The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the career aspirations of adolescents in Romania: a longitudinal analysis

The findings suggest that Romanian adolescents, unlike peers in other international studies, did not experience a decline in career optimism or an increase in uncertainty. Instead, the pandemic appears to have prompted a rational reassessment of career trajectories. Framed by human capital theory, the results indicate that adolescents responded to the "career shock" of the pandemic by increasing their investment in "safe" high-status professions requiring higher education (hence the rise in ISEI/SIOPS scores) while simultaneously reducing exposure to the health and logistical risks of international mobility. This highlights the critical role of local socio-economic context in mediating the pandemic's impact on youth career aspirations.