Childhood Neglect and Future Decent Work Perceptions: The Mediating Role of Career Adaptability

Abstract

Childhood neglect is linked to broad developmental difficulties, but its implications for career development and expectations of decent work remain understudied. This study examined whether career adaptability mediates the relationship between childhood neglect and future decent work perceptions among university students. Guided by the Psychology of Working Theory, we focused on childhood physical and emotional neglect as contextual constraints on career-related outcomes. Participants included 284 Turkish university students (73.2% women) aged 19-28 years. Using validated measures of childhood neglect, career adaptability, and future decent work perceptions, we conducted mediation analyses. We found positive associations between career adaptability and future decent work perceptions (r = .27, p < .05). At the bivariate level, physical and emotional neglect were negatively associated with career adaptability (r = -.17 and r = -.19, respectively) and with future decent work perceptions (r = -.13 and r = -.15, respectively). Career adaptability fully mediated these relationships (indirect effects: β = -.19 for physical neglect; β = -.14 for emotional neglect, both p < .05), explaining 8% of variance in future decent work perceptions. These findings suggest that childhood neglect may hinder the development of adaptive career resources, which in turn relate to less positive expectations about accessing decent work. The results provide initial evidence that childhood neglect is a contextual risk factor for career development and identify career adaptability as a key pathway resource, pointing to the potential value of trauma-informed career supports that strengthen adaptability.

Keywords

• physical neglect
• emotional neglect
• childhood maltreatment
• adverse childhood experiences
• decent work
• Psychology of Working Theory

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