Dual Mediating Effect of Planned Happenstance Skills and Career Decision-Making Self-efficacy in the Relationship between Career Barriers and Career Maturity of Alternative School Youth

Objectives This study was conducted to examine the relationship between alternative school youth's career barriers, planned happenstance skills, career decision-making self-efficacy, and career maturity, and to confirm the dual mediating effects of planned happenstance skills and career decision-making self-efficacy in the relationship between career barriers and career maturity of alternative school youth. Methods To this end, a total of 218 alternative school youth were targeted, and a structural equation model was verified using SPSS STATISTICS 23.0 and AMOS 23.0. In particular, to verify the fit of the research model, the χ2 value, TLI, CFI, RMSEA, and SRMR values were comprehensively reviewed, and the bootstrapping procedure was performed by setting up phantom variables to obtain individual indirect effects. Results As a result of conducting bootstrapping to verify the mediating effect, planned happenstance skills and career decision-making self-efficacy each showed a single mediating effect in the relationship between career barriers and career maturity, and planned happenstance skills and career decision-making self-efficacy showed a sequential mediating effect. Conclusions This indicates that the higher the level of career barriers of alternative school youth, the lower the level of planned happenstance skills or the lower the level of career decision-making self-efficacy, which lowers the level of career maturity. In addition, the higher the level of career barriers of alternative school youth, the lower the level of planned happenstance skills, which lowers the level of career decision-making self-efficacy, which lowers the level of career maturity.