دلبستگی ناایمن و دو دلی حرفه ای: اثرات واسطه ای اضطراب و بدبینی

Abstract The purpose of this study was to examine a theoretically-based model in which insecure attachment is related to career indecision through the mediation of negative emotions. Two hundred college students completed questionnaires measuring anxious and avoidant dimensions of insecure attachment, negative emotions (trait and career-choice anxiety, trait and career-choice pessimism), and career indecision. Path analysis indicated that anxious attachment was indirectly related to career indecision through a full mediation of career-choice anxiety and career-choice pessimism (but not through the trait emotions). Avoidant attachment was neither related to the negative emotions nor to career indecision. These findings contribute to the understanding of the linkage between internalized relationships with significant others and career planning and development, and highlight the important role that career-choice-related emotions play in the process of career decision making. In light of the findings, implications and recommendations regarding career development, career counseling interventions, and preventive measures aimed at reducing career indecision are presented.

1. Introduction Choosing a career and being committed to it is one of the central developmental challenges during adolescence and young adulthood (Super, 1980), and has long-term effects on career adjustment and individuals' well-being (e.g., Gati, Garty, & Fassa, 1996). However, career choice may be jeopardized by a variety of reasons (e.g., Kelly & Lee, 2002), resulting in career indecision, the inability to choose a career goal and to commit to it (e.g., Gati, Krausz, & Osipow, 1996). Career indecision, frequently associated with psychological distress (Multon, Heppner, Gysbers, Zook, & Ellis-Kalton, 2001) is a relatively common state and yet remains a major concern among young adults. Given the centrality and the high prevalence of career indecision, it would be useful to better understand its antecedents in order to treat incidents of indecision more effectively, and to take relevant preventive measures. Over the last two decades there has been a growing interest in the way that family dynamics are involved in career decision making (see Whiston & Keller, 2004, for a review). Theoretical approaches have posited that the quality of the internalized relationship with one's parents is associated with career development and career adjustment (e.g., Blustein, 2011, Blustein et al., 1995 and Lopez and Andrews, 1987), a position supported empirically (e.g., Schultheiss, Kress, Manzi, & Glasscock, 2001). The primary focus of the current paper is on the role that relationships with significant others (e.g., parents), specifically attachment, and their emotional ramifications play in career indecision. Attachment, regarded as an emotional bond developing in the early child–parent relationship with ramifications on the nature of an individual's interpersonal relationships into adulthood (Ainsworth, 1989), has been related to career developmental variables (e.g., Vignoli, Croity-Belz, Chapeland, de Fillipis, & Martine, 2005) and to career indecision (e.g., Downing and Nauta, 2010, Tokar et al., 2003 and Vignoli, 2009). However, the manner in which attachment is linked to career decision-making difficulties has yet to be clarified. We posit that incorporating emotional/affective factors as mediators in a model linking these two variables would advance the understanding of these dynamics. This position is grounded in the following: first, negative affectivity (proneness to experience distress and negative emotions) has been proposed in a recent model as one of the major sources of career indecision (Brown & Rector, 2008). Similarly, another model (Saka, Gati, & Kelly, 2008) demonstrated the considerable impact of negative emotional and personality-related aspects on career indecision. In addition, attachment theories view the sense of secure attachment as an inner resource which can be applied to managing and regulating negative emotions, as well as to adapting coping efficacy with life's problems, whereas insecure attachment (comprised of anxious and avoidant forms) is viewed as a risk factor for negative affectivity/emotionality and maladjustment (Mikulincer, Shaver, & Pereg, 2003). Taken together, it is suggested that insecure attachment exacerbates career decision making by the mediation of negative emotional responses (i.e., insecure attachment increases the likelihood of experiencing negative emotions, which in turn exacerbate career decision-making difficulties). The value in specifying the association between these variables lies in the prospect of extending our knowledge about career indecision's antecedents, and about interventive options in career counseling among those clients characterized by an insecure attachment style. Thus, the primary goal of the current study was to examine a model which links insecure attachment with career indecision through the mediation of negative emotional indices. To the best of our knowledge, the mediation of the association between attachment orientation and career indecision by negative emotions has yet to be examined in the literature. 