| Based on Social Support Theory and Relational Theory of Working, two parallel sub-studies were conducted to explore the relationship among early parental support, contemporary parental support, university students' career adaptability, and their career decision-making difficulties. The current study therefore pursues following three research objectives: 1) to verify and refine the Relational Theory of Working; 2) to explore and examine the mechanism of the relationship between parental support and university students' career development; and 3) to respond to previous inconsistent findings regarding the relationship between parental support and individuals' career adaptability, and the relationship between parental support and career decision-making difficulties.;Study 1 focused on the relationship among early parental support, university students' career adaptability, and their chronical career decision-making difficulties. 455 college students participated in study 1, among whom 203 are male (45%) and 252 are female (55%). Study 2 investigated the relationship among contemporary parental support, university students' career adaptability, career certainty, and their general career decision-making difficulties. 467 students were involved. Among them, 237 are male (51%), 230 are female (49%). The theoretical model of Study 1 was built mainly upon the developmental perspective of social support theory. The underlying theory of Study 2 was the contextual perspective of social support theory. The theoretical models of the two studies were examined through Structural Equational Model. The models were run separately for male and female students, with both fathers' and mothers' support data in the model, instead of treating parents' data as a whole. A series of mediation models were also performed to get much detailed knowledge of the mechanism of the relationship between parental support and university students' career development.;The results well supported the Relational Theory of Working. At the same time, the mechanism of the relationship between early parental support, contemporary parental support, students' career development was revealed. Findings show that 1) early parental support could predict students' career adaptability positively, while predict career decision-making difficulty negatively through students' self affirmation of their own worth and competence; 2) contemporary parental support could predict career certainty through students' career adaptation resources. Career certainty could further predict students' career decision-making difficulty; 3) differences existed between male and female students' mechanism of the relationship between parental support and career development. However, consistent findings were opposite-sex parents' early support, fathers' contemporary career related support, mothers' contemporary general support played important roles for both male and female students.;Key words: relationship, support, parent, university students, career adaptability, career decision-making. |
