This research aims at examining the influences of the crisis factors of school drop-out adolescents on their career awareness level and career preparation actions, and to accomplish this purpose, the following research questions were established.
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This research aims at examining the influences of the crisis factors of school drop-out adolescents on their career awareness level and career preparation actions, and to accomplish this purpose, the following research questions were established.
1. What are the school drop-out adolescents’ crisis factors, career awareness level and career preparation actions depending on their general characteristics?
2. What are the relationships among school drop-out youths’ crisis factors, career awareness level and career preparation actions?
3. How do the crisis factors of school drop-out juveniles affect their career awareness level?
4. What are the impacts of the crisis factors of school drop-out adolescents on their career preparation actions?
In this study, a survey was conducted on 103 school drop-out adolescents aged from 13 to 21, residing in Jeju Special Self-governing Province. The variables of school drop-out adolescents’ crisis factors affecting their career awareness level and career preparation actions can be categorized into personal, family and social backgrounds, the career awareness level into career determinedness, career participation, career independency, career compromise and career preparedness, and the career preparation actions into information collection, preparation of necessary tools, goal attainment and social efforts.
The measurement tools used on the school drop-out youths in this research are those for crisis factors, career awareness level and career preparation actions as follows. First, as for the measurement tools of crisis factors, among the youth crisis measurement criteria suggested by Dong-il Kim and Seong-doo Hong(2006), the crisis factors were corrected and 68 questions were drawn up. Second, for the measurement tools of career awareness, the translation of Crites(1978)’s CMI(Career Maturity Inventory) by Hyeon-rim Lee(1995) was quoted, and among them, 47 questions were made out. Third, with regard to the measurement tools of career preparation actions, two questions made by Myeong-sook Lee(2002) were added to the test questions of career-conforming behaviors developed by Bong-hwan Kim(1997), therefore 18 questions were drawn up in total, and a survey was conducted based on them.
The collected data was analyzed through SPSS for Windows 12.0 program. A frequency and a descriptive statistical analysis were performed to examine the characteristics of the variables of youths’ crisis degree, career awareness level and career preparation actions according to each general and demographic feature. In addition, Pearson’s correlation analysis was carried out to find out the correlation among the measured variables, a t-test and an analysis of variance to analyze the differences among the groups, and a stepwise multiple regression analysis to find out the crisis factors affecting the dependent variables.
The results of this research are as the following. First, school drop-out juveniles were clearly aware of their crisis factors, career awareness level and career preparation actions in part depending on their general characteristics(gender, age, drop-out time, drop-out period, drop-out reason and present activities). To begin with, in terms of the gender, the females realized their crisis more in their individual elements(anxiety, physical ego), and the males in their personal element(smoking and drinking) and social ones(surrounding environments). As for their age, it was higher among the individual crisis factor(avoidance-orientedness), family factor(a broken family) and career awareness level(career determinedness). Among different drop-out periods, teenagers dropping out at middle and high school period displayed a higher level of crisis factors in individual factor(experiences of smoking and drinking) and family element(a nurturing attitude), and those whose drop-out period was less than two years were very conscious of their family factor(a nurturing attitude) while those with more than two-year drop-out period were aware of career preparation action(information collection) more than anything else. Among the drop-out reasons, those experiencing school violence, maladjustment to school life and economic difficulties showed a higher level of crisis factors, such as the personal elements(depression, anxiety, aggression and impulsiveness, negative self-esteem and physical ego, avoidance-orientedness), the family factors(abusing parents, a parents-children relationship, a nurturing attitude, a broken family), and the social factors(surrounding environments), and as for their career preparation actions(preparation of necessary tools), they equipped themselves for necessary tools because of their lack of the capability of learning. With regard to their present activities after drop-out, the youths working or under probation had a higher level of crisis factors of personal element(aggression and impulsiveness, avoidance-orientedness) and family element(abusing parents, a parents-children relationship, antisocial members).
Second, the crisis factors of school drop-out adolescents have a negative relation to their career awareness level, that is, career determinedness, career participation, and career compromise, a positive relation to career independency, and a partial negative or positive relationship with career preparedness, and career preparation actions(information collection, preparation of tools and efforts to attain a goal) have a partially positive relationship with the sub-factors of the crisis elements(a nurturing attitude, delinquency with peers, surrounding environments).
Third, the social crisis factor(surrounding environments) lays a negative impact on the career awareness level.
Fourth, the social crisis factor(surrounding environments) affects the career preparation actions in a positive way, and the surrounding environments and individual elements(smoking and drinking) in a negative way.
The research results above prove that the characteristics of school drop-out youths(gender, age, drop-out time, drop-out period, drop-out reasons, present activities) cause partial differences in their crisis factors, career awareness level and career preparation actions, and that the crisis elements, career awareness level and career preparation actions are correlated and influential in part. School drop-outs have much difficulty in their future career. The intervention methods for them, who have been going through many kinds of trials and errors thinking over and preparing for their future because of their lack of career education, need to be studied so that they can realize and overcome their own crisis factors and carve out future themselves.
This research is meaningful in that it is investigated into the relationships and influences of the crisis factors, career awareness level and career preparation actions of the school drop-out adolescents in Jeju area.