Exploring the Roles of Career Adaptability,Self-Esteem,and Work Values in Life Satisfaction Among Emerging Adults During their Career Transition

Abstract

The present study examined the relationships of career adaptability and self-esteem with life satisfaction among emerging adults and the mediating effect of work values on these relationships. Five hundred and twelve emerging adults between the ages of 18 and 25 who graduated from vocational education and training were enrolled. Participants completed a questionnaire assessing study variables during their career transition: 2 months before (T1) and 10 months after graduation (T2). The results confirmed a direct and positive effect of self-esteem (T1) on life satisfaction (T2). However, career adaptability (T1) was not directly related to life satisfaction (T2). Additionally, work values (T2) served as a significant mediator between career adaptability (T1) and life satisfaction (T2). The study showed that mastery work values mediated this relationship. These results suggest that potential interventions should focus on increasing career adaptability and self-esteem and on strengthening intrinsic work values to improve emerging adults’ subjective well-being.

Keywords

life satisfaction career adaptability self-esteem work values emerging adulthood vocational education and training career transition

In today’s dynamically changing times, emerging adults from different countries and cultures must cope with changes and face various obstacles associated with completing upper secondary education and transitioning to tertiary education or the job market (hereinafter career transition). Many emerging adults continue to explore potential educational and career paths even after a career decision associated with graduating from school due to ongoing developmental processes, especially identity formation (Grosemans et al., 2020). Arnett (2004) stated that emerging adults learn to know themselves by exploring different possibilities in this developmental phase and strive to find the best match with the identity. Therefore, for emerging adulthood, relatively frequent re-examination and change in the original career choice or career path is typical (Arnett, 2015). Overall, the career transition is one of the major developmental tasks in emerging adulthood, and career decisions are among the most powerful factors influencing emerging adults’ lives; these decisions appear to be crucial to future well-being, particularly for satisfaction with life (Kvitkovičová et al., 2016; Macek et al., 2016).

Life satisfaction refers to the cognitive or judgmental process in which individuals assess the quality of their lives as a whole based on a series of personally set criteria (Pavot & Diener, 2008) and is considered an indicator of favorable psychological and social development (Gilman & Huebner, 2006; Kong & You, 2013). The construct of life satisfaction has been intensively examined over the last few decades, and researchers have focused on identifying the factors that support life satisfaction. However, the existing research has primarily concerned life satisfaction in adolescents and adults (cf. Erdogan et al., 2012; Proctor et al., 2009). Scholars are now increasingly interested in understanding the life satisfaction of emerging adults and have provided evidence of the positive effects of parental attachment, parental trust, sibling support, friendships, and romantic relationships on their well-being (Beckmeyer & Cromwell, 2019; Ponti & Smorti, 2019; Žukauskienė et al., 2020). Additionally, studies of emerging adults have linked life satisfaction with constructs related to personality traits and individual characteristics such as emotional stability, extraversion, conscientiousness, openness, autonomous motivation, proactive coping, hope, and sense of purpose in life (Bronk et al., 2009; Dwivedi & Rastogi, 2016, 2017; Ozer & Schwartz, 2020).

The aim of the present study was to identify factors that promote life satisfaction among emerging adults during their career transition. According to the bottom-up theories of life satisfaction (Pavot & Diener, 2008), satisfying expectations in the work domain would promote general life satisfaction. In the present study, we focused on exploring two work context-specific variables that may affect life satisfaction—work values (Arslan, 2019; Butkovic et al., 2020) and career adaptability (Rudolph et al., 2017). On the other hand, top-down theories regard one’s core self-evaluations or other personality traits as dominant predictors of life satisfaction (Erdogan et al., 2012). Thus, we included self-esteem as a context-free personality variable in our research because low self-esteem can be an obstacle to developing the necessary strategies when coping with career transitions (Park et al., 2018).

Career Adaptability and Life Satisfaction

Career adaptability has been defined as a set of psychosocial resources that enable individuals to manage current and anticipated career-related tasks and changes across the working life-span and cope with traumas associated with their occupational roles (Savickas & Porfeli, 2012). This higher-order developmental construct has four dimensions (Hirschi et al., 2015; Savickas, 2005): concern (looking ahead to and planning for one’s future), control (knowing what career to pursue and being decisive), curiosity (looking around at options, exploring and being inquisitive), and confidence (having the self-efficacy to solve problems, undertake activities needed to achieve career goals, and overcome career-related obstacles or difficulties). The career adaptability variable was included in the present study because it represents an essential resource to help emerging adults undergoing career transitions. Emerging adults with higher career adaptability should be able to efficiently plan their vocational future, explore and consider career alternatives, make informed and confident career choices, solve problems and overcome obstacles in order to pursue their career aspirations, adapt to changing career-related circumstances and work conditions (Savickas, 2005, 2013).

The career construction model of adaptation (Rudolph et al., 2017; Savickas, 2005; Savickas & Porfeli, 2012) posits that adaptation is indicated by the goodness of fit between the person and the environment, as well as indicators such of career success and life satisfaction. Previous research among emerging adults (Konstam et al., 2015) has shown that individuals who can adapt successfully to career changes may also experience positive outcomes outside of the work domains, such as subjective well-being or life satisfaction. Specifically, Konstam et al. (2015), in a study with unemployed diverse emerging adults ages 21–29, found that two dimensions of career adaptability—control and confidence—were the predictors of life satisfaction. A recent metaanaylsis from Rudolph et al. (2017) confirmed that cross-culturally, career adaptability is positively related to life satisfaction and serves as a predictor of life satisfaction. Overall, a large body of studies has examined the relationship between career adaptability and life satisfaction in adolescents and adults. However, a critical research gap exists with the population of emerging adults who face career transition after graduation from vocational education and training (VET). Based on the career construction model of adaptation (Rudolph et al., 2017) and previous research, well-developed career adaptability may contribute to life satisfaction in emerging adulthood. Thus, we hypothesized that career adaptability predicts life satisfaction among emerging adults graduating from VET during their career transition (Hypothesis 1).

