Positive career orientation as an inhibitor of adolescent problem behaviour

Abstract

This study tested the hypothesis that positive career orientation can prevent adolescents from engaging in or escalating problem behaviour. A 1‐year, longitudinal study was conducted on a sample of 234 junior‐high and high‐school students, who were 14.8 years old on the average in the beginning of the study. Using structural equation modeling, a developmental, two‐wave, two‐factor empirical model corresponding to the predicted relationships between career orientation and problem behaviour was found to fit the data well. According to the fitted model, positive career orientation had a significant negative longitudinal effect on problem behaviour. In contrast, we found no evidence in support of the assumption that career orientation can be affected by problematic behavioural tendencies.

Adolescent goal content and pursuit: A review of the literature from the past 16 years

“…The authors cite the young age of the adolescents (11-14 years) and the relatively short one year period between measurements as possible reasons for the lack of relationship. In the area of occupational goals however, a greater positive career orientation has been found to be related to lower problem behavior (delinquency, drugs, and alcohol) over a period of a year (Skorikov & Vondracek, 2007).…”

Socioeconomic Disadvantage and Children’s Behaviour Problems: the Role of Early Aspirations

“…Causal interpretations are difficult to justify as the temporal ordering of our two main variables -aspirations and adjustment -is unclear, and reciprocal relations between them are likely. Nonetheless, we feel reassured by findings from studies testing cross-lagged models of emotional/ behavioural adjustment and constructs closely related to aspirations, such as career orientation (Skorikov & Vondracek, 2007), that aspirations are likely to be the precursor rather than the outcome of adjustment in children and young people.…”

Risk, Welfare and the Treatment of Adolescent Cannabis Users in England

“…The potential risks of cannabis itself include the possibility of triggering mental health disorders, for developing dependency, and for leading on to other, perhaps 'stronger' drugs, although such risks are often overstated and causal evidence is lacking (see Stevens, 2011: 24). Research suggests that heavy cannabis use in late adolescence lowers the chances of obtaining a degree and a good job, and that adolescents who do not have positive career aspirations are more likely to get involved with drugs (Fergusson and Boden, 2008;Skorikov and Vondracek, 2007). Persistent cannabis use, particularly among adolescent onset users, has been associated with neuropsychological decline (Meier et al, 2012).…”