Self-Efficacy and Life Satisfaction Mediate the Relationship between Perceived Social Support and Career Exploration among College Students: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Previous research on career exploration has mainly focused on cognitive-personal variables. Although the social cognitive career theory model posits that personality could influence career exploration through both personal agency and contextual factors, very few studies have examined the two possible paths simultaneously. We hypothesized that individuals who perceive higher social support experience more career exploration behavior, and this relationship is mediated by higher self-efficacy and life satisfaction. The participants of this study were 853 Chinese college students. The results showed that self-efficacy and life satisfaction independently and jointly mediated the relationship between perceived social support and career exploration. The multiple mediation model showed that the high perceived social support would increase students’ sense of self-efficacy, which could improve their sense of life satisfaction, and further help them engage in more career exploration activities.

Keywords:

• Perceived social support
• career exploration
• self-efficacy
• life satisfaction
• social cognitive career theory
• surveys and questionnaires

Ethics Approval

This study and its procedure were approved by the Independent Ethics Committee of the Department of Psychology, Renmin University of China, Beijing.

Consent to Participate

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Disclosure Statement

The authors declare no conflict or competing interests.

Data Availability Statement

The original data are available on reasonable request from the corresponding author.

Additional information

Funding

This study is supported by the fund for building world-class universities (disciplines) of Renmin University of China.

Notes on contributors

Lexin Jia

Lexin Jia is currently pursuing her master degree in psychology at Department of Psychology, Renmin University of China. Her current research interests include developmental psychology and educational psychology

Xuebin Wang

Xuebin Wang is currently pursuing his PhD degree in psychology at Department of Psychology, Renmin University of China. He received his master degree from School of Psychology, South China Normal University. His current research interests include developmental psychology and educational psychology.