Maria Cristina Ginevra

Employer Attitudes towards the Work Inclusion of People with Disability.

BACKGROUND This study examines the importance of work in life of people with disability and then focuses on employer attitudes towards these people. In the light of Stone and Colellas model, the study examines the employer attitudes and the role of variables such as type of disability, employer experience in the hiring of persons with disabilities, the description of hypothetical hirees with disabilities, the ways in which employers evaluate work performance and social acceptability, and the work tasks that they consider appropriate for workers with disability. METHOD Eighty employers were randomly assigned to standard condition (candidates with disability were presented by referring to the disability they presented) or positive condition (candidates were presented with reference to their strengths). RESULTS It was found that the type of disability and its presentation influence employer attitudes. In addition, realistic and conventional tasks were considered appropriate for hirees with disabilities. CONCLUSIONS Implications were discussed.

Career Decision-Making Profiles of Italian Adolescents.

The goal of the present study was to test the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Career Decision-Making Profile (CDMP) questionnaire with a sample of 1,835 adolescents. Gati, Landman, Davidovitch, Asulin-Peretz, and Gadassi suggested that the way individuals make career decisions should not be described by a single decision-making style but rather by a multidimensional profile based on a consideration of 11 dimensions. The results showed that the Italian version of the CDMP has adequate psychometric properties and structural validity. As hypothesized, the scores of the Problem-Solving Inventory were correlated with the information-related dimensions of the CDMP. Decided adolescents had more adaptive CDMP profiles than undecided adolescents, supporting the concurrent validity of the CDMP. Female adolescents were more likely to consult with and depend on others, invest greater effort, and, consequently, take more time to make a decision. Theoretical and counseling implications are discussed.

Contemporary Career Construction: The Role of Career Adaptability

Over the last decade, the rapidly changing job market has begun to demand that people more actively construct their professional lives and acquire career adaptability.

Design My Future An Instrument to Assess Future Orientation and Resilience

This article reports the development and psychometric requisites of Design My Future, an instrument assessing future orientation and resilience. Three different studies involving Italian preadolescents were conducted. With the first, the items were developed and the factor structure verified; the second confirmed instrument’s multidimensional structure and evaluated its discriminant validity. The third study was conducted to verify the invariance of factorial structure across gender. Results provide strong psychometric support for Design My Future as a valid measure for analyzing middle school students’ thoughts about their future orientation and resilience and for career education and career counseling activities.

A cross-cultural comparison of the self-determination construct in Italian and American adolescents

The functional theory of self-determination (fSDT) defines and operationalises self-determination within a human agentic context. It emerged from research on adolescents with disabilities, however has been increasingly applied to youth without disabilities. While comparability has been evaluated in youth with and without disabilities, it has not been explored across cultures. The purpose of this study was to explore the cross-cultural comparability of the fSDT in a sample of Italian and American adolescents. We were specifically interested in examining the universal aspects of the self-determination construct, as well as specific differences in the operationalisation of self-determination across cultures. The findings tentatively suggest that the construct of self-determination is comparable across Italian and American adolescents; however, there are specific differences in the measurement and operationalisation of self-determination across cultures. Directions for future research are discussed.

Occupational gender stereotypes and problem-solving in Italian adolescents

ABSTRACT The first purpose of the study was to establish how Italian adolescents perceive jobs in the newly emerging economy sectors as well as more traditional jobs from gender-stereotyped and gender-segregated perspectives. The second purpose was to verify the role of problem-solving and gender in gender-role stereotyping. A total of 217 Italian high school students were involved. A questionnaire developed by Miller and Hayward was used to examine the students’ occupational gender-role stereotyping, segregation and interests. The Problem-Solving Inventory was administered to examine problem-solving. Adolescents perceived most jobs as being gender-stereotyped and -segregated. Female gender and problem-solving ability were associated with a reduced tendency to perceive jobs as gender-stereotyped.

The Importance of Career Adaptability, Career Resilience, and Employability in Designing a Successful Life

Advocating a holistic approach, the life design paradigm suggests that individual and environmental constraints as well as resources shape people’s career journeys and their broader evolution. In particular, career adaptability and career resilience are central personal resources that help people in designing their career. In specific situations, people are able to activate these resources, and career interventions can strengthen them. Career adaptability and career resilience also help people to better use their environment’s resources, which eventually contribute to their employability. Over time, these constant interactions between people and their environment can lead to the development of negative spirals or virtuous circles, ultimately fostering adaptive functioning, and a successful life. People’s career path and employability thus depend on a combination of personal, and environmental factors, occurring within specific organizational, social, economic, and political structures.

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.

Qualitative Career Assessment of Vulnerable Individuals

Relevant changes in the world of work require career counsellors to reflect on their practice in order that it keeps pace and maintains relevancy. There is the need to more directly and actively involve clients and to closely understand and address their needs.

The relationship of personality type, problem-solving appraisal, and learning strategies

The present study examined the relationship between problem-solving appraisal (problem-solving inventory), various personality styles (Myers–Briggs Type Indicator), and learning strategies. Specifically, it was hypothesized that problem solving appraisal would mediate, fully or partially, the relationship between personality styles and learning strategies. A total of 577 Italian adolescents (187 boys and 390 girls), aged 17–19 years, were involved. Results obtained confirmed that problem-solving appraisal was a significant mediator of the relationship between personality styles and learning strategies. These results have important implications for practice and underscore that specific problem-solving training may improve critical learning strategies for Italian youth with extroversion, intuition, thinking, and judgment personality styles.