Self-Esteem and Life Satisfaction

Global self-esteem represents the affective or evaluative component of the self-concept and denotes people’s feelings about themselves (Leary & Baumeister, 2000). Rosenberg (1965) defined self-esteem as an individual’s subjective evaluation of themselves as worthy and valuable. Later, the definition of self-esteem was modified to refer to personality characteristics operationalized as a sense of self-worth. In career construction theory (Savickas, 2013), self-esteem can be conceptualized as representing adaptivity which is the personality trait of readiness and willingness to adapt to career changes. From previous research on university students (Park et al., 2018), we know that individuals with high self-esteem are able to plan their future efficiently, set realistic goals, and actively participate in fulfilling those goals. On the other hand, individuals with low self-esteem tend to underestimate their abilities, and in stressful situations they usually fail to respond adaptively (Zeigler-Hill & Wallace, 2012). According to the person-environment (P-E) fit theory, self-esteem can affect the career transition in emerging adults and its results in terms of achieving fit between the individual and the environment and feelings of satisfaction (Jiang & Jiang, 2015; Van Vianen, 2018).

Previous empirical studies have supported positive associations between self-esteem and life satisfaction across the developmental stages, cultures, and genders (e.g., Arslan, 2019; Butkovic et al., 2020; Gilman & Huebner, 2006; Proctor et al., 2009). Studies examining the directionality of the relationship between self-esteem and life satisfaction have found that self-esteem predicts life satisfaction but not vice versa. For example, Butkovic et al. (2020) showed that self-esteem is a strong and positive predictor of life satisfaction among emerging adults in their early 20s. Even though a growing body of research has been carried out on the relationship between self-esteem and life satisfaction in adolescents and adults, there is still a need to understand the underlying mechanisms of this relationship among emerging adults because the developmental process of becoming an adult often entails a questioning of one’s identity and subsequent reformulation of conceptions and evaluations of the self (Chung et al., 2014). Following this assumption, some previous studies (e.g., Tetzner et al., 2016) pointed out that self-esteem is a dynamic construct, and emerging adulthood is a time during which self-esteem increases. In our study, we hypothesized that self-esteem predicts life satisfaction among emerging adults graduating from VET during their career transition (Hypothesis 2).

The Role of Work Values in the Relationship Between Career Adaptability, Self-Esteem, and Life Satisfaction

Work values are relatively durable individual differences that signify the importance of one’s place on various aspects of work (Jin & Rounds, 2012). In other words, work values are associated with aspirations and goals that people want to achieve through work (Šverko et al., 2008). Work values as internalized standards transcending current circumstances, needs, or desires are hierarchically organized and ordered into a system based on relative importance and thus regulate thoughts related to work and guide the selection and evaluation of career-related behaviors (Brown, 2002; Porfeli, 2007). Hagström and Gamberalle (1995) analyzed attitudes toward work captured in several studies and identified the structure of work values consisting of expressive work goals, working conditions, work benefits, and social aspects of work. Leuty and Hansen (2011) examined multiple measures of work values to assess the shared domains of work values across instruments. They identified six domains represented within the construct of work values: values related to the working environment, challenging work, opportunities for status and income, autonomy, organizational support, and relationships. However, the most common distinction was between intrinsic (e.g., personal development and self-fulfillment in work) and extrinsic (e.g., income, working hours, pension schemes, insurances) work values (Gesthuizen et al., 2019). In the present study, work values were conceptualized in terms of economic security (e.g., pay, job security and safety), interpersonal factors (e.g., altruism, social interaction, contribution to society), and mastery (e.g., independence, use of skills and abilities, responsibility, self-development), which Porfeli (2007, 2008) introduced to examine the work value system across the high school years.

Despite the importance of work values in career development (Brown, 2002), the relationship between work values and career adaptability among emerging adults remains understudied. Among university students (Ye, 2015), extrinsic and intrinsic work values were positively associated with career adaptability and four career adaptability dimensions (concern, control, curiosity, and confidence). However, in Ye’s (2015) research, work values were found to be a predictor of career adaptability. By contrast, in the present study, the formation of and change in work values over the life-course is considered to be a consequence of adaptation to changing life circumstances and experience (Jin & Rounds, 2012). Therefore, we hypothesized that career adaptability predicts work values (i.e., economic security, interpersonal, and mastery) among emerging graduating adults from VET during their career transition (Hypothesis 3).

Research on the relationship between self-esteem and work values is lacking. For example, Lönnqvist et al. (2009) found that self-esteem positively or negatively correlated with most personal values across 14 subcultures in five countries. Similarly, Fetvadjiev and He (2019) found that links between personal values and “broad” well-being, conceptualized in their research as self-esteem and life satisfaction, were bidirectional. Although values and self-esteem are interrelated components of personality, and it has been established that these concepts are systematically linked (Fetvadjiev & He, 2019), the nature and direction of the link between work values and self-esteem remain unclear. Because a further investigation is needed to explore the relationship between self-esteem and work values, especially during career transitions, we decided to examine the predictive effect of self-esteem on work-related values. In the current study, we hypothesized that self-esteem predicts work values (i.e., economic security, interpersonal, and mastery) among emerging adults graduating from VET during their career transition (Hypothesis 4).

