Human agency, hardiness, and proactive personality : potential resources for emerging adults in the college-to-career transition

• Main Author: Greenleaf, Arie Todd
• Other Authors: Wood, Susannah M.
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: University of Iowa 2011
• Subjects: College-to-career; Emerging adults; Happenstance learning theory; Hardiness; Human agency; Proactive personality; Student Counseling and Personnel Services
• Online Access: https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/3310; https://ir.uiowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3311&context=etd

Using Krumboltz's (2009) Happenstance Learning Theory as a theoretical framework, the three constructs of human agency, hardiness, and proactive personality were identified for their effectiveness in facilitating proaction and resilience during transitional and stressful circumstances. The purpose of this study was to explore whether human agency, hardiness, and proactive personality predict a successful college-to-career transition, measured by the confidence and readiness factors on the Career Transition Inventory (Heppner, 1991; Heppner, Multon, & Johnston, 1994). Linear regression analyses found that each of the study's independent variables predicted both the confidence and readiness factors. In addition, a stepwise regression analysis selected proactive personality as the strongest predictor of readiness. With proactive personality in the model, the stepwise analysis chose hardiness as the next strongest predictor of readiness. Proactive personality and hardiness together explained 38.2% of the variance for readiness. When a stepwise analysis was run with the three independent variables and confidence as the dependent variable, hardiness was selected as the strongest predictor of confidence. With hardiness in the model, the stepwise analysis chose general self-efficacy as the next strongest predictor of readiness. Hardiness and general self-efficacy together explained 28.1% of the variance for confidence.