Results of hypotheses.

Career exploration, a critical antecedent to college students’ career choices and employment, offers essential guidance for their career development. However, existing research has not explored how changes in family economic stress impact career exploration. Drawing on social cognitive career theory, this study aims to deepen our understanding of the complex interplay between family economic stress and career exploration among vocational school students. We tested our hypotheses using three-time lagged data collected from 600 vocational school students studying in mainland China. As expected, family economic stress positively predicts career exploration via love of money. Additionally, both students’ effective part-time behavior and teacher support were found to positively moderate the indirect relationship between family economic stress and career exploration through love of money. We attempt to highlight the broader implications of understanding the nuanced ways in which economic background shapes career exploration. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

职业探索是大学生职业选择与就业的关键前置因素，可为其职业发展提供重要指引。然而，现有研究尚未探讨家庭经济压力的变化如何影响职业探索。本研究基于社会认知职业理论（Social Cognitive Career Theory），旨在加深对中职学生群体中家庭经济压力与职业探索之间复杂交互关系的理解。本研究采用从中国大陆600名中职学生处收集的三期滞后数据，实证检验了所提出的研究假设。正如预期所示，家庭经济压力通过金钱态度正向预测职业探索。此外，学生的有效兼职行为与教师支持均能正向调节家庭经济压力经由金钱态度影响职业探索的间接路径。本研究旨在凸显厘清经济背景以精细化路径塑造职业探索的广泛意义，并讨论了相关的理论与实践启示。