Strengthening the societal position of at-risk youth is challenging though necessary in order to create better opportunities for them to participate in society. Work is an important means to that... Show moreStrengthening the societal position of at-risk youth is challenging though necessary in order to create better opportunities for them to participate in society. Work is an important means to that end, enabling young people to live independently. Work also plays a role in the psychological need to express your vocational identity: who you are as a worker. Having a vocational identity means that you are aware of your capabilities, ambitions and values concerning work. A strong vocational identity helps to make choices and acts as a guide throughout working life. At-risk youth have vulnerable school careers and are at risk of dropping out. They attend programs at a low educational level and are at greater risk of unemployment. A strong vocational identity may counterbalance these risks as it can ensure these young people to learn about the work they could and want to do, and can provide for better work prospects. Special curricula and social programs for at-risk youth seek approaches to fostering vocational identity. This dissertation focuses on the relationships between individual characteristics of at-risk youth and their vocational identity, concentrates on the possible contribution of malleable characteristics, and provides insights into the treatment by mentors during individual mentoring. Show less
Keijzer, R.; Rijst, R.M. van der; Schooten, E. van; Admiraal, W.F. 2021
The way at-risk students see themselves as workers, their vocational identity, is important for their career development. Special programs for heterogeneous groups of at-risk students in the... Show moreThe way at-risk students see themselves as workers, their vocational identity, is important for their career development. Special programs for heterogeneous groups of at-risk students in the Netherlands aim to foster students’ vocational identity and their task may be eased by stimulating resilience. Therefore this cross-sectional study explored whether differences in at-risk students’ individual characteristics moderate the relationship between their resilience and vocational identity. In general, resilient students often have strong vocational identities compared to less resilient students. However, the strength of the relationships vary with varying personal characteristics. Results enable educational programs to attune to at-risk students with the strongest relationships between resilience and vocational identity: males, younger subgroups, and those experiencing less motivation and low school engagement. Show less
