Adolescence to adulthood longitudinal study of 17 years: Relationship between internal working models and attitude to one's occupation

摘要

The relationship between internal working models (IWM) and a person's attitude to one's occupation was investigated by using longitudinal data obtained from late adolescence to adulthood. Participants were 19 females in the late thirties that had been nursing students. In the first wave in 1994, they responded to a questionnaire that included IWM items. In the second wave in 2011, they responded to a nearly identical questionnaire that also included scales assessing adaptation. They were also interviewed about their life situation and their changes. We analyzed the interview protocols and classified their attitudes to occupation into two groups: high motivation or low motivation. Using the total IWM scores in the two waves, changes in IWM patterns were classified into five groups: high score, increasing, declining, low score, and no change. It showed that in attitudes to the occupation, the highly motivated group got higher scores in IWM and adaptation, and that attitudes to adulthood occupations were affected by both adolescent and adult IWM, as well as by other situational factors.