Self-Focused Attention and Career Anxiety: The Mediating Role of Career Adaptability

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine how 2 forms of self-focused attention, self-reflection and self-rumination, influence career anxiety. The authors hypothesized that the association between these 2 types of self-focused attention and career anxiety would be mediated by career adaptability on the basis of a career construction model of adaptation. The participants were 326 undergraduate students in South Korea. The results of this study supported the hypothesized mediation model by indicating significant indirect effects of self-reflection and self-rumination on career anxiety via career adaptability. The direct effect of self-rumination on career anxiety was significant (B = .44, p < .01), but the direct effect of self-reflection on career anxiety was not significant (B = -.05, p > .05). The authors discuss implications for counselors to help college students manage career anxiety by encouraging and supporting increased career adaptability. Future research to examine the cross-cultural validity of the current findings is needed.