Compromise, Well-Being, and Action Behaviors in Young Adults in Career Transition

The authors surveyed 186 first-year university students and assessed their level of career compromise associated with making the transition to university. Compromise was operationalized as the discrepancy between the job characteristics of ideal and expected occupations. The authors also assessed career well-being (satisfaction, distress), action behaviors (planning, exploration), and goal adjustment (disengagement, reengagement). The authors expected compromise to be negatively associated with well-being and positively associated with action behaviors, and the relationship between compromise and the outcome variables (well-being, action behaviors) to be moderated by goal adjustment. Compromise was negatively associated with well-being, but not associated with planning or exploration, although the Compromise × Goal Adjustment interaction was significant. Disengagement and reengagement were not associated with well-being, although the Disengagement × Reengagement interaction was significant. Disengagement was associated with planning and exploration, reengagement was associated with exploration, and both interaction terms were significant.