Ilaria Di Maggio

Life Designing and Positive Youth Development

According to the European Commission (2015), in 2014 the rate of school dropout in Switzerland was 6.7% compared to 9.8% in Belgium, and 15% in Italy. The reasons for these discrepancies can be partially explained by or related to different social, political and economic contexts, characterized by different migration rates, financial situations, etc. In this fast changing global economy, it is important to help youth, regardless of their origin, deal with career and work-related difficulties. Based on Positive Youth development and Life Design approaches, the present chapter focused on variables relevant to cope with the current training and work context and their role in affecting youth’s life satisfaction. Specifically, we focused on career adaptability, hope, optimism, future orientation and resilience. The relations between career adaptability, positive youth variables and life satisfaction have been analyzed over different presented studies. Specifically, we described European project collaboration between the University of Padova, Italy, KU Leuven, Belgium and Lausanne, Switzerland that started during the first ECADOC Summer School. The findings of the studies are reported and discussed and practical implications to implement preventive career education activities to increase life satisfaction among adolescents are presented.

Career Adaptability and Career Resilience: The Roadmap to Work Inclusion for Individuals Experiencing Disability

Work plays an essential role in career development and in achieving higher levels of life satisfaction for individuals with or without disability. It can be in fact considered as both a place for socialization and an instrument that helps people define their role in the society, thus contributing to the development of a better self-image and, therefore, to higher levels of self-esteem. Based on a Life Design approach, the present chapter focuses on career adaptability and career resilience as positive resources effective in coping with current unpredictable and unstable work contexts and in promoting social and work participation of people with as well as without disability. Suggestions to improve career adaptability and career resilience and to achieve a better quality of life will be also provided.

Career adaptability, resilience, and life satisfaction: A mediational analysis in a sample of parents of children with mild intellectual disability†

ABSTRACT Background: Parents of children with intellectual disability (ID) have been found to be more likely to experience lower levels of life satisfaction than parents of typically developing children as a result of the increased challenges they experience. Based on a life design approach, which emphasises the role of career adaptability and resilience in dealing with life challenges, this study aimed at analysing the relationship between career adaptability and life satisfaction through the mediational role of resilience in parents of children with mild ID. Method: One hundred and fifty-two (62 fathers and 90 mothers) parents of children with mild ID were involved and were administered measures of life satisfaction, career adaptability, and resilience. Results: The structural equation model showed that career adaptability is indirectly, through resilience, related to life satisfaction. Conclusion: This result has important implications for practice, and it underscores the need to support parents’ life satisfaction, promoting their resilience, and especially their career adaptability.

Engaging Parent Strengths for Inclusion: The Power of Optimism, Hope, and Courage

Abstract The chapter will explore steps that might be taken within the context of schools to encourage the creation of an inclusive social environment. In particular, it examines the roles played by parents of children with and without disability, as co-constructing agents of inclusion. Particular emphasis will be placed on parental attributes of hope, optimism, and courage. At this regards, an international review on these parental resources will be reported, highlighting their key role in enabling parents to face challenging child and family circumstances – including disability, living in poverty, or experiencing cultural segregation and discrimination, and in promoting inclusion. Lastly, qualitative and quantitative assessment instruments to assess these resources will be presented and suggestions to promote them will be provided.