Psychological Well‐Being Throughout the Transition From Adolescence to Adulthood

Abstract

A cohort of 172 high school leavers were followed over a 2‐year period to determine factors that affect well‐being throughout transition. High school leavers are those individuals who are graduating from high school and are progressing to further schooling, to work, or are unemployed. Employment and school continuation were unrelated to self‐esteem and depression. Factors that influenced the transition process included money and activity problems, internality, stability, and controllability both of attributions about general transition difficulties at specific time periods and of external attributions about unemployment. The need for new approaches to career theory and practice is discussed.