Abstract
Although identity development is crucial in individuals’ psychological adjustment from adolescence to adulthood, little is known about its impact in the transition to tertiary education or work. This study examined whether identity development during high school predicts career choices and adjustment (i.e., engagement) and maladjustment (i.e., burnout) after graduation. A total of 357 Japanese adolescents participated throughout the 3-year period of vocational high school (Mage = 15.75; 62.75% girls). A follow-up assessment, at 18 months after the school-to-tertiary education or school-to-work transitions, was conducted. Higher identity synthesis during high school years predicted entry into tertiary education, while higher identity confusion predicted transition to work. Furthermore, higher identity synthesis during the high school years predicted higher post-graduation academic engagement, and higher levels of identity confusion predicted higher levels of post-graduation academic or work burnout. Overall, this study contributes to the understanding of the role of identity development in adolescence as a valuable asset for predicting the transition and the adjustment to tertiary education or work.
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Notes
These rates indicate the proportion of entrants into the bachelor’s programs who transitioned directly to tertiary education from upper secondary education without any significant break (e.g., a gap year).
For the study burnout and work burnout scales, the items are completely parallel. As for the study engagement and work engagement scales, we used the shortened version of an original 17-item scale (Schaufeli, Salanova, et al., 2002) to reduce participants’ burden. Although the numbers of items are different (i.e., the student version consists of 9 items and the worker version consists of 3 items), each of the shorten versions have been designed to be compatible to the original version.
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Acknowledgements
The authors wish to express their gratitude to all the students and schools who participated in this study. We also thank Satoko Saiga for her research assistance.
Funding
This study was supported by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research(C), Grant Number 18K03068 to Kazumi Sugimura. Elisabetta Crocetti’s work on this paper was partly supported by a visiting professor fellowship from Hiroshima University, Japan.
Data Sharing and DeclarationData used in the present study are available at OSF, https://osf.io/9qm8z/.
PreregistrationThis study was not preregistered.
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KS conceived the study, participated in its design, conducted the data collection, and coordinated and drafted the manuscript; SH performed the statistical analysis, participated in the interpretation of the data, and drafted the manuscript; KH participated in the design of the study, the interpretation of the data, and drafted the manuscript; EC participated in the interpretation of the data and drafted the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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The formal Institutional Review Board of Hiroshima University approved this project (Project title: Identity Development in Vocational high school students). The study was performed in accordance with the ethical standards as laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments.
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Sugimura, K., Hihara, S., Hatano, K. et al. Adolescents’ Identity Development Predicts the Transition and the Adjustment to Tertiary Education or Work. J. Youth Adolescence 52, 2344–2356 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-023-01838-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-023-01838-y