The Effect of Adolescents' Career Adaptability on Academic Engagement through Grit

Objectives The purpose of this study is to confirm the effect of adolescents' career adaptability on academic engagement through grit. Methods To this end, the data of 2,250 2th grade high school students from Korean Children and Youth Panel Survey 2018 (KCYPS 2018) data were analyzed. A structural equation model was used to verify the model, and significance verification through bootstrapping was performed to verify the mediating effect of grit. Results First, it was found that career adaptability had a direct and positive effect on grit. These results can be interpreted as that being interested in one's career, searching for job information, and having faith in one's career decision-making ability helps improve the level of grit. Second, it was found that grit had a direct and positive effect on academic engagement. These results show that efforts to maintain interest toward long-term goals and overcome difficulties are helpful in concentrating on academic work in the relationship between long-term goals and current studies. Third, it was found that the effect of career adaptability on academic engagement was not significant. These results suggest that even if career adaptability is high, it cannot have a significant effect on academic engagement unless the relationship with the current study is found. Finally, it was found that grit mediates between career adaptability and academic engagement. This shows that grit plays an important role in influencing academic engagement by career adaptability. Conclusions This study suggests that career adaptability can improve academic engagement when linked to long-term goals by revealing the mediating effect of grit between career adaptability and academic engagement.