Exploring Different Types of Career Anxiety Among Young Adults: A Latent Profile Analysis

This study aimed to identify distinct latent profiles of career anxiety among young adults and to examine the predictors of membership in these profiles by relating them to various factors, including academic unit and year of study. The data were collected from a sample of 509 young adults enrolled at universities in Türkiye, comprising 409 females (80.4%) and 100 males (19.6%). The instruments used for data collection included a personal information form, Career Anxiety Scale, Hope Scale, Perceived Social Support Scale, Perfectionism Scale, and the Coping Self-Efficacy Scale. Latent profile analysis (LPA) was employed to identify latent profiles, while multinomial logistic regression (R3STEP) analysis was conducted to examine the relationships between latent profile membership and sociodemographic variables. The results of the LPA revealed three distinct latent profiles: high anxiety and vulnerable (Profile 1), low anxiety and high psychosocial strength (Profile 2), and moderate group (Profile 3). The findings indicated that when Profile 1 was used as the reference group, academic unit type and class level did not significantly predict membership in Profile 2. However, vocational school status significantly predicted membership in Profile 3. When Profile 2 was used as the reference group, it was observed that both vocational school students and fourth-year students were significantly less likely to be members of Profile 3.