The relationship among positive emotional dispositions, career adaptability, and satisfaction in Italian high school students

•Examined the relations of optimism, hope, and adaptability on satisfaction.•Hope and optimism significantly predicted the dimensions of career adaptability.•The pathway from hope to satisfaction was through career adaptability.•Adaptability did not mediate the relations of optimism on satisfaction.

Using a sample of 242 Italian high school students, we examined the direct relation of hope and optimism on four dimensions of career adaptability (i.e. curiosity, confidence, control, and concern) as well as the mediating effect of these four adaptability dimensions on the relations of hope and optimism on the subcomponents of satisfaction. The results of the study demonstrated that both hope and optimism significantly predicted various dimensions of career adaptability. Additionally, the degree to which hope related to students' subcomponents of satisfaction was mediated by two of the four dimensions of career adaptability (i.e. curiosity and confidence). The dimensions of adaptability did not mediate the relations of optimism on satisfaction. These findings have implications for both research and practice.