Barriers to employment for young adult central nervous system tumor survivors: The role of career readiness and core self-evaluations

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Although the majority of childhood cancer survivors make successful transitions to adulthood, research suggests that a significant group experiences ongoing medical concerns, such as psychological distress, that significantly impact the achievement of crucial social roles including employment. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between career decision making, core self-evaluations, and perceived internal and external barriers to employment in a sample of young adult central nervous system tumor survivors. METHOD: A sample of 110 young adult survivors of pediatric central nervous system tumors was surveyed. Mediation analysis with structural equational modeling was used to correlate a number of different measures (Career Decision Making [CTI], Perceived Employment Barriers [PEB], and Core-Self Evaluations [CSE]). RESULTS: The presence of both significant direct and indirect effects of career decision making on perceived employment barriers implied that there was a partial mediating effect of core self-evaluations on the association between career readiness and employment barriers. CONCLUSION: Career decision-making is a robust construct that can be applied to young adult central nervous system tumor survivors in effort to gain more insight into the vocational psychological factors that impact career development and employment in this group. Core self-evaluations was found to be a mediator between career decision making and perceived career barriers.