The relationship between adolescents' subjective well-being and career aspirations adolescents residing in low socio-economic communities in Cape Town: The mediating role of social support
Loading...
Date
2020
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of the Western Cape
Abstract
Adolescence is a critical developmental stage wherein adolescents face various challenges which
potentially impact on the development of their future orientation, the setting of and working
towards goals, and ultimately their life trajectories. Considering South Africa’s socio-political
history which has resulted in limitations regarding educational and career possibilities of
adolescents, there is a need to examine factors that influence adolescents’ aspirations. The
current study thus aimed to ascertain the nature of the relation between adolescents’ subjective
well-being and career aspirations. Within this process, the study further aimed to ascertain the
extent to which this relation is mediated by social support. The current study forms part of a
larger study that explored the relation between adolescents’ career aspirations and a range of
personal and contextual factors, using a cross-sectional design. The sample comprised 1082
adolescents (males and females) in grades 8 to 11, purposively selected from eight schools in
low-income communities in Cape Town, South Africa. Descriptive statistics were used to
determine the levels of career aspirations, subjective well-being and social support among the
participants. Mediation analysis using the bootstrap confidence interval approach, within a
structural equation modelling data analysis framework was conducted to determine the extent to
which social support mediates the relationship between subjective well-being and career
aspirations. For the overall model using the pooled sample, the study found a non-significant
relation between adolescents’ subjective well-being and career aspirations. Across gender, the
results demonstrated a significant relation between subjective well-being and career aspirations
for the male group, explaining 2.1% of the variance in aspirations. However, a non-significant
relation was obtained for the female group. An important finding of the study is that social
support did not mediate the relation between adolescents’ subjective well-being and career
ii
aspirations for the pooled sample, and across both gender groups. For females, a significant
negative relation was found between social support and aspirations. Results also revealed a
significant negative relation between age and aspirations for both males and females. Social
support and financial resources are important factors to consider in relation to adolescents’ wellbeing and aspirations, especially given that the social support that females receive is informed by
gender norms and cultural beliefs, which in turn hinders their aspirations. It is recommended that
interventions are targeted at an institutional level, inclusive of challenging gender roles,
providing information about educational and career opportunities for young people, and
improving parenting skills in an effort to advance adolescents’ career aspirations.
Description
Magister Artium (Psychology) - MA(Psych)
Keywords
adolescents, subjective well-being, career aspirations, social support, socioeconomic status, mediation