2022 Volume 23 Issue 2 Pages 101-109
The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors associated with irrational career beliefs among university students to establish an understanding of clients’ behavior and formulate a counseling hypothesis based on the beliefs. Participants were 231 undergraduates attending universities all over Japan. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was used to examine the factors associated with irrational career beliefs, including sex, personality traits, university life fulfillment, and career readiness. Results revealed that male students are likely to have an “unrealistic optimism” belief while female students are likely to have a “feelings of helplessness” belief. Moreover, students who exhibit neuroticism as one of the Big Five personality traits seemed to have more of “feelings of helplessness” belief and less of an “unrealistic optimism” belief. Furthermore, university life fulfillment was positively associated with “unrealistic optimism” and negatively with “feelings of helplessness.” In addition, career autonomy of career readiness was negatively associated with “feelings of helplessness.” On the other hand, associations between irrational career beliefs and personal attributes such as sex and personality traits were disappeared by input of university life fulfillment and career readiness. The implications of this study could be used as information to help in further examination of career assessment and career support addressing irrational career beliefs.
