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Relationships Among Career and Life Stress, Negative Career Thoughts, and Career Decision State: A Cognitive Information Processing Perspective
Author(s) -
BullockYowell Emily,
Peterson Gary W.,
Reardon Robert C.,
Leierer Stephen J.,
Reed Corey A.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
the career development quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.846
H-Index - 53
eISSN - 2161-0045
pISSN - 0889-4019
DOI - 10.1002/j.2161-0045.2011.tb00071.x
Subject(s) - psychology , perspective (graphical) , cognitive information processing , social psychology , cognition , career development , life satisfaction , career counseling , stress (linguistics) , applied psychology , linguistics , philosophy , artificial intelligence , neuroscience , computer science
According to cognitive information processing theory, career thoughts mediate the relationship between career and life stress and the ensuing career decision state. Using a sample of 232 college students and structural equation modeling, this study found that an increase in career and life stress was associated with an increase in negative career thinking and that an increase in such thoughts was associated with a lower level of decidedness and satisfaction with career choice. However, when the variation associated with negative career thoughts was partitioned in the mediated causal model, career and life stress became associated with less career indecision and dissatisfaction with career choice. The results suggest that counselors attend to negative career thoughts when individuals encounter career and life stress.