Cognitive Processes and Their Associations With Vocational Identity Development During Emerging Adulthood

Abstract

In the present study, we examined the associations between cognitive processes and vocational identity development. A sample of 318 Korean emerging adults participated in the study. Using three-wave longitudinal data and applying multilevel modeling, we tested within- and between-person-level associations. We found that individuals who are higher in career self-efficacy than others are more likely to be engaged in exploration and commitment. Those who exhibit more dysfunctional career thoughts are less likely to be engaged in commitment but more likely to reconsider their identities. We found a similar pattern at the within-person level: At times when one exhibits high self-efficacy than usual, one is more likely to be engaged in exploration and commitment; however, at times when one exhibits more dysfunctional thoughts than usual, one is less likely to be committed to a career and more likely to reconsider. We discuss the implications of the study results.

Factor Structure of the Vocational Identity Status Assessment (VISA) in University, Liberal Arts, and Community College Students

“…Additionally, none of the other models showed adequate fit for the data. This indicates that the VISA’s items should not be combined into a total score or the three dimensions underlying the six subscales (i.e., commitment, exploration, and reconsideration), which has been done in some previous research (e.g., Lee et al, 2018; Öngen, 2014).…”

“…This supports past studies that have used either all or a subset of these subscales (e.g., Chamandy & Gaudrea, 2019; Weigold et al, 2013). However, it is not appropriate to combine the items to represent either one general vocational identity factor (i.e., total score) or three broad dimensions (i.e., commitment, exploration, and reconsideration) as has been done in other studies (e.g., Lee et al, 2018; Öngen, 2014). Consequently, future research employing the VISA should use the six separate subscales, rather than combine them.…”

“…The VISA has been used by many researchers investigating the relation of vocational identity to career, academic, and psychological well-being variables (e.g., Chamandy & Gaudreau, 2019;Fusco et al, 2019;Lee et al, 2018;Porfeli & Savickas, 2012;Rhee et al, 2016;Savickas et al, 2018;Weigold et al, 2013). Researchers have often used the six subscales in their analyses, often selecting a subset for their purposes.…”

“…The first was a three-factor correlated solution with items loading on commitment, exploration, or reconsideration. These three dimensions underlie the original six factors (Porfeli et al, 2011) and have been used as subscales in some studies employing the VISA (e.g., Lee et al, 2018;Ö ngen, 2014). The second was a single-factor solution with all items loading on one factor; strong fit would suggest the presence of a single total score, although most measures with an adequate number of items show problematic fit for this model (Bentler, 2009).…”

“…First, some researchers have employed other configurations of VISA items. For example, Lee and colleagues (2018) combined subscales to create the three dimensions of commitment, exploration, and reconsideration in their longitudinal study examining vocational identity, career self-efficacy, and career thoughts in South Korean college students. Öngen (2014) used these same three scales in research involving the relations among vocational identity, perfectionism, and decision-making in Turkish college students; the author also included some information for a total VISA score but did not specify how it was calculated.…”