Building from psychology of working theory, this study tested how critical consciousness, composed of perceived inequality, egalitarianism, and critical action, moderate the relations between contextual barriers (i.e., economic constraints and classism) and psychological variables (i.e., work volition and career adaptability) with a sample of 403 employees in the United States. Findings suggested that people who had high egalitarianism had a stronger negative relation between economic constraints and work volition. Results also revealed that people who had low egalitarianism had a negative relation between classism and career adaptability. Regarding critical action, people who had low or moderate levels of critical action had a stronger negative relation between economic constraints and work volition. Moreover, people who had low or moderate levels of critical action had a stronger negative relation between classism and career adaptability. Findings encourage practitioners and employers to consider egalitarianism and critical action as potential targets in vocational interventions.

As the proportion of immigrant workers in the United States grows, understanding how contextual constraints restrict immigrant workers from securing decent work is critical. Therefore, drawing from psychology of working theory (PWT), this study examined relations from contextual barriers (economic constraints and acculturative stress) to psychological mechanisms (work volition and career adaptability) to decent work with a sample of immigrant workers in the United States. We also conducted multigroup analysis to explore whether the model varied depending on race. Diverging from previous PWT studies, we found that economic constraints directly predicted decent work and that career adaptability predicted both acculturative stress and decent work. Importantly, multigroup analysis found the relations from career adaptability and work volition to decent work were stronger for the white group than the POC group. Our findings encourage psychologists to advocate for working immigrants, including working immigrants of color, to reduce marginalization and economic constraints.

A common assumption is that upward mobility produces positive psychological outcomes. However, status-based identity framework and social class worldview model propose that perceived social mobility in either direction will lead to increased distress. Based on this claim, we examined relations among subjective social mobility, life satisfaction, and mental health using polynomial regression with response surface mapping. In Study 1, groups that experienced both subjective downward and upward mobility reported more depressive symptomatology than groups that remained in middle or upper social statuses in a sample of 567 adults. We did not find significant relations between subjective social mobility and life satisfaction. In Study 2, both groups that experienced subjective downward and upward mobility reported more depressive and academic distress symptomatology than groups that remained in middle or upper social social statuses in a sample of 7,598 clients from college counseling center data. The results provide insights relevant to multicultural counseling and training.

Underemployment is a multidimensional construct that captures various suboptimal work statuses. Although recent economic depressions and insecure job markets in Korea have increased underemployment, no appropriate scale exists to measure underemployment in a Korean context. Therefore, the aim of this study was to translate the Subjective Underemployment Scales (SUS) into Korean and validate the Korean SUS (K-SUS) with a sample of 427 Korean employees. We found that a bifactor model fit the data best, suggesting a different internal structure from the English version. Scores from the K-SUS were also invariant across gender, age, income, and employment status. In addition, we found evidence for construct validity by relating scores from the K-SUS to similar constructs and indicators of well-being. Findings from the current study help describe Korean employees’ experiences of subjective underemployment and suggest how psychologists, employers, and policy makers can address structural and psychological issues related to underemployment.