ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Educational Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1679208
This article is part of the Research TopicAttachment Theory in Educational PsychologyView all 3 articles
Career-related Teacher Support as A Secure Base: An Attachment Theory Model of Career Adaptability and Future Work Self-Salience among University Students
Provisionally accepted
- Zhuhai College of Science and Techology, Zhuhai, China
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Introduction: Global economic turmoil has intensified the youth employability crisis, with a 12.6% unemployment rate, leading to reduced future work self-salience (FWSS) among university students. Career education remains fragmented, often neglecting teachers’ dual role as attachment figures and providers of industry-relevant support. This study proposes that career-related teacher support (CRTS) enhances students’ career adaptability (CA) and FWSS based on attachment theory. Additionally, it examines how performance goal orientation (PGO) moderates these relationships. Methods: A nationally stratified random sample of 391 undergraduates from three university tiers in China completed questionnaires. Variables were assessed using validated Chinese scales. Mediation and moderation analyses were conducted using Hayes’ PROCESS macro in SPSS with 5,000 bootstrap resamples and 95% confidence intervals. Results: Six of seven hypotheses (H1–H6) were supported. CRTS enhances FWSS and CA, with CA mediating the relationship between CRTS and FWSS. PGO exhibited a paradoxical dual role: it weakened the effect of CRTS on CA while strengthening the effect of CA on FWSS. Discussion: This study demonstrates that CRTS functions as a secure base, enhancing CA and FWSS. CA accounted for 34.12% of the total effect of CRTS on FWSS. PGO’s paradoxical moderating effect suggests that while it weakens the link between CRTS and CA, it strengthens the path from CA to FWSS. These findings extend attachment theory into higher education, offering practical implications for integrating adaptability-focused modules into curricula and tailoring teacher support to counteract youth unemployment in uncertain labor markets.
Keywords: Attachment theory, CRTs, Career adaptability, FWSS, PGO, university students
Received: 04 Aug 2025; Accepted: 31 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 ZHANG, Yu and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Ying Yu, Zhuhai College of Science and Techology, Zhuhai, China
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