Several studies confirmed that work-related values were associated with life satisfaction, which suggests that work values extend beyond the domain of working life. For example, Masuda and Sortheix (2012), in their longitudinal study of university graduates, found that work values during university studies were positively related to their life satisfaction after graduation. This study (Masuda & Sortheix, 2012) partly demonstrated that work values might have some predictive power for life satisfaction. A positive relationship between work values and life satisfaction was reported in a 25-year longitudinal study conducted by Chow et al. (2017) with an initial sample of high school seniors. Specifically, intrinsic work values at age 18 predicted life satisfaction at age 43 indirectly through intrinsic work values at age 25 and then through intrinsic work values at age 32 and work rewards at age 43. Although intrinsic work values appeared to matter more for mid-life life satisfaction than extrinsic work values, this longitudinal study revealed that work values in emerging adulthood might shape mid-life satisfaction with life. However, considering the P-E fit theory (Ton & Hansen, 2001), work values may be viewed as a factor related to both personal and environmental aspects and could affect how individuals perceive the fit between themselves and the environment. This proposition suggests that work values may help explain career adaptability–life satisfaction and self-esteem–life satisfaction relations. Namely, emerging adults who feel adaptable in their careers and evaluate themselves as worthy and valuable may feel more satisfied with life because they set work values that lead them to perceive a better fit between themselves and the environment. Thus, in the present study, we hypothesized that work values (i.e., economic security, interpersonal, and mastery) mediate the relations between career adaptability and life satisfaction (Hypothesis 5) and between self-esteem and life satisfaction (Hypothesis 6) among emerging adults graduating from VET during their career transition.

The Present Study

The present study is intended to contribute to contribute to the literature in several ways. First, we investigate variables that have not yet been studied in research focused on the life satisfaction of emerging adults, or for which the empirical knowledge of their effects on life satisfaction is not satisfactory. Second, there was a need in the literature to identify antecedents of subjective well-being in relation to career development (Lent & Brown, 2008). We attempt to address this need by examining career adaptability and work values. Third, we consider in our study work-specific (career adaptability and work values) and context-free (self-esteem) antecedents of life satisfaction simultaneously. Fourth, this study investigates the interaction among study variables on a unique sample of emerging adults—VET graduates. These individuals had to cope with the demands of career decision-making associated with graduating from upper secondary school and went through a career transition, which could be reflected in their life satisfaction. This sample includes both tertiary students and understudied non-college-bound youth termed “the forgotten half” (Blustein et al., 2002).

The Czech Republic is well suited to address our research aims because in the Czech Republic about two-thirds of young people aged 18–25 feel “in-between,” i.e. no longer adolescents but not yet fully adults (Macek et al., 2016). The career paths of emerging adults in the Czech Republic are characterized by considerable variability, both at the population level and the individual level (Kvitkovičová et al., 2016). Compared with other European countries, the Czech Republic has a relatively high (80%) proportion of students enrolled in different VET programs after completing lower-secondary schools (Chamoutová et al., 2020). VET students and apprentices in the Czech Republic usually end their education between the ages of 18 and 19 with an apprenticeship certificate or a school graduation certificate. Both certificates allow direct access to the labor market, but emerging adults who have obtained an apprenticeship certificate are not permitted to enroll in university and non-university tertiary education. Therefore, many VET graduates do not pursue tertiary education but seek to enter employment upon graduation (Chamoutová et al., 2020; Hlaďo et al., 2019).

Method

Participants and Procedure

The two-wave longitudinal study was conducted among VET graduates in the South-Moravian and the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. Headteachers of all vocational upper secondary schools were contacted by email through the Department of Education of the respective region and asked to participate in the research. The consent was granted by 44 schools. In the first wave (T1), data were collected in March and April 2018, approximately 2 months before the VET graduation, using an online or paper-and-pencil form and following school administrative policies. During each questionnaire administration, the participants received information about the research aim, and they were reassured about the confidentiality of their answers. Participation in the research was voluntary, and participants indicated their willingness to participate by completing the informed consent form before starting the data collection. In the informed consent form, they were asked whether they would be willing to complete a second self-reported questionnaire in the next 10 months and provide their email or postal addresses for this purpose. The questionnaires at T1 were administered in classrooms during ordinary lessons by a teacher who provided the participants with the necessary assistance. The second wave of data collection (T2) took place approximately 10 months after the first assessment in February and March 2019. The VET graduates who had provided their consent (n = 1,641) were invited to participate in the study again. The questionnaire was sent to the participants via email and postal mail to eliminate the risk of low response rates. They could choose to complete the questionnaires in an online or printed form (a return envelope and prepaid postage were included). Furthermore, to increase the response rate, at each measurement point, participants could participate in a lottery to win small prizes, such as cinema tickets, t-shirts, sweatshirts, and the like.

The initial sample of 3,126 participants (46.5% females) was obtained at T1. Their ages ranged from 18 to 26, with a mean age of 18.88 (SD = .97). Four-fifths (80.6%) of the sample was aged 18–19, i.e. the age when VET is typically completed in the Czech Republic. There were also eight (0.3%) participants aged 25 years and three (0.1%) participants aged 26 years in the initial sample. These participants probably changed the field of study during upper secondary education or returned to VET after dropping out. Participants represented a wide range of fields (e.g., business economics, nursing, construction, and training to become an electrician, auto mechanic, farmer). The survey was completed by 512 participants (60.2% females) at T2 with a response rate of 31.4%. Although less than optimal, this response rate is still acceptable. The participants’ ages ranged from 18 to 25 (M = 19.86, SD = 1.03) at T2. In the sample, 417 (81.4%) participants were aged 18–20, 83 (16.2%) participants were aged 21–23, and 12 (2.3%) were aged 24 or 25. More than two-thirds (63.4%) of participants felt in-between, 69.4% lived with their parents, and 49.8% were involved in a romantic relationship. Furthermore, 29.4% studied at university, 23.3% studied at other non-university schools, 31.9% were employed or self-employed, 2.5% had a part-time job, 6.1% combined study and work, and 6.9% were unemployed.

