primary control) when pursuing important goals? We propose that positive affect predicts primary control striving for career and educational goals, and we explore the mediating role of control beliefs. In Study 1, positive affect predicted primary control striving for career goals in a two-wave longitu...

In nursing, purposeful career planning is essential if nurse practitioners want to make the right decisions about their work in order to strive towards and accomplish a meaningful quality of working life. Nurses should identify their career goals to be able to investigate their different career opportunities in their field of interest and direct their work according to a work strategy for years...

This study analyzed the influence of the occupational context on the conceptualization of career satisfaction measured by the career satisfaction scale (CSS). In a large sample of N 1⁄4 729 highly educated professionals, a cross-occupational (i.e., physicians, economists, engineers, and teachers) measurement invariance analysis showed that the CSS was conceptualized according to occupational gr...

This study used social cognitive career theory (Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994), as a framework to investigate predictors of career choice actions, operationalised as career planning and career exploration. The model was tested cross-sectionally and longitudinally with 631 high school students enrolled in Grades 10-12. Students completed measures of self-efficacy, outcome expectations, goals, sup...

Title of Document: A META-ANALYTIC INVESTIGATION OF THE PREDICTORS OF EDUCATIONAL AND VOCATIONAL GOALS FOR LATINA/O STUDENTS Cristina Maria Risco, Ph.D., 2011 Directed By: Professor Karen M. O’Brien, Department of Psychology Despite the growth of the U.S. Latina/o population, there exists a pattern of academic underachievement and low career attainment among Latina/o communities (U.S. Census Bu...

BACKGROUND The medical specialties chosen by doctors for their careers play an important part in the development of health-care services. This study aimed to investigate the influence of gender, personality traits, career motivation and life goal aspirations on the choice of medical specialty. METHODS As part of a prospective cohort study of Swiss medical school graduates on career developmen...

This study investigated adolescents' and parents' co-regulation of career-related goals during the post-school transition. Finnish adolescents (N = 807, 49% female) were assessed twice in high school and once after graduation. It was examined how their career goal motivation (autonomous vs. controlled) and appraisals (goal attainability, effort, progress, and stress) interact with their percept...