1.1. Attachment and career decision-making difficulties Theories of career development and choice have posited that choosing a career is a process originating at the early stages of development and is subject to various contextual factors (e.g., Lent et al., 1994, Roe, 1956, Savickas, 2005, Savickas et al., 2009 and Super, 1980), with some theories underscoring the role of the family of origin's relational dynamic in career decision making (e.g., Blustein et al., 1995 and Lopez and Andrews, 1987). For example, Blustein et al. (1995), relying on Bowlby's theory of attachment (1982), hypothesized that internal working models of security enhance the likelihood of a clear formulation of a career self-concept, which in turn fosters career development and decision making. Indeed, previous studies have demonstrated that attachment is linked to a variety of career developmental variables. Secure attachment, characterized by trust in others and high tolerance of interpersonal closeness, was positively linked to effective career developmental indices, such as commitment to career choice (Blustein et al., 1991 and Wolfe and Betz, 2004), college adjustment (Mattanah, Hancock, & Brand, 2004), career exploration (e.g., Vignoli et al., 2005), career self-efficacy (O'Brien, Friedman, Tipton, & Linn, 2000), and career decision making (Tokar et al., 2003 and Vignoli, 2009). Insecure attachment, on the other hand, was positively linked to ineffective developmental variables, such as dysfunctional career thoughts (Van Ecke, 2007), and career indecision (Downing and Nauta, 2010 and Tokar et al., 2003). However, in spite of the distinction made in the literature between the two different forms of insecure attachment, anxious and avoidant, very little is known about the way in which each of these forms (which are considered to be orthogonal) is separately related to career indecision. Attachment anxiety is characterized by doubts about self-worth, dependence on others, and enhanced negative emotions, resulting in cognitive disorganization (Mikulincer & Shaver, 2007), and may therefore hinder career decision making. Attachment avoidance may also impede career decision making, albeit for different reasons: attachment avoidance involves discomfort with interpersonal relationships and intimacy, blocking access to emotions, an inability to deal with inevitable adversities and to manage stressful situations (Mikulincer & Shaver, 2007). Although theory predicts that both insecure forms would result in career indecision, the limited findings reported on this subject are equivocal. With respect to the anxious form, two studies have demonstrated that anxious attachment is positively related to indecision (Downing and Nauta, 2010 and Tokar et al., 2003), while Van Ecke (2007) reported no significant relationship with career decision-making confusion. Avoidant attachment was either directly related to career decision-making confusion (Van Ecke, 2007), or indirectly to career indecision, by the mediation of identity diffusion (Downing & Nauta, 2010). Based on the above theoretical arguments for an association between each attachment form and career indecision, and empirical evidence that largely support these contentions, we expected the following: Hypothesis 1a. Anxious attachment is positively associated with career indecision. Hypothesis 1b. Avoidant attachment is positively associated with career indecision. 1.2. Negative emotions: relationships with career indecision and attachment Two recent models for career indecision underscore the role of negative affectivity/negative emotions in career indecision: Brown and Rector (2008), in a meta-analytic study of variegated potential antecedents, identified four major sources that underlie career indecision: negative affectivity/indecisiveness, lack of information, interpersonal conflicts and barriers, and lack of readiness. Base on this meta-analysis, they concluded that the negative affectivity factor proved to be the major source of career indecision, being comprised of both state- and trait anxiety, neuroticism, low self-esteem, and related aspects of depressive affect, such as external locus of control, pessimism and avoidant coping. The second model, offered by Saka et al. (2008) focused on emotional and personality-related aspects of career decision-making problems, and presented a detailed empirically-based model of career indecision. According to Saka et al.'s model, three major emotional/personality factors predict indecision: career-choice pessimistic views and career-choice anxiety (both comprise state-like emotional responses which may occur during the career decision-making process), as well as self and identity confusion (a factor comprising personality traits and trait-like emotions). It follows, according to these models, that negative emotions such as anxiety and depression/pessimism may enhance the likelihood of career indecision. The notion that negative emotions have a substantial role in career indecision has been previously suggested (Fuqua, Seaworth, & Newman, 1987), and is empirically supported: high levels of trait/state anxiety (Campagna and Curtis, 2007, Corkin et al., 2008, Fuqua et al., 1988, Gati et al., 2011 and Santos, 2001), as