The final sample consisted only of those participants who took part in both waves. An additional analysis of missing data was conducted (see Supplementary Material for more detail) to assess the missing data mechanism and ascertain that the available-case analysis (i.e., pairwise deletion) is appropriate. The results of the analysis suggest that the data are missing completely at random (MCAR); thus, the available-case analysis should not lead to distorted parameter estimates (Enders, 2010).

Measures

The questionnaires included sociodemographic (e.g., age, gender, field of study, repeated school years, GPA), career adaptability, and self-esteem measures at T1; and sociodemographic (e.g., subjective developmental status, employment status, current living conditions, romantic relationships), life satisfaction, career adaptability, self-esteem, and work values measures at T2. For this study, the career adaptability and self-esteem variables from T1 and the work values and life satisfaction variables from T2 were used. We measured career adaptability and self-esteem before graduating from VET (T1) as we consider both variables to be important resources enabling an individual to cope with a career transition. The experience gained with the career transition could change emerging adults’ worldview and satisfaction with life; thus, the variables of work value and life satisfaction were measured after the career transition (T2). Because longitudinal studies demonstrated significant rank-order stability in work values during emerging adulthood (Chow et al., 2017), work values were assessed after career transition at the same measurement point as life satisfaction.

Life satisfaction

The Czech adaptation (Blatný et al., 2004) of the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS; Diener et al., 1985) was used to measure the emerging adults’ global life satisfaction. This unidimensional scale contains five items (e.g., “In most ways my life is close to my ideal”) measured on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). In the present study, Cronbach’s α was .88.

Career adaptability

The career adaptability of the emerging adults was measured by the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale–Czech Form (CAAS-Czech; Hlaďo et al., 2020). The scale consists of 24 items, the same as in the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale–International Form 2.0 (Savickas & Porfeli, 2012). Participants responded to each item on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (not strong) to 5 (strongest). The items are divided into four subscales that measure career concern (e.g., “Becoming aware of the educational and career choices that I must make”), control (e.g., “Taking responsibility for my actions”), curiosity (e.g., “Probing deeply into questions I have”), and confidence (e.g., “Overcoming obstacles”) as a set of essential psychological resources for individuals’ career development. For this sample, the internal consistency reliability Cronbach’s α of the total score was .94 at T1 and .93 at T2.

Self-esteem

The Czech version (Osecká & Blatný, 1997) of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES; Rosenberg, 1979) was used to assess emerging adults’ global self-esteem. This scale is a self-report measure composed of 10 items (e.g., “I take a positive attitude toward myself”) measured on a 4-point Likert-type scale with response options ranging from 1 (strongly agree) to 4 (strongly disagree). Five items are positively worded, and five items are negatively worded. The Cronbach’s alpha in the present study was .88 at T1 and .91 at T2.

Work values

Work values of emerging adults were assessed with an instrument measuring the construct of full-time work values developed by Porfeli (2007). Participants were asked to rate the importance of the nine job characteristics when seeking a full-time job on a 4-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (not at all important) to 4 (extremely important). The original instrument measures three subscales: economic security (e.g., “A steady job, with little chance of being laid off”), interpersonal (e.g., “A chance to be helpful to others or useful to society”), and mastery (e.g., “A job where I have a lot of responsibility”). According to Porfeli and Mortimer (2010), the four items of the mastery subscale can also be understood to measure intrinsic work values. The Cronbach’s α for the individual scales was .65 for economic security, .68 for interpersonal, and .81 for mastery.

Statistical Analysis

First, a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to verify the construct validity and the expected factor structure of the individual scales. The results of CFA are reported separately in the Supplementary Material. Next, a mediation analysis was used to test the proposed hypotheses. The mediation analysis started with a calculation of the descriptive statistics and correlation analyses to explore the bivariate relations among the core variables (Table 1). Subsequently, all partial models necessary for the parallel multiple mediator models were calculated along with indirect effects. The statistical significance of individual indirect effects was tested by bootstrapping 5,000 random resamples (with replacement) of the data. All analyses were carried out in the R statistical environment (R Core Team, 2018), relying on the following packages: psych (Revelle, 2018), lavaan (Rosseel, 2012), and semTools (Jorgensen et al., 2018).

Table 1.

Means, Standard Deviations, and Correlation Coefficients of Study Variables.

Variable	M	SD	Skewness	Kurtosis	1	2	3	4	5	6
1. Life satisfaction (T2)	4.62	1.28	−.42	−.41	–
2. Career adaptability (T1)	3.71	.54	−.37	.52	.231***	–
3. Self-esteem (T1)	2.88	.58	−.27	−.53	.411***	.339***	–
4. Work values—Economic security (T2)	3.44	.59	−1.58	3.50	−.007	−.102*	−.011	–
5. Work values—Interpersonal (T2)	3.06	.76	−.53	−.36	.202***	.157***	.088	.100*	–
6. Work values—Mastery (T2)	3.06	.57	−.60	.66	.242***	.227***	.121**	.195***	.493***	–
7. Age (T1)	18.88	.97	1.82	5.02	−.029	.092*	.069	−.024	−.021	−.020

*p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001.

Results

Descriptive Statistics and Correlations

The descriptive statistics and the correlation matrix showing several different correlations between the mediators, antecedents, and the outcome are displayed in Table 1. The correlations were generally in the expected directions. Correlation coefficients showed that antecedents (career adaptability and self-esteem measured at T1) were positively correlated with the outcome (life satisfaction measured at T2); however, a stronger correlation was found between self-esteem and life satisfaction than between career adaptability and life satisfaction.

