Latent Profiles of Planned Happenstance Skills among Multicultural Adolescents and Their Relations to Social Support, School Adjustment, and Career Attitude Determinacy

This study explored the latent profiles of planned happenstance skills among multicultural adolescents and examined group differences in school adjustment and career attitude determinacy, as well as the predictive effects of parental support, peer support, teacher support, and perceived respect for human rights. Data were obtained from Wave 5 of the second “Multicultural Adolescents Panel Study”, including 1,836 participants, and analyzed using latent profile analysis and multinomial logistic regression. The analysis revealed three distinct latent profiles of planned happenstance skills: low-capacity passive, moderate-capacity active, and high-capacity proactive type. The high-capacity proactive type demonstrated the highest levels of school adjustment and career attitude determinacy, while perceived respect for human rights emerged as the strongest predictor of profile membership, followed by parental and peer support. These findings demonstrate that the planned happenstance theory is applicable to multicultural adolescents and suggest that planned happenstance skills are not only associated with career decision-making but also closely related to school adjustments. This study highlights the need for fostering human rights–friendly school environments and strengthening family functioning to support the development of planned happenstance skills.