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The context of contemporary work scenarios features constant change and innovation in the field of information and communication technologies, which result in frequent work transitions and job insecurity. Such circumstances are highly threatening to the wellbeing of workers. Moreover, the instability and precariousness of the labour market are aggravated by the current crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic. Individuals are facing increased critical life and professional challenges and are being asked to take personal responsibility for the direction of their personal and work lives. In this complex context, career counseling needs to be revitalised in strength-based prevention perspectives. Life Project Reflexivity (LPR) addresses future professional and life plans and represents a critical construct for career counseling. The present study among Italian university students in transition to the labour market analysed the relationships between LPR and well-being while controlling for the 'Big Five' personality traits. The Big Five Questionnaire, the Life Project Reflexivity Scale and measures of both hedonic and eudaimonic well-being were administered to 278 university students of the University of Florence. LPR and its dimensions of authenticity, no acquiescence and clarity/projectuality explained the incremental variance beyond personality traits with respect to both hedonic and eudaimonic well-being, with specific reference to meaning in life. Among the three dimensions of LPR, authenticity was the most promising in this study. These results offered new perspectives for career counseling by supporting a strength-based prevention process for constructing sustainable decent work and life.

The aim of the present article is to purpose new career counselling perspectives for vulnerable workers in the time of COVID-19 recession. We summarize perspectives on vulnerable workers following a recently advanced taxonomy on the work precarity framework characterized by three broad categories: precarity of work (i.e. fear and concern associated with the continuity of employment), precarity at work (i.e. psychosocial or physical safety at work, including discrimination, harassment, and unsafe working conditions), and precarity from work (i.e. uncertainty and insecurity due to maintaining employment that does not satisfy the basic needs of workers). These three facets of precariousness are frequently experienced by vulnerable workers, and they are related to poorer mental and physical health. The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically exacerbated this trend for vulnerable workers. Thus, suggestions for mitigating the impact of the current crisis are presented. Our perspective deals with the psychology of sustainability, sustainable development, and the psychology of working theory. In this framework, vocational psychologists could reform and reorganize specific career counselling practices for vulnerable workers, promoting sustainable and decent work and inclusivity. This could be achieved by applying four key points: (1) Enrich career counselling interventions with the processes of self-identity, reflection, and reflexivity on what constitutes actual sustainability for vulnerable workers in terms of professional and personal development; (2) Promote the use of an evidence-based methodology in accordance with the accountability principles for the 21st century; (3) Advocate to enrich available services with positive primary preventive strength-based actions and interventions through timely differentiated career counselling strategies; ( 4) Encourage applied research and practices to find new ways to balance resources with evidence-based efficacy; for example, by using the power of the audience in group-based life design counselling.

Rooted in the decent education as a precursor to decent work, this study investigated via network analysis the relationship between the work as meaning inventory for university students (WAMI-U) (positive meaning, meaning-making through study, greater good motivations) and the humor styles questionnaire (HSQ) (health-promoting styles: affiliative humor, self-enhancing humor; health-endangering styles: aggressive humor, self-defeating humor) in 371 Italian university students. Central nodes and bridge nodes between WAMI-U and HSQ were calculated. Positive meaning, meaning-making through study (WAMI-U), and self-enhancing humor (HSQ) had high centrality. Affiliative humor, self-enhancing humor (HSQ), and positive meaning (WAMI-U) had bridge function. The high centrality and bridge function of self-enhancing with all dimensions of WAMI-U, followed by the bridge function of affiliative humor in relation to meaning-making through study (WAMI-U) confirmed them as health-promoting styles. Negative associations between maladaptive humor styles and positive meaning (WAMI-U) confirmed their standard as health-endangering styles. Implications for research and prevention are discussed.

To cope with the challenges of 21st-century careers, the research on psychology of sustainability and sustainable development complements the psychology of work perspective with an emphasis on factors that foster the workers' well-being, decent work, and decent lives in healthy organizations. In this framework, individual eudaimonic well-being (EWB) is among the most relevant factors that may enhance decent and sustainable life projects and careers. Human capital sustainability leadership (HCSL) constitutes a resource for positive relatedness in organizations being linked to EWB. Innovative behaviors (IBs) are crucial for the sustainable development of organizations. This study investigated the relationships between IBs and EWB, testing the mediating role of HCSL in 353 Italian workers, controlling for participants' age and gender. HCSL fully mediated these relationships and emerged as a promising resource in linking IBs and EWB, supporting workers to achieve sustainable careers, decent work, and decent and healthy lives.

The present study examined the Italian version of the Work as Meaning Inventory and Work as Meaning Inventory for University students through a network perspective. Network analysis was applied to 505 Italian workers assessed via the Work as Meaning Inventory and 214 Italian university students assessed via the Work as Meaning Inventory for University students. The comparison between the factor and network model of both Work as Meaning Inventory and Work as Meaning Inventory for University students showed a higher fit for network models. Network analysis revealed that both Work as Meaning Inventory and Work as Meaning Inventory for University students items enclosed in the Positive meaning dimension had the highest centrality; the most connected item with the overall network was the item 2 (work/study that contributes to personal growth) able to link together the three dimensions (positive meaning, meaning-making through work, greater good motivations). Findings suggested that a network approach can provide a promising realm to expand the understanding of meaning at work and meaning at study.