The Mediation Analysis—Total and Direct Effects

The results of the mediation analysis are reported in Figure 1, Table 2, and Table 3. The parallel multiple mediator model contained two antecedents: career adaptability (X₁) and self-esteem (X₂); and one control variable: age (C₁). Furthermore, three parallel mediators corresponded to three types of work values (M₁ = economic security, M₂ = interpersonal, and M₃ = mastery), and the outcome corresponded to life satisfaction (Y). The total effects of career adaptability (c₁) and self-esteem (c₂) on life satisfaction were positive and statistically significant. Specifically, for one unit of change in career adaptability, we could expect a change of .23 in life satisfaction (while holding the other variables in the model constant). Similarly, for a one-unit increase in self-esteem, we could expect a .88 increase in life satisfaction. Thus, higher levels of career adaptability and self-esteem were related to higher levels of life satisfaction.

Table 2.

Regression Coefficients and Model Summary Information for the Presumed Parallel Multiple Mediator Model Depicted in Figure 1.

	b	SE_b	β	p
Economic security (M₁) as a dependent variable
Constant	3.97	.56
Career adaptability (X₁)	−.11	.05	−.102	.038
Self-esteem (X₂)	.03	.05	.032	.513
Age (C₁)	−.01	.03	−.017	.716
R²/ adj. R²	.010/.003
F(df) for R²	F(3; 473) = 1.54, p = .204
Interpersonal (M₂) as a dependent variable
Constant	2.73	.70
Career adaptability (X₁)	.21	.07	.149	.002
Self-esteem (X₂)	.02	.06	.017	.723
Age (C₁)	−.03	.04	−.035	.441
R² / adj. R²	.025/.018
F(df) for R²	F(3; 472) = 3.97, p = .008
Mastery (M₃) as a dependent variable
Constant	2.58	.52
Career adaptability (X₁)	.22	.05	.204	<.001
Self-esteem (X₂)	.05	.05	.052	.275
Age (C₁)	−.03	.03	−.043	.344
R²/adj. R²	.052/.046
F(df) for R²	F(3; 474) = 8.62, p < .001
Life satisfaction (Y) as a dependent variable (total effects)
Constant	2.88	1.07
Career adaptability (X₁)	.23	.10	.097	.029
Self-esteem (X₂)	.88	.10	.396	<.001
Age (C₁)	−.09	.05	−.065	.115
R²/adj. R²	.193/.188
F(df) for R²	F(3; 477) = 38.04, p < .001
Life satisfaction (Y) as a dependent variable (direct effects)
Constant	.59	1.12
Career adaptability (X₁)	.15	.11	.053	.230
Self-esteem (X₂)	.83	.10	.398	<.001
Age (C₁)	−.07	.05	−.056	.165
Work values—Economic security (M₁)	−.10	.09	−.048	.246
Work values—Interpersonal (M₂)	.22	.08	.127	.006
Work values—Mastery (M₃)	.26	.11	.114	.017
R² / adj. R²	.244/.234
F(df) for R²	F(6; 468) = 25.14, p < .001

Table 3.

Tests of the Total and Specific Indirect Effects for the Presumed Parallel Multiple Mediator Model Depicted in Figure 1.

	Indirect effect	SE	95% CI
Tests of the total indirect effects
Career adaptability	.111	.037	[.047; .194]
Self-esteem	.020	.023	[−.021; .071]
Tests of the specific indirect effects
Career adaptability (a₁₁b₁)	.011	.013	[−.014; .040]
Self-esteem (a₂₁b₁)	−.005	.006	[−.016; .010]
Career adaptability (a₁₂b₂)	.034	.020	[−.001; .077]
Self-esteem (a₂₂b₂)	.008	.012	[−.012; .038]
Career adaptability (a₁₃b₃)	.066	.032	[.018; .144]
Self-esteem (a₂₃b₃)	.014	.016	[−.012; .052]

^*p < .05, ^** p< .01, ^***p < .001.

The direct effects of career adaptability and self-esteem variables on life satisfaction differed. The direct effect of self-esteem on life satisfaction (c′₂) was of a similar level to the total effect and statistically significant. These results supported Hypothesis 2 and indicated that work values as individual mediators do not play a significant role in the relationship between self-esteem and life satisfaction. On the other hand, the direct effect of career adaptability on life satisfaction (c′₁) was considerably lower than the total effect and was not statistically significant. These results partially supported Hypothesis 1 and suggested that work values potentially mediate the effect of career adaptability on life satisfaction to a considerable extent. Therefore, in addition to the direct effect, the indirect effect of work values on the relationship between career adaptability and life satisfaction seems to be important.

Focusing more closely on the role of work values in the proposed model, several distinct patterns can be seen in Figure 1 and the corresponding Table 2. Consistent with Hypothesis 3, all relationships between career adaptability (X₁) and the individual types of work values were statistically significant. However, for economic security, the relationship was negative. This finding means that a higher level of career adaptability is associated with a lower level of economic security work values. On the other hand, all relationships between self-esteem (X₂) and the individual types of work values were non-significant, implying that self-esteem does not seem to affect work values. Hence, Hypothesis 4 was not supported. Notable differences also emerged in the relationship between work values and life satisfaction (Y). Whereas the relationship between economic security and life satisfaction was negative and statistically non-significant, the relationships of interpersonal and mastery work values with life satisfaction were positive and statistically significant.

