Positive career orientation as an inhibitor of adolescent problem behaviour

Abstract This study tested the hypothesis that positive career orientation can prevent adolescents from engaging in or escalating problem behaviour. A 1-year, longitudinal study was conducted on a sample of 234 junior-high and high-school students, who were 14.8 years old on the average in the beginning of the study. Using structural equation modeling, a developmental, two-wave, two-factor empirical model corresponding to the predicted relationships between career orientation and problem behaviour was found to fit the data well. According to the fitted model, positive career orientation had a significant negative longitudinal effect on problem behaviour. In contrast, we found no evidence in support of the assumption that career orientation can be affected by problematic behavioural tendencies.