Exploring Career Perceptions, Career Decision-Making Factors and Career Anxiety of Generation Z Korean Dance Majors

The purpose of this study is to explore in-depth career perceptions, career decision-making factors, and career anxiety of university students majoring in Korean dance in Generation Z. The study participants were 8 students majoring in Korean dance at a university located in Gyeonggi-do, and were selected through a purposive sampling method. Data collection was collected through literature review and semi-structured in-depth interviews, and analyzed using inductive category system. As a result of this, first, in career perceptions, negative perceptions due to the structural limitations of the dance society, unstable profit structure, and intensified lookism were prominent, and second, career decision-making factors were job stability, work-life balance, economic benefits, family and social expectations, and limitations of physical conditions. Third, career anxiety was divided into internal and external factors and anxiety coping strategies, centered on the failure to establish a career goal, a decrease in self-efficacy due to physical evaluation, and educational, economic, and social anxiety. Through this, students showed an adaptive coping attitude that converts anxiety into motivation for career expansion by using a problem-oriented coping and a self-developmental approach to cope with career anxiety. In conclusion, despite the structural and practical constraints of their major, university students majoring in Korean dance showed an active attitude, such as recognizing realistic conditions and exploring new career possibilities, rather than recognizing anxiety as a stress. This aspect is seen as a process of strengthening self-efficacy based on career adaptability using anxiety as a stimulus for career expansion. Therefore, universities and the dance society need to establish an integrated psychological and education career support program that reflects the self-directed and reality-oriented characteristics of Generation Z, which is expected to contribute to laying the psychological foundation for promoting career development beyond simple anxiety relief.