The Mediation Analysis—Indirect Effects

Utilizing a 95% bootstrap confidence interval (Table 3), a statistically significant total indirect effect of career adaptability on life satisfaction was identified. Specifically, an increase in the career adaptability scale by one unit is associated with an increase of .116 in the life satisfaction scale as a result of the effect of career adaptability on work values, which, in turn, affect life satisfaction. On the other hand, for the total indirect effect of self-esteem on life satisfaction, the 95% bootstrap confidence interval was not above zero, indicating that the indirect effect of self-esteem on life satisfaction is not statistically significant. Thus, work values significantly mediate the relationship between career adaptability and life satisfaction but not the relationship between self-esteem and life satisfaction. Hence, Hypothesis 6 was not supported.

In addition to the total indirect effect of career adaptability on life satisfaction, three specific indirect effects of career adaptability on life satisfaction could be further distinguished through the individual mediators (i.e., the different types of work values). The specific indirect effect of career adaptability through economic security work value (M₁) was non-significant. The specific indirect effect of career adaptability through interpersonal work value (M₂) can be considered statistically significant. Nevertheless, it needs to be pointed out that the 95% bootstrap confidence interval was approaching zero; hence, evidence that career adaptability affects life satisfaction through interpersonal work value is not very strong. The specific indirect effect of career adaptability through mastery work value (M₃) was statistically significant with the 95% bootstrap confidence interval further from zero. Thus, the mastery work value seems to be the major mediator, whereas the economic security work value does not play an essential role in this relationship. These findings partially supported Hypothesis 5.

Additionally, since the individual dimensions of career adaptability (i.e., concern, control, curiosity, and confidence) represent relatively distinct aspects of career adaptability and further because of possible differences in the associations between the individual dimensions of career adaptability and the work values and life satisfaction variables, we decided to perform a post-hoc analysis (see Supplementary Material). In the post hoc analysis, four variables corresponding to the individual dimensions of career adaptability were used instead of one variable representing the total score of career adaptability used in the main analysis. The post hoc analysis results suggest that the indirect effect of career adaptability on life satisfaction through work values is primarily due to the concern dimension.

Discussion

The goal of the current study was to investigate the predictive power of career adaptability, self-esteem, and work values for life satisfaction in a group of Czech emerging adults graduating from VET during their career transition. The career construction model of adaptation and the P-E fit theory, as a guiding framework in this study, and the supporting literature review demonstrated links among these variables and provided evidence that work values may help explain the relationships between career adaptability and life satisfaction and between self-esteem and life satisfaction. We investigated these links with a two-wave longitudinal study among a diverse sample of VET graduates over the course of 10 months: 2 months before graduating from VET (T1) and 10 months later, i.e. after their career transition (T2). After controlling for the effect of age, the two hypotheses were supported: self-esteem (T1) predicted life satisfaction (T2); career adaptability (T1) predicted work values (T2). Furthermore, two hypotheses were partially supported: career adaptability (T1) predicted life satisfaction (T2); work values (T2) mediated the relation between career adaptability (T1) and life satisfaction (T2). The findings extend previous research in several ways; below, we discuss these findings as well as practical implications, limitations, and future directions.

The Effect of Career Adaptability and Work Values on Life Satisfaction

Based on the career construction model of adaptation (Savickas, 2005, 2013; Savickas & Porfeli, 2012) and previous research (Ginevra et al., 2018; Konstam et al., 2015; Rudolph et al., 2017) that demonstrated, among other things, a relationship between career adaptability and life satisfaction, we hypothesized that career adaptability would be a predictor of life satisfaction among emerging adults graduating from VET during their career transition. The effect of career adaptability on life satisfaction was found in the overall effect; however, the direct effect was not significant. Our findings indicated that the contribution of career adaptability to subjective well-being is more complex than previously believed. Regarding the influence of career adaptability on life satisfaction, career adaptability was indirectly related to life satisfaction through work values. This study considered three different types of work values (Porfeli, 2007, 2008), i.e. economic security, interpersonal, and mastery work values. The indirect relationship between career adaptability and life satisfaction was mediated primarily through mastery work values. These findings provide some evidence that mastery work values may represent, in emerging adults’ career transitions, a subjective criterion for judging the attainment of the intersection between an individual and the environment (Ton & Hansen, 2001). Furthermore, our results suggest that career adaptability could be a competence needed for emerging adults to find a job that meets these work values (Savickas, 2005, 2013), achieve a P-E fit (Van Vianen, 2018), and thus accomplish life satisfaction.

A post-hoc analysis focused on the influence of the individual dimensions of career adaptability (i.e., concern, control, curiosity, and confidence). We identified that career concern has a crucial role in this mediation relationship. Our finding is not surprising since a career concern in principle expresses a future orientation and is associated with planning. As such, it represents the ability to consider future career opportunities and individual preferences regarding careers and to prepare for future possibilities (Savickas & Porfeli, 2012). Thus, career concern is a resource that enables emerging adults to succeed in career transition. However, our findings may be influenced to some extent by the career situation of the emerging adults included in our study. Participants in this study graduated from VET, and a considerable number of them had to cope with the school-to-work transition. For this reason, before completing VET education, they had to deal more intensively with their career future, which could also boost their concern. Furthermore, our results suggest that there may be other hidden influences in this process. Specifically, we believe that a well-developed career planning ability and engagement in career planning can lead to self-awareness in emerging adults regarding their likes and dislikes (Zikic & Hall, 2009). Such recognition of one’s preferences promotes vocational identity clarity and enables individuals to decide upon realistic educational and career pathways (Savickas, 2013). Therefore, in future research to further expand the emerging adulthood knowledge base, it is necessary to consider the role of vocational identity in forming and pursuing work values and its possible influence on achieving life satisfaction.

