Motivational Conflict and Volitional Career Actions in Young Adults: Ego Depletion as an Explanatory Mechanism

Abstract

We assessed the underlying mechanisms through which career motivational conflict was related to career volitional action in young adults. We tested a model in which career motivational conflict (parent-child career incongruence and career goal progress discrepancy) was related to reduced career volitional actions (career decision self-efficacy and career engagement) via self-regulatory failure (ego depletion in reference to talking to parents about their careers or thinking about their careers). Participants were 260 young adults (75.8% female; M age = 19.89 years) enrolled at a large, multi-campus university in South-East Queensland, Australia. We confirmed greater career-related motivational conflict, in both forms, was associated with lower volitional actions. Furthermore, self-referenced depletion explained the relationships between career goal progress discrepancy and poorer career decision self-efficacy and less career engagement. These findings have implications for how counsellors might assist young people to improve their career volitional actions by reducing the effects of career motivational conflict.

Negative Career Goal Discrepancy and Goal Adjustment in Young Adults: The Underlying Mechanism of Negative Emotions

“…Parents could be assisted to understand their children’s goals, gain a broader awareness of current career issues, and build open and effective communication with their child. This is particularly important in a strongly individualistic culture such as Australia where young people strive to please both the self and their immediate family (Akosah-Twumasi et al, 2018; Widyowati et al, 2023). However, in university settings in Australia, career practitioners typically focus on the career aspirations of the young adult without regard to the important role that the expectations of their parents still play in their career-related emotions and outcomes.…”