well as high levels of general pessimism and depression (Larson et al., 1988, Rottinghaus et al., 2009 and Saunders et al., 2000) predicted increased career indecision. In the current study the association between career indecision and negative emotions was examined with trait and career-choice anxiety as well as with trait and career-choice pessimism. Trait anxiety is defined as a general tendency to experience anxiety across a variety of situations (Spielberger, Gorsuch, & Lushene, 1983), whereas career-choice anxiety is considered a state-like condition, referring to the specific anxiety which accompanies the career decision-making process. In the current study we adopted the definition proposed by Saka et al. (2008) for career-choice anxiety, which is comprised of four components: anxiety about the process anticipating decision making, anxiety related to dealing with the uncertainty involved in choosing a career, anxiety of making a wrong career choice, and anxiety relating to the outcomes of the choice (e.g., failure, disappointment). Trait pessimism is a cognitive component of depression, which is manifested by a general tendency to focus on negative aspects of situations (Scheier, Carver, & Bridger, 1994), while career-choice pessimism is considered a state-like condition and refers to negative perceptions about the decisional process and about one's future career. In this study we adopted Saka et al.'s definition for career-choice pessimistic views, which is comprised of three components: low career decision-making self-efficacy and pessimistic views regarding the decisional process, pessimistic views regarding the world of work, and pessimistic views regarding one's general sense of control. Based on these two models of career indecision and on the empirical evidence presented above, we expected that anxiety and pessimism would be related to indecision: Hypothesis 2a. Trait and career-choice anxiety are positively associated with career indecision. Hypothesis 2b. Trait and career-choice pessimism are positively associated with career indecision. Bowlby (1988) suggested that insecure attachment can be transformed into anxiety, and/or contribute to the formation of pessimistic and hopeless representations of the self and the world. Indeed, the expression of negative affect/emotions was reported to be a consequence of insecure attachment, and to increase the likelihood of experiencing anxiety and depression (see Mattanah, Lopez, & Govern, 2011 for a review). However, it is noteworthy that the literature distinguishes between the effects of anxious and avoidant attachment on emotional responses. While attachment anxiety is associated with anxiety and depression (in clinical as well as in non-clinical populations, assessed by self-report scales), the status of attachment avoidance is less consistent, and in fact most findings have not supported a positive association between avoidance and anxiety and depression (Mikulincer & Shaver, 2007). According to these authors, anxiously attached individuals experience an unmanageable stream of negative thoughts and feelings which contribute to cognitive disorganization, while those characterized by avoidant attachment are likely to maintain a defensive facade of security, though emotionally detached, while engaging in self-criticism which could impede performance. Accordingly, our predictions about the asymmetrical relationship between negative emotions and both anxious and avoidant attachment were as follows: Hypothesis 3a. Anxious attachment is positively related to trait and career-choice anxiety as well as to trait and career-choice pessimism. Hypothesis 3b. Avoidant attachment is unrelated to trait and career-choice anxiety as well as to trait and career-choice pessimism. 1.3. The mediation model of the current study Several recent studies have suggested that attachment and career indecision are indirectly related (Downing and Nauta, 2010 and Tokar et al., 2003). Considered collectively, the theoretical approaches and the empirical evidence presented above support the notion that the association between insecure attachment and career indecision would be mediated by negative emotional variables. Specifically, we have assumed that this relationship would apply to anxious attachment (rather than to avoidance attachment), since the former is consistently related in the literature to anxiety and depression/pessimism. In addition, since career indecision is considered a state-like condition, and is distinguished from indecisiveness, a trait-like condition characterized by pervasive and chronic difficulty in making decisions of any sort (see Santos & Coimbra, 2000), we have posited that the relative contribution of trait-like emotions (trait anxiety and trait pessimism) to career indecision would be less than that of state-like emotional responses (career-choice anxiety and career-choice pessimism). Accordingly, we proposed a model for the linkage between insecure attachment and career indecision, as presented in Hypothesis 4. Hypothesis 4. Anxious attachment is indirectly related to career indecision through the mediation of career-choice anxiety and career-choice pessimism, while avoidant attachment is directly related to career indecision.

