These findings contribute to an emerging knowledge base pertaining to the role of intraindividual and environmental factors in self-determination and QoL. In general, the study replicated findings pertaining to the relative contribution of intelligence to self-determination and QoL, added information about the potential contribution of social abilities, and pointed to the potentially important role of opportunities to make choices as a particularly important aspect of becoming more self-determined, at least in the context of residential settings.

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Family support has been found to influence both career self-efficacy beliefs and career decision making. The purpose of this study was to verify whether career search self-efficacy could mediate the relationship between family support and career indecision.Using a sample of 253 Italian youth, the study found that, for male adolescents attending a university-preparation high school, career search self-efficacy partially mediated the relationship between family support and career indecision. Contrary to expectations, for female adolescents there was no direct relationship between family support and career indecision; however, family support was directly associated with career search self-efficacy and career search self-efficacy was associated with career indecision.

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Using social cognitive career theory (Lent, Brown, & Hackett, ), this study examined the role of parents' and children's perceptions of parental support in adolescents' career choices. A total of 94 Italian adolescents (30 boys, 64 girls) and both of their parents (N = 188) participated in the study. The authors tested a fully mediated model between mothers' and fathers' perceptions of support and career choice through the indirect effect of adolescents' perceptions of parental support and career self‐efficacy. Results provided support for the model. Specifically, both mothers' and fathers' perceptions of support predicted their adolescents' career choice through the mediating effect of the youths' perceptions of parental support and career self‐efficacy. These results have important implications for practice and underscore that parents need to be involved very early on in their children's vocational development.

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Background The sexual lives of people with intellectual disability is made complex by the involvement and influence of social service providers, whose beliefs and values have a great impact on the support they provide. We hypothesized that social service providers' role, educational level and service in which they worked could affect attitudes towards the sexual behaviour of individuals with intellectual disability. Materials and methods The current study describes attitudes of social service providers towards the sexuality of individuals with disability measured by 20 items of Sexuality and Mental Retardation Attitudes Inventory (SMRAI). This instrument was devised by Brantlinger [Mental Retardation (1983) Vol. 21, pp. 17-22] to assess the attitudes of the staff employed by organizations that supplied services to individuals with intellectual disability. Specifically, analysis of variance (type of service · professional role · education) was performed on participants' scores. Results Results suggested that the social service providers participating in this research study tended to have moderately liberal attitudes. Educational level and role carried out did not produce differences in their attitudes. A significant difference emerged between those who operated in different services. It was especially the staff of the outpatient treatment services who revealed the most liberal and positive attitudes towards the sexuality of individuals with intellectual disability. Conclusions The data reported in the present study seem to underline some differences between the data collected from the Italian and the Anglo-Saxon social service providers. Failure to record influences associated with the role carried out and previous training could be related to the different contextual differences. Results suggest that particular attention should be paid to the training of those who hold managerial posts in Italian residential services.

Career choices involve an orientation towards the future and the propensity to planning. The ‘mental picture’ of the past, present and future was defined by Savickas as time perspective. The present paper reports the findings of two studies examining time perspective in Italian adolescents. The first study surveyed 498 students aged 11–14 years, and the second, 657 students aged 15–18 years. Results from the first study showed higher levels of time perspective in girls and in older participants. The second study, however, confirmed these differences for gender only. Socioeconomic status (SES) showed little relationship to time perspective in both age groups. It also emerged that time perspective is positively related to school achievement and negatively to career indecision