The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship among career maturity, parent-child communication, internal-external locus of control and ego-identity. The latter three variables were selected from among factors that affected career maturity...
The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship among career maturity, parent-child communication, internal-external locus of control and ego-identity. The latter three variables were selected from among factors that affected career maturity.
The subjects in this study were 620 fifth-grade and sixth-grade students who were selected from Y and T elementary schools respectively located in the cities of G and T, Kyungnam province. They included 330 boys and 290 girls, on whom a survey was conducted.
The findings of the study were as follows:
First, concerning differences in parent-child communication by grade, the fifth graders had a better communication with their mothers and parents than the sixth ones. By gender, the girls had a better communication with mothers than the boys. The girls excelled the boys in internal-external locus of control, and the former was ahead of the latter in ego-identity as well. In addition, the girls surpassed the boys in career maturity.
Second, communication with parents was positively correlated with internal-external locus of control, ego-identity and career maturity, and locus of control had a positive correlation to career maturity and two of its subfactors that included career attitude and career ability as well. Ego-identity also had a positive correlation to career attitude, career ability and career maturity.
Third, career maturity was under the positive influence of ego-identity and internal-external locus of control.
Fourth, a structural equation model was used to find out the influential relationship among the variables, and it's found that mother-child communication had a significant impact on internal-external locus of control. It indicated that the students who had a better communication with mothers had a stronger internal locus of control.
Ego-identity was significantly affected by internal-external locus of control, mother-child communication and father-child communication. Mother-chid communication had a significant secondhand effect on ego- identity through the medium of internal-external locus of control. It implied that the children who communicated better with parents and had a stronger internal locus of control had a better ego-identity.
Career maturity was significantly impacted by ego-identity, and internal-external locus of control exercised a significant secondhand influence on that through the medium of ego-identity. Mother-child communication exerted a significant influence on career maturity as well, and had a significant impact on career maturity through the media of internal-external locus of control and ego-identity. Father-child communication significantly affected career maturity through the medium of ego-identity. So it could be said that the children who communicated better with parents had a stronger internal locus of control, and that they were ahead of the others in career maturity.