Abstract
The current labor market conditions concomitant with the COVID-19 pandemic have created great challenges for non-engaged youth (NEY), who face various disadvantages in the school-to-work transition. It is imperative to promote NEY’s hope for the future so that they can become active agents to address numerous challenges and strive for continuous growth in their career and life journeys. Nevertheless, research is scarce exploring what and how to assess career and life development hope (CLDH) among NEY. To address this gap, this study aims to develop and validate a CLDH measurement instrument. A total of 1,998 NEY aged 13–29 years in Hong Kong participated in our study. Exploratory factor analysis of the 20-item CLDH scale suggested a two-factor structure—career and life development pathways (CLDP) and career and life development agency (CLDA)—which accounted for 63.08% of the total variance. The confirmatory factor analysis results showed a good model fit (CFI = 0.934, TLI = 0.926, RMSEA = 0.060, 90% CI [0.055, 0.065], SRMR = 0.042) and all the items significantly represented the corresponding sub-constructs. The results also demonstrated a satisfactory internal consistency of all subscales and the full scale (0.89–0.95). Sub-group consistency across subsamples categorized by gender, age, and years of residence in Hong Kong was indicated. Correlations between the CLDH scale and subscales with other career-related and social well-being outcomes showed good concurrent validity. Our results supported that the CLDH scale is a valid and reliable tool for measuring NEY’s hope for career and life development.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Career and life development hope, Non-engaged youth, School-to-work transition