The present study investigated the Italian version of the Decent Work Scale (DWS) with a sample of 645 workers (females = 65.1%; mean age = 43.9 years; SD = 10.9) according to a network perspective. We compared factorial and network models and estimated the regularized partial correlations for the five DWS domains: "physically and interpersonally safe working conditions" (SC), "access to healthcare" (AH), "adequate compensation" (AC), "hours that allow for free time and rest" (FT) and "organizational values complement family and social values" (CV). The results highlighted that the network model showed the best fit to the data. Among the most central domains in the network, the high centrality of CV suggests that this domain could represent an effective target for actions addressed to fostering decent work in Italy. In contrast, the low centrality of AC and FT underlines the urgent need to advocate for more decent remunerations and working hours in Italy.

This study presents a cross-cultural validation of the recently developed Resiliency Scale for Young Adults (RSYA) with a sample of 289 Canadian university students and 259 Italian university students. The RSYA demonstrated good internal consistency across the two samples and acceptable retest reliability for the Canadian sample. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the three-factor, 10-facet structure of the RSYA, and comparison of the two country samples found metric invariance. As expected, positive correlations also emerged between resiliency and trait emotional intelligence in both samples. Finally, correlations with personality variables were explored in both samples. The present findings provide further support for the RSYA as a valid and reliable measure of personal resiliency for both Canadian and Italian young adults, and for the cross-cultural generalizability of the three-factor model of personal resiliency upon which it is based.

This study examined the factor structure and the psychometric properties of the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) in a sample of 1,515 Italian (females = 60.26%, males = 39.74%) adolescents and young adults (M[subscript age] = 17.6 years, SD = 1.21). Results confirmed the unidimensionality, good reliability, and concurrent validity of the Italian version of the SWLS supporting its use in the Italian context.

Drawing from career construction and positive youth development perspectives, this study explores, among 254 Italian high school students, the relationship between emotional intelligence (EI) and support from friends and teachers with indices of adaptive career development. Results from the full canonical correlational model revealed that dimensions of EI and teacher support were positively associated with resilience and self-perceived employability. These results suggest that EI and teacher support warrant further investigation as factors that may contribute to adaptive career progress among youth.

This study was designed to assess the relationship of the relational and technical skills of the career counselor to five different career counseling outcomes (Client Satisfaction, Placement Skills, Self-Awareness, Psychological Mobilization, and Environmental Knowledge). Two hundred fifty-three university students participated in a study designed to investigate these relationships. The results reveal that both perceived relational and technical behaviors of the career counselor explain four of the five outcomes. Counselor perceived technical behaviors, and not relational behaviors, was a significant predictor of client Psychological Mobilization. (Contains 6 tables.)

The goal of the present study was to investigate the distinctions between career indecision and indecisiveness. The different patterns of the associations between career indecision and indecisiveness, on one hand, and personality traits, career decision-making self-efficacy, perceived social support, and emotional intelligence, on the other, were studied in a sample of 361 university students. The results showed that career indecision, as measured by the Career Decision-making Difficulties Questionnaire, is most highly associated with emotional intelligence, whereas career indecisiveness, as measured by the Indecisiveness scale, is most highly associated with personality traits, and in particular with emotional stability. This pattern of results was obtained for both women and men; however, the prediction was stronger for indecision (R[superscript 2] = 0.76 and 0.55, for women and men, respectively) than indecisiveness (R[superscript 2] = 0.35 and 0.28, for women than for men, respectively). Possible explanations of these differences are discussed. (Contains 3 tables.)

This study examined the validity of the Future Career Autobiography (FCA; Rehfuss, 2009), a qualitative instrument designed to capture change or stability in individuals' life and occupational narratives across time as a result of narrative career interventions. Italian female entrepreneurs (N = 82) were randomly assigned into either an experimental group (n = 40) that received career counseling consistent with the Life Design paradigm or a control group (n = 42) that received no intervention. The results indicated a significant narrative movement or change in the post-FCAs of the experimental group, moving from general to more specific life and occupational themes, while the control group's pre- and post-FCAs remained similar across the same time period. In addition, word count analysis revealed expanded narrative expression within the experimental group's post-FCAs. Together, these findings support the validity of this qualitative instrument. (Contains 2 tables.)

This study examined the relationship between emotional intelligence (EI) and styles of decision making. Two hundred and six Italian high school students completed two measures of EI, the Bar-On EI Inventory, based on a mixed model of EI, and the Mayer Salovey Caruso EI Test, based on an ability-based model of EI, in addition to the General Decision-Making Style Questionnaire. The findings suggest that both mixed model and ability-based models are related to decision-making style, but that ability-based EI does not predict decision-making style beyond the effects of the mixed model. This study reveals how varied dimensions of EI, especially self-assessment of one's emotional skills and personal qualities, are related to decision-making style. The assessment of EI may be useful in understanding career decision-making difficulties and in identifying strategies for promoting adaptive career decision making. (Contains 4 tables.)

