The Effects of Career Development on Work Values among Youth : Focusing on the Longitudinal Mediating Role of Stress Hwang Jung Won Advisor : Prof. Kim Jin-Sook, Ph.D. Department of Social Welfare Graduate School of Chosun University The purpose of th...
The Effects of Career Development on Work Values among Youth : Focusing on the Longitudinal Mediating Role of Stress Hwang Jung Won Advisor : Prof. Kim Jin-Sook, Ph.D. Department of Social Welfare Graduate School of Chosun University The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of career development on work values among youth, with a particular focus on the longitudinal mediating role of stress. To this end, data from the first, second, and third waves of the Youth Panel 2021 (YP2021) were used. The final sample consisted of 5,515 respondents who remained valid through the third wave. In this study, career development at Time 1 was set as the independent variable, stress at Time 2 as the mediating variable, and work values at Time 3 as the dependent variable. Additionally, gender, age, educational level, and employment status at Time 1 were included as control variables to rigorously examine the structural relationships among the main variables. Work values were operationalized as the importance attached to key job attributes, including economic reward, recognition, job security, and autonomy. SPSS 30.0 and AMOS 30.0 were used to conduct descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and structural equation modeling, and bootstrapping was employed to test the significance of the mediating effect. The main findings are as follows. First, career development at Time 1 had a significant negative effect on stress at Time 2. Second, stress at Time 2 had a significant negative effect on work values at Time 3. Third, career development at Time 1 had a significant positive effect on work values at Time 3. Fourth, stress at Time 2 longitudinally and partially mediated the relationship between career development at Time 1 and work values at Time 3. These findings suggest that career development in youth should be understood not merely as an indicator of job preparation, but as an important developmental resource that influences later psychological adjustment and the formation of work values. They also indicate that the formation of work values is shaped not only by career-related preparedness but also by the psychological burden experienced in the process. Therefore, youth policy and career support practices need to adopt an integrated approach that connects career development support, stress management, and the formation of work values. Key words: youth, career development, stress, work values, longitudinal study, mediating effect