Are you scared of what comes next? Students' future career anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

In the present study, we explored the mediating effects of depression from COVID-19 (DEP-COVID) and self-esteem (S-EST) on the relationship between fear of COVID-19 (F-COVID) and future career anxiety (C-ANX) in high-school and university students (N = 470, M = 20.17, SD = 2.02, 63.04% females). We were interested in exploring these relationships in both the overall sample and high school students and university students, separately. Our findings suggested that DEP-COVID partially mediated the relationship between F-COVID and C-ANX in both groups (i.e., high-school and university students). Self-esteem was not significantly correlated to our primary variables in high-school students. In university students, as well as the overall sample, results suggested the partially mediating role of S-EST on the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and C-ANX. We discuss our findings concerning the practices that may foster students' career development in turbulent times and consider possible interventions for these specific groups following the COVID-19 pandemic.