Life orientation and career adaptability among young adults in Poland

www.nature.com/scientificreports OPEN Life orientation and career adaptability among young adults in Poland Anna Paszkowska-Rogacz This study aimed to investigate the correlation between career adaptability and developmental tasks among young adults concerning life orientation. Additionally, it sought to ascertain whether selfregulation functions as a mediator in the relationship between life orientation and career adaptability. The study included a total of 435 young adults aged between 18 and 34 years. The research employed the Polish versions of three questionnaires: the Social Participation Questionnaire, the Self-Regulation Scale, and the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale-5. The conducted research demonstrated that the assimilation and integrative social participation types predominated, and young adults were more likely to display a transitive life orientation than a moratorium orientation. The results also showed, as expected, a positive relationship between the promotional strategy and all components of the career adaptability. Mediation analysis revealed that the promotion regulatory focus acted as a mediator in the relationship between transitive life orientation and all five categories of career adaptability within the transitive orientation dependence model and, similarly to preventive regulatory focus, between moratorium orientation and the dimensions of concern and control. Preventive regulatory focus turned out to be a mediator between transitive orientation and career adaptability variables only in the case of three out of five variables—concern, control and curiosity. Keywords Young adults, Career adaptability, Regulatory focus, Life orientation, Mediation analysis In recent decades, most Western societies have undergone significant economic, demographic, and social changes closely tied to the transition into adult life. A discernible trend has emerged, indicating a delay in achieving traditional adulthood milestones, such as completing education, leaving the parental home, establishing independent households, marrying, or starting a family1–4. This delay may be attributed to the necessity of adapting to the continuously evolving conditions of the labor market characterized by globalization, instability, and uncertainties. Individuals, by experimenting and actively seeking novel experiences, shape their identity in various domains of life like romance, career, or worldview5,6. Nationwide studies conducted on young Polish adults aged 18–297,8 have verified the presence of personalized plans for entering adulthood. In these plans, the constituent tasks are not externally prescribed but rather internally gauged based on a sense of preparedness to undertake them. Significantly, a notable portion of respondents rejects the responsibilities associated with adulthood, preferring to remain in the carefree realm of childhood and relish the freedoms of an unburdened life9. Responding to this, Rękosiewicz10 proposes the consideration of subjective indicators alongside objective markers, such as the birth of a child or securing stable employment, to denote the transition to adulthood. Subjective indicators include a sense of maturity and the shift from a present-focused moratorium orientation, centered on immediate opportunities, to a transitive orientation geared toward accomplishing subsequent adult developmental tasks. A similar perspective is presented by Zagórska11, associating subjective feelings of adulthood with a willingness to engage in tasks typical of this life stage and possessing a self-concept aligned with functioning as an adult. These processes fall under the construct of emerging adulthood1,12, encompassing autonomy from parents, identity formation, establishing intimate relationships, and assuming accountability for decisions and actions, facilitating independence in goal-setting. However, in this study, the concept of “young adults” was preferred over the notion of emerging adulthood. Both groups share the characteristic delay in assuming adult responsibilities, as evidenced by recent demographic analyses presented in Poland by the Central Statistical Office13, indicating a significant increase in the age of individuals entering close relationships and starting families, extending up to the ages of 30–34. Institute of Psychology, University of Lodz, Aleja Rodziny Scheiblerów 2, 90-128 Lodz, Poland. email: Scientific Reports | (2024) 14:24346 | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-74344-1 1 www.nature.com/scientificreports/ One of the primary developmental tasks during early adulthood, aside from assuming family and parental responsibilities, involves making pivotal decisions concerning career development. It is during this life stage that individuals typically make choices that significantly influence their vocational trajectory in the future. Consequently, researchers have been intrigued by a specific facet of adulthood: an individual’s capacity to adapt to a career and its correlation with developmental milestones such as social participation. Furthermore, an individual’s expectations regarding career tasks and the motivating factors behind their actions play a fundamental role in their performance. From this perspective, the concept of regulatory focus becomes pertinent. According to Higgins’ research14 this concept delineates how individuals regulate themselves to achieve ideal goals or avert negative outcomes through various strategic approaches. Depending on their regulatory focus, individuals either pursue desired aspirations via a promotion focus or attain required objectives while evading undesirable consequences through a prevention focus. In this context, the present research aims to explore the mediating role of young adults’ regulatory focus in elucidating the relationship between their life orientation and career adaptability. The study also seeks to identify predominant types of life orientation and their combination creating types of social participation among the studied group of young adults, ascertain the levels of components associated with ability to adapt to a career and self-regulatory focus, and examine the interrelationships among the variables encompassed within the mediation model. Conceptual framework and hypotheses Career adaptability, life orientation, and social participation The construct of career adaptability is one of the most significant recent additions to the field of vocational psychology. According to Super15 and commentators of his works (among others, Goodman,16), the term Career Adaptability refers to an individual’s maintaining a balance between the professional and private environment. The components of career adaptability are values connected with work, such as autonomy and ability to take one’s own decisions, long-term planning, looking for and taking new positions, taking decisions and willingness to reflect upon one’s own experience. Super’s disciple and collaborator Savickas17,18 develope (...truncated)