Our research extends previous knowledge concerning emerging adulthood by finding that career adaptability is an important psychosocial resource determining all types of work values (i.e., economic security, interpersonal, and mastery). Thus, our assumption that the formation and change of work values are the consequences of adapting to changing conditions (Jin & Rounds, 2012) and that career adaptability plays a crucial role in this process (Savickas, 2005, 2013) seems to be correct. Concerning emerging adulthood, our further finding is significant: developed career adaptability probably leads to a preference for interpersonal and mastery work values. We found that emerging adults graduating from VET will be happier in their lives if they succeed in fulfilling the work values that enable autonomy, responsibility, self-realization, and personal development. In contrast, economic security work values related to tangible outcomes such as pay, material possessions, and security are less important. Overall, it seems that emerging adults with developed career adaptability wish to find a job that is an expression of their identity, not just a way to make money but an activity that is meaningful for them, personally satisfying, fulfilling, and enjoyable, and that can help them change the world for the better. Thus, our findings both confirm Arnett’s (2006) assumption that the work preference for emerging adults is primarily identity-based and support the theory of emerging adulthood (Arnett, 2006, 2007; Mayseless & Keren, 2014) in the ideas and expectations that emerging adults have from work. However, our conclusions need to be considered in the light of the sample. Emerging adults included in our study were graduates from VET. This education systematically prepared them to perform in specific occupations and developed their professional skills and competencies. Therefore, it is not surprising that our participants preferred work values associated with utilizing their acquired education at a job and with further professional development. The present study results can also be viewed in terms of searching for the meaning of life. The search for a meaningful life is considered one of the most important developmental tasks in emerging adulthood (Mayseless & Keren, 2014). Our study showed that work domains that make it possible to feel related, competent, and autonomous are important for finding meaning in life and thus for achieving life satisfaction for the current generation of emerging adults (cf. Weinstein, Ryan, & Deci, 2012). The knowledge about the low preference for economic security work values among emerging adults in their early 20s is also crucial for the theory of emerging adulthood. It can be assumed that a low preference for well-paid, secure, and stable work could lead to delayed financial independence from parental financial support in some individuals, which is considered a key indicator of achieving adulthood (Arnett, 2004). Therefore, a study is needed that would differentiate emerging adults according to their career paths after completing upper secondary education.

The Effect of Self-Esteem on Life Satisfaction

In line with previous research (e.g., Butkovic et al., 2020), our findings substantiated the assumption that a sense of one’s own value directly affects how individuals evaluate their lives as a whole. Thus, our study provides empirical support for the career construction model of adaptation (Rudolph et al., 2017) by showing that self-esteem representing adaptivity positively predicted an important adaptation outcome—life satisfaction. Following Butkovic et al. (2020), who reported that self-esteem is a positive predictor of life satisfaction among a sample of emerging adult university students, we highlighted the predictive power of self-esteem on life satisfaction among emerging adults graduating from VET during their career transition. Our findings contribute to the emerging adulthood theory in that self-esteem might guide emerging adults through their career transition after graduating from upper secondary school.

We further hypothesized that work values would mediate the relationship between self-esteem and life satisfaction. In our sample, the mediation effect of work values on the relationship between self-esteem and life satisfaction was not established. Thus, what processes operate in the background of this relationship between self-esteem and life satisfaction among emerging adults graduating from VET remains unclear. However, as previous research conducted among emerging adults showed, self-esteem serves as an essential resource in resilience or coping (Balgiu, 2017), which facilitates the resolution and overcoming of unfavorable life situations and adaptation to circumstances. In addition, emerging adults with higher self-esteem are more confident, engaged, and persistent, and are therefore usually more able to solve transition tasks and achieve set goals (Feldman, 2003). Hence, individuals’ self-esteem during emerging adulthood probably provides the basis for their success in dealing with various life and career challenges they face. Although more research is needed in this area, based on the P-E fit theory (Jiang & Jiang, 2015), we may speculate that among emerging adults, a higher level of self-esteem has a positive effect on the achievement of life goals and work goals and, thus, a desirable level of fit with the environment and a sense of satisfaction with one’s own life. Overall, considering the positive effect of self-esteem on life satisfaction, it seems that self-esteem lays important groundwork for successful development in emerging adulthood.

Practical Implications

The results of this study have several practical implications. First, our findings suggest that strengthening career adaptability and the ability to reflect one’s own work values can affect an individual’s capacity to find a career path that suits their needs and expectations. Based on our research, career education and career counseling should aim primarily to support and develop the dimension of career concern in emerging adults, i.e. the ability to set their professional goals and to plan and purposefully build a career according to their needs and abilities. However, educational activities and counseling interventions to promote career adaptability should be comprehensive and holistic (Savickas et al., 2009). Thus, the interventions cannot be focused only on promoting future planning orientation and behaviors but should also lead to the development of other career adaptability dimensions that are also crucial for career development. Only through systematic and long-term interventions can it be ensured that the career adaptability of emerging adults will be sufficiently developed with respect to their dispositions (cf. Koen et al., 2012). Therefore, we suggest that career education and career counseling interventions for emerging adults focus on: building strategies for planning and setting short-term and long-term career goals (concern); development of self-discipline, decision-making strategies, and independent decision-making (control); development of information-seeking strategies, finding and using career information, recognizing work values, career interests, and strengths and weaknesses, exploring the environment, career options, and various career paths, and assessing the fit between personal characteristics and job requirements (curiosity); and developing the capacity to solve complex problems and to overcome obstacles (confidence). Brown et al. (2003) suggested several critical ingredients that help improve the effectiveness of such career interventions: combining work in a group with individual consultations for problematic career issue; supporting independent searches; gathering and processing occupational information; showing models who have successfully coped with career exploration, career decision-making difficulties, and career transition; and most importantly promoting independence in effort on self-development. Second, the results of this study confirmed that to effectively enhance emerging adults’ life satisfaction, it is necessary to improve or maintain adequate levels of self-esteem. Thus, it is also important to provide interventions focused on helping emerging adults recognize their sense of worth and reinforcing their self-belief that they are capable and valuable. Some workbooks can provide practical inspiration in this regard (e.g., Schiraldi, 2016). According to Hui et al. (2018), it is also essential to foster situations that have the potential to strengthen emerging adults’ self-esteem. This aim can be achieved, for example, by constantly showing emerging adults that they are valued and respected and by giving positive and constructive feedback from parents, teachers, counselors, supervisors, and other significant others. Third, as our research has shown that career adaptability, self-esteem, and work values are closely interlinked, we believe that these domains should not be developed separately but in harmony.

