The current study aimed to examine the moderated mediating effect of self-encouragement through career goal discrepancy on the relationship between social comparison orientation and career anxiety. A total of 286 junior and senior students in 4-year u...
The current study aimed to examine the moderated mediating effect of self-encouragement through career goal discrepancy on the relationship between social comparison orientation and career anxiety. A total of 286 junior and senior students in 4-year universities in Seoul responded to the questinnaires on social comparison orientation, career goal discrepancy, career anxiety and self-encouragement. Excluding missing data and outlier, 278 data (men=103, women=175) were analyzed using SPSS 21.0 and SPSS Macro. A moderated mediation is an integrated model that combines mediation and moderation effect therefore we tested the mediation effect, moderation effect and moderated mediation effect. The results of this study were as follows. First, the mediation effect of career goal discrepancy on the relation of social comparison orientation and career anxiety was verified. Second, self-encouragement moderated the relationship between career goal discrepancy and career anxiety. Lastly, using SPSS Macro, the moderated mediation effect of self-encouragement on the relationship between social comparison orientation and career anxiety through career goal discrepancy was statistically significant and this was true at all levels of self-encouragement. This study further expanded the understanding of the university students' negative affect related to career by examining the antecedents of career anxiety. The results of this study can be effectively utilized in career counseling and education practice. Implications and limitations of the study and suggestions for further study were discussed.