Meta-analytic path analysis of the social cognitive well-being model: Applicability across life domain, gender, race/ethnicity, and nationality.

The social-cognitive well-being model (SCWB; Lent, 2004) was designed to explain subjective well-being and other aspects of positive functioning within particular life domains. It has received a substantial amount of inquiry, especially in the context of academic and work satisfaction, in student and adult samples in the United States and other countries (Lent & Brown, 2006a, 2008). We present a meta-analysis synthesizing the empirical findings of 100 studies (154 samples) on the SCWB model that appeared between 2004 and 2017. The original model provided good overall fit to the data across all samples, and most of the predictors produced paths that were consistent with hypotheses. A culture-modified version of the model, which includes indicators of independent/individualistic and interdependent/collectivistic cultural orientations, also fit the data well, offering initial evidence for the incremental validity of these cultural variables in predicting well-being. Multigroup analyses showed that the model yielded acceptable fit in both academic and work domains. Within the academic domain, we also found adequate fit for the culture-modified model across gender, racial/ethnic groups, and U.S. and non-U.S. samples. At the same time, some group differences in parameter estimates were statistically and practically significant. Implications for the theory, its research base, and practical applications are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Viewing the Career Indecision Profile within a theoretical context: Application of the social cognitive career self-management model.

The Career Indecision Profile (CIP; Brown et al., 2012) is an empirically derived measure tapping common sources of career indecision: interpersonal conflict, neuroticism/negative affect, lack of readiness, and choice/commitment anxiety. We adapted the social cognitive model of career self-management (Lent & Brown, 2013) to provide a theoretical structure for these sources of indecision, focusing on how they interrelate and jointly predict career decision progress. Supplementing the CIP's focus on negative decisional influences, the social cognitive model included positive sources of career decidedness, in particular, self-efficacy, mastery experiences, and positive emotions related to decision-making. Three hundred sixty-five college students completed the short form of the CIP (Xu & Tracey, 2017), along with measures of career decision self-efficacy, prior experiences with career decision-making, social barriers, trait conscientiousness and neuroticism, and career decidedness. Factor analytic findings indicated that the CIP's interpersonal conflict, negative affect, and lack of readiness items loaded together with conceptually similar social cognitive, barrier, and personality scales, with lack of readiness items divided between self-efficacy and conscientiousness factors. A path analysis, couching the CIP factors in terms of the career self-management model, provided good fit to the data and accounted for substantial portions of the variance in decisional discomfort (choice/commitment anxiety) and levels of career decidedness. We consider implications of the findings for the study of career decision-making and for practical ways to promote it. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Heterosexist harassment and social cognitive variables as predictors of sexual minority college students' academic satisfaction and persistence intentions.

This study examined social-cognitive and cultural predictors of academic satisfaction in a sample of 731 sexual minority college students. In addition to predictors drawn from the social-cognitive model of domain satisfaction (Lent, 2004), we included heterosexist harassment (perceived animosity toward nonheterosexuality) as a culture-specific predictor, with the potential to predict sexual minority students' academic satisfaction and desire to remain at their current college campuses. The findings indicated that the model fit the data well and accounted for substantial amounts of the variance in academic satisfaction and persistence intentions. It was also found to be invariant across subsamples of students who identified as lesbian, gay, or bisexual. The culture-specific predictor, heterosexist harassment, was linked to academic satisfaction indirectly, largely through perceptions of lower environmental supports. Heterosexist harassment also produced a small direct, negative path to persistence intentions, apart from the social-cognitive predictors. We consider the implications of the findings for future research and for practical efforts to promote the academic well-being of sexual minority students. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Social-cognitive predictors of career exploration and decision-making: Longitudinal test of the career self-management model.

We tested the social-cognitive model of career self-management (Lent & Brown, 2013) using a longitudinal design. Participants were 420 college students who completed measures of career exploration and decision-making self-efficacy, outcome expectations, social support, goals, and actions, along with trait conscientiousness, at 2 time points roughly 4 months apart, near the beginning and middle of an academic year. They also reported their level of career decidedness and decisional anxiety at both of these time points as well as near the end of the academic year (about 3 months after the 2nd assessment). The model provided good overall fit to the data and accounted for substantial portions of the variance in engagement in exploratory actions and in the 2 decisional outcomes (decidedness and decisional anxiety) over time. The findings also supported the hypothesized bidirectional paths of the decisional outcomes to self-efficacy and outcome expectations. We consider implications of the findings for the social-cognitive model as well as for future research and practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).