Profession & Career & Vocation: A View Through the Prism of Identity Development Among Students

In a technologically advanced world, professional identity formation and career planning are the tasks of student age . Previous studies have established that non-adaptive processes of professional identity formation and career planning during student age motivate students to leave university, but little is known about indicators of the professional identity associated with career calling, and the meanings of professional life among students . The purpose of our study is to evaluate the discriminant validity of the adapted professional identity assessment scale (U-MICS) in relation to indicators of career self-determination (vocation) and meaningfulness of professional life on a Russian student sample (n = 102) . The survey method was used in the study of measure indicators of professional identity (in depth study, commitment, reconsideration), life-meaning in professional activity (goals, process, effectiveness, locus of control) and career vocation (career (vocational) identity, career development barriers, need for information) . The Students t-test and Pearson’s r-coefficient statistics were used to process and analyze the data . The study proved that differences in professional identity indicators associated with the direction of educational and professional activity and the status of professional identity (achievement or searching moratorium) are expressed and substantiated: the achievement of professional identity is related to a possible career based on a reflexive analysis of barriers to career development and meaningfulness of professional activity among students, characterizes the adaptive path of professional development . On the contrary, the crisis path of professional development is associated with a revision of professional identity (identity moratorium), naivety in assessing career growth opportunities, rumination about vocation, precarity . An approach based on understanding how professional identity is related to student’s ideas about a future career is relevant in the development of professional education programs . The research materials demonstrating the discriminant validity of the U-MICS methodology can be used in cross cultural comparisons of personality development characteristics among students .

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