How does career calling influence doctoral students' academic resilience:a moderated serial mediation model

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Education
• Career Development

Background:

• Academic resilience is crucial for doctoral students' perseverance and adaptation.
• Career Construction Theory and Ecological Systems Theory provide frameworks for understanding resilience.
• Understanding the factors influencing academic resilience is vital for supporting doctoral candidates.

Purpose of the Study:

• To empirically test a moderated serial mediation model of how career calling fosters academic resilience in doctoral students.
• To investigate the mediating roles of career adaptability and perceived future decent work.
• To examine the moderating effect of decent work on the relationship between career calling and academic resilience.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional study involving 865 doctoral students.
• Utilized validated scales for career calling, career adaptability, perceived future decent work, academic resilience, and decent work.
• Employed statistical analyses to test a moderated serial mediation model.

Main Results:

• Career calling positively predicted academic resilience.
• Career adaptability and perceived future decent work partially mediated this relationship, acting in series.
• Decent work significantly moderated the associations between career calling, career adaptability, perceived future decent work, and academic resilience.

Conclusions:

• The study reveals multi-layered mechanisms of resilience formation in doctoral education, integrating individual and contextual factors.
• Findings highlight the importance of career calling, adaptability, and decent work conditions for fostering academic resilience.
• Implications include enhancing career calling education and improving decent work environments for doctoral students.