The Effects of Psychological Separation of Students with Acquired Disabilities on Career Preparation Behavior: Verification of the Mediating Effect of Career Adaptability

Objectives The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of psychological separation and career adaptability on career preparation behavior of students with acquired disabilities. Methods For this study, 162 students with acquired disabilities in four-year university were selected by purposive sampling and snowball sampling. SPSS 26.0 and AMOS 23.0 were used for data analysis, and frequency analysis and reliability test (Cronbach‘s α) were conducted on the sociodemographic characteristics of the subjects. Descriptive statistics and normality tests were conducted to identify the characteristics of major variables, and Pearson correlation analysis was conducted to identify the relationship between variables. The effect of psychological separation and career adaptability on career preparation behavior was analyzed using AMOS 23.0, and bootstrapping was applied to verify the statistical significance of the mediating effect. Results First, as a result of analyzing the correlation between each variable, there was a significant positive correlation between all variables Second, career adaptability showed a complete mediating effect in the relationship between psychological separation and career preparation behavior. Third, psychological separation did not have a direct significant effect on career preparation behavior. Conclusions The results of this study are meaningful in that psychological separation does not have a direct effect on career preparation behavior, but it can affect career adaptability through mediation. It is not easy for college students with acquired disabilities to achieve psychological separation because new adaptation is required due to physical changes, and it suggests that career adaptability will increase and career preparation behavior level will increase when autonomy is acquired based on agency after accepting their disability.