3. Results 3.1. Descriptive statistics Means, standard deviations, inter-correlations, and internal consistency reliability estimates for study and control variables are presented in Table 1. As shown, the control variables, gender and age, were not related to the independent and the dependent variables (attachment insecurity forms and career indecision, respectively), allowing the exclusion of the control variables from subsequent analyses of the proposed model. Table 1. Intercorrelations, means, standard deviations and internal consistency reliabilities of study and control variables. Variables 1 2 3 4 5 5a 5b 5c 5d 6 7 7a 7b 7c 8 M SD α 1. Age 23.7 1.5 1.5 2. Gender − .23⁎⁎ – – – 3. Anxious attachment .07 .10 3.4 1.1 .90 4. Avoidant attachment − .02 .02 .29⁎⁎ 2.8 0.9 .90 5. Career-choice anxiety − .12 .05 .39⁎⁎ .10 5.0 1.8 .90 a. About the process − .10 .04 .32⁎⁎ .09 .85⁎⁎ 5.5 1.9 .86 b. About uncertainty − .07 − .01 .31⁎⁎ .05 .85⁎⁎ .71⁎⁎ 4.8 2.1 .85 c. About the choice − .10 .01 .31⁎⁎ .04 .89⁎⁎ .70⁎⁎ .71⁎⁎ 5.1 2.3 .82 d. About the outcome − .12 .11 .36⁎⁎ .14 .76⁎⁎ .48⁎⁎ .43⁎⁎ .54⁎⁎ 4.4 2.4 .85 6. Trait anxiety .10 .16⁎ .63⁎⁎ .14 .39⁎⁎ .26⁎⁎ .27⁎⁎ .35⁎⁎ .39⁎⁎ 2.0 0.5 .86 7. Career-choice pessimism .08 − .18⁎ .20⁎⁎ .21⁎⁎ .43⁎⁎ .33⁎⁎ .35⁎⁎ .43⁎⁎ .31⁎⁎ .21⁎⁎ 3.6 1.3 .66 a. About the process .03 − .02 .14 .11 .40⁎⁎ .31⁎⁎ .30⁎⁎ .38⁎⁎ .33⁎⁎ .12 .76⁎⁎ 4.5 1.9 .62 b. World of work .11 − .19⁎ .15⁎ .20⁎⁎ .20⁎⁎ .13 .20⁎⁎ .23⁎⁎ .11 .19⁎ .76⁎⁎ .28⁎⁎ 3.8 1.8 .64 c. About one's control .03 − .19⁎ .16⁎ .16⁎ .37⁎⁎ .32⁎⁎ .28⁎⁎ .36⁎⁎ .26⁎⁎ .15⁎ .72⁎⁎ .37⁎⁎ .38⁎⁎ 2.5 1.3 .60 8. Trait pessimism .04 .08 .51⁎⁎ .10 .27⁎⁎ .19⁎ .17⁎ .23⁎⁎ .29⁎⁎ .62⁎⁎ .23⁎⁎ .18⁎ .19⁎ .12 2.2 0.7 .80 9. Career indecision − .02 .08 .36⁎⁎ .10 .48⁎⁎ .43⁎⁎ .32⁎⁎ .52⁎⁎ .34⁎ .28⁎⁎ .36⁎⁎ .35⁎⁎ .20⁎⁎ .26⁎⁎ .26⁎⁎ 1.8 0.5 .85 Note. N = 200. Gender (1 = males; 2 = females). ⁎ p < .05. ⁎⁎ p < .001. Table options A confirmatory factor analysis, using the maximum likelihood estimation procedure, was conducted, and the analysis confirmed the existence of two major factors loaded with the same sub-categories as in Saka et al. (2008). In addition and as shown in Table 1, most sub-categories were related to the independent variables (attachment insecurity forms) and to the dependent variable (indecision) in a similar manner as the total scores of each factor. Thus, we conducted the path analysis with the total scores for career-choice anxiety and career-choice pessimism. Table 1 illustrates that for anxious attachment, proceeding to the analysis of mediation was justified, because all the conditions for mediation as expounded by Baron and Kenny (1986) were met: anxious attachment (predictor) was significantly related to both career indecision (outcome) and the negative emotional indices (mediators), with the latter also significantly related to the outcome. However, contrary to our expectations (Hypothesis 1b), the avoidant form of attachment was not related to career indecision and was therefore excluded from the final model. Additionally, as expected by Hypothesis 3b, avoidant attachment was generally not related to the mediators, except for career-choice pessimism. 