The purpose of the study was to explore the influence of family characteristics (family function and parental authority styles) and core self-evaluations (CSE), in adolescents’ career formation. Drawing on the relational framework of Cutrona and Russell, the study examined the mediating role of CSE on the relationship between family and parental variables and adolescents’ career decision-making (CDM) difficulties. Using a sample of 289 Greek students, it was found that for male students the permissive and authoritarian parenting styles and the family cohesion contributed significantly to the prediction of CDM difficulties. Males’ decision-making difficulties were not influenced by CSE. Females’ decision-making difficulties were influenced negatively only by the parents’ authoritarian style. Contrary to males, CSE fully mediated the relationship between the authoritarian style and females’ decision-making difficulties. The specific findings are discussed in reference to gender differences in adolescents’ personality development. Implications for research and adolescents’ career counseling are also discussed.

This study explored the mediating role of career decision self-efficacy between core self-evaluations (CSE), a newly established construct within the personality domain, and adolescents' vocational identity. Using a sample of 200 Greek high school students, it was found that for female adolescents CSE influenced vocational identity both directly and indirectly (via career decision self-efficacy). For male students, CSE had only an indirect effect on vocational identity through career decision self-efficacy. The findings are discussed with reference to social cognitive career theory (SCCT) framework. Implications for research and adolescents' career counseling are also discussed.

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Over the past decades, research on positive psychology for building strengths has proliferated. The present study aimed to explore the effect of gratitude in a 5-week positive psychology group program for undergraduate engineering students which included an intermediary 2-week gratitude intervention. In a mixed-design, 69 students from three engineering departments of the School of Pedagogical and Technological Education (ASPETE), assigned to the intervention (N = 34) and the control group (N = 35), with an average age of 21.52 years (SD = 4.63), were administered the Gratitude Questionnaire—six item form (GQ-6), the Modified Differential Emotions Scale (mDES), the Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), the Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS), and the Life Orientation Test—Revised (LOT-R). The condition experimental vs. control group was designated as the between-subjects factor, and time, that is, baseline vs. post intervention, was set as the within-subjects factor. Students who received the intervention reported significantly higher levels of gratitude. The increase in gratitude was due to the positive psychology group program. In addition, gratitude showed a significant effect on happiness and optimism, but failed to attain a significant impact on positive and negative emotions and resilience. Further research is needed to elucidate the effectiveness of positive psychology programs for undergraduate engineering students and the intervening cognitive processes.