Career-related parent support and career decision-making self-efficacy among Vietnamese university students: The moderating role of gender

Abstract

Career decision-making self-efficacy (CDMSE) plays a different role in each person's career development. The role of social support, including family, has also been mentioned in many studies as a factor influencing CDMSE. Additionally, the role of gender as a moderating factor in the relationship between Career-related parent support (CRPS) and CDMSE remains unexplored in existing research. This study seeks to find the current state of Career decision-making self-efficacy and Career-related parent support and to examine the effect of Career-related parent support on Career decision-making self-efficacy among Vietnamese student participants. Data were collected from 348 students studying at Vietnam National University, Hanoi. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 26 and Jamovi version 2.4.11. The results of the Pearson correlation analysis confirm that CRPS is positively correlated with students' CDMSE (r = .31, p < 0.01). Regression analysis reveals that Career-related parent support has a statistically significant effect on students' Career decision-making self-efficacy (β = .3, p < .01). Among the four components, "Verbal encouragement" exerts a statistically significant effect on CDMSE (β = .21, p < .01), while the remaining components do not demonstrate a statistically significant impact (p > .05). Gender is not a moderator in the positive relationship of CRPS on CDMSE (p > .05). Research’s results suggest that interventions to enhance CDMSE should focus on promoting verbal encouragement from parents. Furthermore, the uniform impact of CRPS across genders simplifies the design and implementation of such interventions, allowing them to be broadly applicable without the need for gender-specific adaptations.