3.2. Testing of mediation In order to test Hypothesis 4 (for the anxious attachment form), the path analysis method (using AMOS version 6.0; Arbuckle, 2005) was employed, using several criteria to evaluate the fit of the model to the data. Ratio of chi-square to the degree of freedom was an index for model fit and parsimony. Joreskog and Sorbom (1982) recommended a value approaching 2 as acceptable for χ2/df. In addition, the fit indices of our models were compared against commonly used criteria (i.e., GFI ≥ .90; CFI ≥ .90; TLI ≥ .90; and RMSEA ≤ .06; Byrne, 2001 and Hu and Bentler, 1999). Following Brown's (1997) recommendation, we simultaneously estimated the direct and the indirect relationships between the predictor and the outcome. In terms of total variance accounted for, the association of anxious attachment and the four mediators to indecision was significant (R2 = .24, p < .0001). Nevertheless, the overall fit of the indirect relationship was better than that of the direct one (fit indices of the indirect model: χ2/df = 2.4, GFI = .93, CFI = .96, TLI = .92, and RMSEA = .06). Table 2 presents the standardized path estimates of the final model and summarizes this information in terms of Baron and Kenny's (1986) four steps. As shown, the direct relationship between anxious attachment and career indecision (Step 1) was significant (β = .36), confirming Hypothesis 1a. In addition, the direct associations of anxious attachment with the mediators, career-choice anxiety/pessimism and trait anxiety/pessimism (Step 2), and the direct associations between the mediators and career indecision (Step 3) were also significant, confirming Hypothesis 3a, Hypothesis 2a and Hypothesis 2b, respectively Finally, when the mediators were introduced to the analysis of the direct relationship between anxious attachment and career indecision (Step 4), they proved unrelated (β = .12). The results of Step 4 along with the Sobel (1982) test, that was conducted to assess the significance of the indirect effects, indicated that the relationship between anxious attachment and career indecision was fully mediated by career-choice anxiety and career-choice pessimism, but not by trait anxiety and trait pessimism, confirming Hypothesis 4 (with respect to attachment anxiety). Table 2. Standardized path estimates (βs) of the final model, from anxious attachment to career indecision. Mediator (M) Step 1 P → O Step 2 P → M Step 3 M → O Step 4 New P → O Indirect paths P → M → O Mediation (Sobel test) CCANX .36⁎⁎ .40⁎⁎ .28⁎⁎ .12 .11⁎⁎ Yes (Z = 4.7⁎⁎) CCPSMS .36⁎⁎ .15⁎ .17⁎ .12 .03⁎ Yes (Z = 1.8⁎) TANX .36⁎⁎ .64⁎⁎ .12 .12 .01 No TPSMS .36⁎⁎ .53⁎⁎ .04 .12 .009 No Note. N = 200. Career-choice anxiety (CCANX); trait-anxiety (TANX); career-choice pessimism (CCPSMS); trait-pessimism (TPSMS). The path of Step 1 represents the direct effect from the predictor (P) anxious attachment to the outcome (O) career indecision. The paths of Step 2 represent the direct effects from the predictor to the mediators (M). The paths of Step 3 represent the direct effects from the mediators to the outcome. The paths of Step 4 represent the direct effects from the predictor to the outcome, when the mediators were included. ⁎ p < .05. ⁎⁎ p < .001. Table options To eliminate the possibility that negative emotions were elicited as a result of career indecision, an alternative model was carried out, where attachment insecurity remained the predictor, but career indecision was the mediator and the negative-emotional variables were the hypothesized outcomes. This “reverse direction” model did not fit the data (the fit indices did not meet the recommended criteria). Hence our conclusion was that anxious attachment and not avoidant attachment is related to career indecision and that this relationship is fully mediated by career-choice anxiety and career-choice pessimism.