The Influence of High School Students' Perceived Parental Achievement Pressure and Parental Trust on Career Preparation Behavior: The Mediating Effect of Achievement Motivation

This study conducted a survey of students attending general and special purpose high schools in Seoul, Gyeonggi, and Incheon to analyze the factors that influence the career preparation behavior of first and second year high school students. A total of 369 valid responses were obtained. The results of the empirical analysis showed that the path coefficients of parental achievement pressure on achievement motivation and the path coefficients of trust in parents on achievement motivation were both significant. Additionally, the path coefficient between achievement motivation and career preparation behavior was significant. However, the path coefficients between parental achievement pressure and trust in parents on career preparation behavior were not significant. Achievement motivation was found to play a mediating role between parental achievement pressure and career preparation behavior, and between trust in parents and career preparation behavior. According to the results of the analysis of the differences between the group with high parental achievement pressure and trust in parents and the group with both low parental achievement pressure and trust in parents, the main effects of achievement motivation according to parental achievement pressure and trust in parents were all statistically significant. However, the interaction effect between parental achievement pressure and trust in parents was not statistically significant on achievement motivation. On the other hand, the main effects of parental achievement pressure and trust in parents on career preparation behavior were both statistically significant, and the interaction effect of the two factors was also statistically significant on career preparation behavior. Based on these findings, we discussed the need for successful career readiness behaviours in high school students.