What Makes Elder Care Students Employable? The Interplay of Family Influence and Occupational Identity

Purpose- As global aging intensifies, enhancing employability—the ability to secure and sustain employment—is critical for elderly care management students, who often struggle to meet industry demands. Given the family environment's lasting influence on career development, understanding its role is key to addressing these challenges. This study examines how family environment affects elderly care students' employability, with occupational identity as a mediator. Methods- A total of 571 students studying elderly care management in the higher education completed an online questionnaire in Hubei province of China. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS 27.0 and AMOS 24.0 in five stages: (1) descriptive analysis, (2) reliability and validity analysis, (3) Discriminant validity analysis, (4) assessment of model fit (5) mediating effect test. Results- The findings indicated that family environment had a positive direct relationship with employability of the higher education students majoring in elderly care management. Specially, financial support had the strongest direct effect on employability (p < 0.001), followed by values and beliefs (p < 0.001), informational support (p < 0.001), and family expectations (p = 0.001). Conclusions- This study theoretically expanded existing research by using an SEM model to analyze the relationships among family environment, occupational identity, and employability of Chinese higher education students majoring in elderly care management. It also provided practical suggestions for policymakers to enhance student employability from a family environment perspective amid aging trends.