Limitations and Future Directions

The results and conclusions need to be considered in light of limitations that inform directions for future research. First, our findings are based on self-reported measures and reflect emerging adults’ perceptions and evaluations of themselves, their career adaptability, self-esteem, work values, and life satisfaction. The responses might be upward biased due to social desirability (Proctor et al., 2009). Second, one strength of the present study was its longitudinal design, which separated predictors and criterion variables by time. Nevertheless, the design used had some limitations. Although career adaptability and self-esteem as predictors were measured at T1 and life satisfaction as a criterion variable at T2, work values as a mediator were measured at the same measurement point as life satisfaction (T2). Therefore, causal judgments and the long-term effects of career adaptability and self-esteem on life satisfaction through work values should be re-examined in further research in which life satisfaction will be measured at a separate time (T3). Third, our sample consisted of Czech emerging adults graduating from VET only, reducing the generalizability of our findings to other populations or cultural contexts. Thus, an important area for future research includes deepening our knowledge about the constructs of the present study in more diverse samples, reflecting racial and ethnic differences, various educational systems, job markets, etc. Fourth, although this study indicates and clarifies some mechanisms in light of the P-E fit theory, future research will be needed to verify and explain these findings in further detail. For example, it will be important to examine potential reasons why mastery work values mediate the link between career adaptability and life satisfaction. Since life satisfaction is a phenomenon that reflects many circumstances, further research should also consider a mixed research design. Incorporating qualitative research could support the understanding of hidden factors of life satisfaction. Fifth, the present study focused on work values as a mediator; future studies might examine other possible mediators that may further explain the relationships between career adaptability and life satisfaction and self-esteem and life satisfaction. For example, we suggest variables such as P-E fit (i.e., psychological need fulfillment and value congruence), vocational identity, and resilience, which were mentioned in the discussion. Finally, it is important to note that about two-thirds of the sample was lost to attrition. Lower response rates do not necessarily reduce the scientific value and contribution of the study; however, its generalizability may be limited. Thus, results must be replicated by future research with an emphasis on participant retainment.

Conclusions

One of the fundamental developmental tasks in emerging adulthood is dealing with career transition. The shift from upper secondary school to tertiary education or the job market represents a significant change in life, and the success or failure in career transition can be reflected in life satisfaction (Kvitkovičová et al., 2016; Macek et al., 2016). Our findings lead us to conclude that career adaptability and self-esteem may contribute positively to general subjective well-being by enabling emerging adults to face career challenges and difficulties and succeed in what is important to them (Konstam et al., 2015). However, the link between career adaptability and life satisfaction is not simply direct and linear. Work values seem to serve as another factor through which career adaptability affects emerging adults’ life satisfaction. Our research contributes to the literature by demonstrating the mediating role of mastery work values in the relationship between career adaptability and life satisfaction and expands previous knowledge about the indirect effect of career adaptability on life satisfaction. Altogether, our results were mostly in line with our expectations based on the P-E fit theory (e.g., Van Vianen, 2018). Our findings contribute to the theory of emerging adulthood by demonstrating that work is a vital and relevant developmental context throughout emerging adulthood. Seeking, exploring, and preparing for meaningful work is an important developmental task for emerging adults today (cf. Seiffge-Krenke et al., 2013).

Supplemental Material

Supplemental Material, sj-pdf-1-eax-10.1177_21676968211012586 - Exploring the Roles of Career Adaptability, Self-Esteem, and Work Values in Life Satisfaction Among Emerging Adults During their Career Transition

Supplemental Material, sj-pdf-1-eax-10.1177_21676968211012586 for Exploring the Roles of Career Adaptability, Self-Esteem, and Work Values in Life Satisfaction Among Emerging Adults During their Career Transition by Petr Hlaďo, Libor Juhaňák, Lenka Hloušková and Bohumíra Lazarová in Emerging Adulthood

Footnotes

Author Contributions

Hlaďo, P contributed to conception and design, contributed to acquisition, analysis, and interpretation, drafted manuscript, critically revised manuscript, gave final approval, and agrees to be accountable for all aspects of work ensuring integrity and accuracy. Juháňák L contributed to analysis, and interpretation, drafted manuscript, gave final approval, and agrees to be accountable for all aspects of work ensuring integrity and accuracy. Hloušková, L contributed to conception, critically revised manuscript, gave final approval, and agrees to be accountable for all aspects of work ensuring integrity and accuracy. Lazarová, B contributed to conception, critically revised manuscript, gave final approval, and agrees to be accountable for all aspects of work ensuring integrity and accuracy.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This study is an outcome of the research project Career adaptability of vocational upper-secondary school graduates during the school-to-work transition [GA18-07537S] funded by the Czech Science Foundation.

ORCID iD

Petr Hlaďo

Supplemental Material

Supplemental material for this article is available online.

Open Practices

The raw data and analysis code used in this study are not openly available but are available upon request to the corresponding author. No aspects of the study were pre-registered.

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