Roles of attachment relationships in emerging adults' career decision-making process: A two-year longitudinal research design

- The utility of attachment theory in emerging adults' career decision-making process is proposed.
- Parental attachment and peer attachment are both related to career decision-making process.
- Only attachment to romantic partner is a significant predictor of changes in career decision-making process.
- Self-concept clarity mediates the relation between attachment and career decision-making process.

This study examined whether attachment relationships with the mother, father, best friend, and romantic partner relate to the career decision-making process (occupational information, goal selection and vocational identity) of emerging adults directly as well as indirectly through self-concept clarity as a mediator. The questionnaires were administered to 1,342 young people at two time points (two years apart). The results of our structural equation modeling analyses indicated significant direct paths between attachment to all figures under the investigation and career decision-making process at Time 1. The self-concept clarity mediated all associations between attachment figures and career decision-making process. Moreover, at Time 2, only attachment to the romantic partner (not to the other attachment figures) was associated with the career decision-making process both directly and indirectly through the self-concept clarity. These findings suggest that the romantic partner is the most influential attachment figure in emerging adults' career decision-making process, although attachment relationships with parents and the best friend also remain important in their career development.