Perceived Social Support and Career Adaptability Among Middle School Students: A Chain Mediation Model and Cross-Lagged Analysis

Objective: To examine how perceived social support, career decision-making self-efficacy and career exploration jointly shape career adaptability in adolescents. Methods: A total of 1,166 secondary-school students in Beijing completed the Perceived Social Support Scale, Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy Scale, Career Exploration Scale and Career Adapt-Abilities Scale. Results: Study 1 specified a chain-mediation model showing that perceived social support not only predicted career adaptability directly, but also via four indirect routes: (a) an exclusive path through career decision-making self-efficacy, (b) an exclusive path through career exploration, (c) a sequential path “career decision-making self-efficacy → career exploration” and (d) a sequential path “career exploration → career decision-making self-efficacy”. Study 2 employed a cross-lagged panel design, which revealed significant reciprocal effects between career decision-making self-efficacy and career exploration over a three-month interval. Conclusions: Perceived social support fosters secondary students’ career adaptability through bidirectional chains in which career decision-making self-efficacy and career exploration mutually reinforce each other.