Cognitive Processes and Their Associations With Vocational Identity Development During Emerging Adulthood

In the present study, we examined the associations between cognitive processes and vocational identity development. A sample of 318 Korean emerging adults participated in the study. Using three-wave longitudinal data and applying multilevel modeling, we tested within- and between-person-level associations. We found that individuals who are higher in career self-efficacy than others are more likely to be engaged in exploration and commitment. Those who exhibit more dysfunctional career thoughts are less likely to be engaged in commitment but more likely to reconsider their identities. We found a similar pattern at the within-person level: At times when one exhibits high self-efficacy than usual, one is more likely to be engaged in exploration and commitment; however, at times when one exhibits more dysfunctional thoughts than usual, one is less likely to be committed to a career and more likely to reconsider. We discuss the implications of the study results.