Emotional intelligence (EI) has emerged in recent research as a teachable skill that is distinct from personality and is relevant to scholastic and work success and progress in career development. This study adds to that research by examining the relationship of performance and self-report measures of EI and personality traits with perceived social support. Three hundred and nine Italian high school students completed the Multidimensional scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), the Emotional Intelligence scale (EIS), the Mayer Salovey Caruso Emotional Intelligence test (MSCEIT), and the Big Five questionnaire (BFQ). Both self-report (EIS) and performance (MSCEIT) measures of EI contributed to the explanation of social support beyond the effects of personality (BFQ). Building on prior research evidence that social support and EI are instrumental to career development, and that EI can be enhanced through training, the findings suggest the potential of EI training as a component of career readiness preparation. (Contains 2 tables.)

This study examines the role of personality traits, core self-evaluation, and emotional intelligence (EI) in career decision-making difficulties. Italian university students (N = 232) responded to questions on the Big Five Questionnaire, Core Self-Evaluation Scale, Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory, and Career Decision-Making Difficulties Questionnaire. It was found that EI adds significant incremental variance compared with personality traits and core self-evaluation in predicting career decision-making difficulties. The results draw attention to the unique role of EI in career decision-making difficulties, offering new research opportunities and intervention possibilities. (Contains 2 tables.)

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of personality traits and emotional intelligence in relation to organizational justice. The Organizational Justice Scale, the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Revised Short Form, and the Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory were administered to 384 Italian nurses. The emotional intelligence dimensions explained a greater percentage of the incremental variance in relation to the four organizational justice dimensions (distributive: deltaR[superscript 2] = 0.11; procedural: deltaR[superscript 2] = 0.12; interpersonal: deltaR[superscript 2] = 0.19; informational: deltaR[superscript 2] = 0.16) with respect to personality traits (distributive: R[superscript 2] = 0.06; procedural: R[superscript 2] = 0.08; interpersonal: R[superscript 2] = 0.12; informational: R[superscript 2] = 0.09). The results highlight the role of emotional intelligence in explaining organizational justice, thereby offering new research and intervention perspectives. (Contains 2 tables.)

This study examined the effectiveness of group-based Life Design Counseling using the Career-Story Interview. Written exercises were used to implement the seven topics in the Career-Story Interview. The present study employed an experimental design that involved two groups of Italian entrepreneurs from the agricultural and trade sectors, namely an experimental group (38 participants) who received Life Design Counseling (Savickas, 2010) and a control group (34 participants). The results showed a decrease in career decision-making difficulties (Lack of Information and Inconsistent Information) and an increase in career decision-making self-efficacy in the experimental group thus suggesting the value of group-based Life Design Counseling. (Contains 2 tables.)

This article evaluates the efficacy of a training program focused on increasing emotional intelligence (EI), which was developed for Italian high school students. The training was constructed using an ability-based model of EI. It was hypothesized that specific training would increase both ability and self-reported EI and reduce levels of indecisiveness and career decision difficulties. This article outlines relevant literature and provides a description of the intervention, an evaluation of its efficacy, and a presentation of the results with regard to decisional problems. (Contains 4 tables.)

This study assessed the relationship between emotional intelligence and decisional conflict styles. Five hundred and twenty-eight Italian high school students (median age = 18; SD = 0.76) were given the Melbourne Decision Making Questionnaire (MDMQ) and the Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory: short (Bar-On EQ-i:S). The "Intrapersonal" dimension of emotional intelligence emerged as the best inverse predictor of nonadaptive styles, whereas the "Adaptability" dimension was the best predictor of the adaptive style of vigilance; the "Interpersonal" dimension of emotional intelligence was associated with the nonadaptive styles. The results provide an in-depth look at the relationship between the emotional intelligence construct and the decisional conflict styles, yielding new areas of research, assessment, and intervention. (Contains 5 tables.)

This study aims to take an in-depth look at the role of emotional intelligence and personality traits in relation to career decision difficulties. The Italian version of the Career Decision Difficulties Questionnaire (CDDQ), the Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory: Short (Bar-On EQ-i: S), and the Big Five Questionnaire (BFQ) were administered to 296 interns of the tertiary sector. The emotional intelligence dimensions add a significant percentage of incremental variance compared to variances due to personality traits with respect to career decision difficulties. The results highlight the role of emotional intelligence and its relationship with career decision difficulties.

This study examined help-seeking in career counseling by investigating factors that influence students' intention to consult a career counseling center. Nine hundred and eighteen participants were given the Attitudes toward Career Counseling Scale (ATCCS), an information brochure about the career counseling center; the Intention to Consult a Career Counseling Center Scale (ICCCS), and the Counselor Rating Form-Phrases (CFR-P). The initial value ascribed by the potential client to career counseling more than the attractiveness of career counseling predicted the intention to consult a career counseling center. Some significant differences between high school and university students emerged. The results provide further incentive to continue to study help-seeking in career counseling.