AI Insight
This study examined how perfectionism relates to career decision-making difficulties in 1,000 college students, finding that both positive and negative perfectionism are associated with these difficulties through core self-evaluations and psychological resilience. Core self-evaluations showed the strongest mediating effect in both perfectionism types, while the chain mediation through core self-evaluations and psychological resilience also played a significant role. The cross-sectional design indicates these are correlational rather than causal relationships.
Why it matters
Understanding these psychological mechanisms could help universities design better career counseling interventions that address perfectionism, self-evaluation, and resilience to reduce career decision-making difficulties. These findings suggest that building core self-evaluations may be particularly effective for helping students navigate career choices.
BackgroundIn recent years, career decision-making difficulties among college students have drawn increasing attention, significantly relating to their mental health and personal development.MethodThis study surveyed 1,000 college students through a convenience sampling procedure using an online questionnaire. A chain mediation model was developed and validated by using standardized scales to measure perfectionism, core self-evaluation, psychological resilience and career decision-making difficulty.ResultThe findings demonstrated that positive perfectionism is connected to career decision-making difficulties in college students through core self-evaluations and psychological resilience, and the indirect path through core self-evaluations was more prominent than the path through psychological resilience and the chain path through core self-evaluations and psychological resilience. Negative perfectionism also is associated with career decision-making difficulties through core self-evaluations and psychological resilience, with the indirect path through core self-evaluations again showing the strongest statistical association. In addition, the chain path through core self-evaluations and psychological resilience was stronger than the path through psychological resilience alone.ConclusionOverall, perfectionism may be associated with career decision-making difficulties in college students, both directly and indirectly, and it could be linked to these difficulties through its associations with core self-evaluations and psychological resilience. These results should be viewed as statistical correlations rather than causal evidence because of the cross-sectional approach.