Relational Self-Construal as a Moderator of Social Support in Career Decision Making

The authors examined relational self-construal as a moderator of the influence of social support on career decision-making difficulties among 352 college students (65% women, 63% Caucasian). Results of hierarchical regression analyses supported the hypothesis that individuals with higher relational self-construal reported fewer difficulties in terms of lack of information and inconsistent information in career decision making as social support increased. Social support, however, did not reduce career decision-making difficulties for those with lower relational self-construal. Relational self-construal did not moderate the relationship between social support and lack of readiness in career decision-making difficulties as expected, possibly because of conceptual and measurement issues. Results suggest counselors work from relational and contextual perspectives to foster clients' self-views and to use social support to facilitate their career decision making.