Parenting Styles, Belongingness, and Career Decision-Making Difficulties Among College Students: The Mediating Role of Amotivation

Abstract

Career decision-making is a critical developmental task for college students, yet many students experience difficulties in clarifying, evaluating, and committing to future career choices. Guided by Self-Determination Theory, the present study examined whether amotivation mediated the associations of authoritarian parenting, permissive parenting, and belongingness with career decision-making difficulties. A cross-sectional correlational design was used. Participants were recruited using a cluster random sampling strategy. The sample comprised 400 college students who filled out questionnaires that assessed perceived parenting styles, belongingness, academic amotivation, and career decision making problems. Pearson correlations and mediation analyses using Hayes’ PROCESS Model 4 were conducted. Authoritarian parenting and permissive parenting were positively associated with career decision-making difficulties, whereas belongingness was negatively associated with career decision-making difficulties. Amotivation was positively associated with career decision-making difficulties and significantly mediated all three relationships. Specifically, authoritarian parenting and permissive parenting predicted higher amotivation, which in turn predicted greater career decision-making difficulties. Belongingness, on the other hand, predicted lower amotivation, which was in turn predicted to less career decision making difficulties. Partial mediation occurred in the direct effects, which remained significant in all models. The findings indicated that the only family and relational factors in students' career decision-making problems were not sufficient, but also in their motivational disengagement. Interventions for career counseling, in turn, should focus on amotivation, build purpose of students, and promote autonomy, structure, and belongingness in school and family environments.