Date of Award

8-31-2016

Document Type

Campus Access Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Counseling

First Advisor

Takuya Minami

Second Advisor

Sharon Horne

Third Advisor

Steven Vannoy

Abstract

The need for preventative career interventions for well-being and vocational development of college students in today’s unstable economy and demanding world of work cannot be overstated. Addressing this need, this quasi-experimental study investigated the effectiveness of a Career Construction Training developed based on Career Construction Theory by Savickas (2013) in promoting career adaptability (CA), vocational identity achievement (VIA), and subjective well-being (SWB). Three main research questions were addressed: 1) Would the career construction training be effective in increasing CA among first-year college students? 2) Would the career construction training be effective in increasing VIA among first-year college students? and 3) Would the career construction training be effective in promoting SWB among first-year college students? The sample of the study consisted of a diverse group of 27 (13 men and 14 women) first-year students at University of Massachusetts Boston. Training group consisted of 16 students (8 women and 8 men) with a mean age of 18.57 years (SD = 1.07) and the control group consisted of 11 participants (5 men and 6 women) with a mean age of 19.09 years (SD = 1.22). The participants in the training group received the Career Construction Training for six weeks while the participants in the control group did not receive any intervention. All participants completed seven measurements in total including pre-test and six measurements following each session in order to monitor the changes throughout the training. The data were analyzed with 11 mixed-design non-parametric factorial ANOVA with within-subjects factor of time across seven measurement points and a between-subjects factor of group (i.e., training vs. control). The findings showed that there was no time by group interaction for any of the outcome variables, indicating that there was insufficient evidence that the training improved the CA, VIA, and SWB levels of the participants in the training group compared to the control group. However, the findings of the present study were limited by low power due to small sample size. The implications and limitations of the findings and recommendations for future research are discussed.

Comments

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