Validation of the German version of the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale and its relation to orientations to happiness and work stress

摘要

Career adapt-ability has recently gained momentum as a psychosocial construct that not onlyhas much to offer the field of career development, but also contributes to positive coping,adjustment and self-regulation through the four dimensions of concern, control, curiosity andconfidence. The positive psychology movement, with concepts such as the orientations tohappiness, explores the factors that contribute to human flourishing and optimum functioning.This research has two main contributions; 1) to validate a German version of the CareerAdapt-Abilities Scale (CAAS), and 2) to extend the contribution of adapt-abilities to the fieldof work stress and explore its mediating capacity in the relation between orientations tohappiness and work stress. We used a representative sample of the German-speaking Swissworking population including 1204 participants (49.8% women), aged between 26 and 56(Mage = 42.04). Results indicated that the German version of the CAAS is valid, with overallhigh levels of model fit suggesting that the conceptual structure of career adapt-abilityreplicates well in this cultural context. Adapt-abilities showed a negative relationship to workstress, and a positive one with orientations to happiness. The engagement and pleasure scalesof orientations to happiness also correlated negatively with work stress. Moreover, careeradapt-ability mediates the relationship between orientations to happiness and work stress. Indepth analysis of the mediating effect revealed that control is the only significant mediator.Thus control may be acting as a mechanism through which individuals attain their desired lifeat work subsequently contributing to reduced stress levels.