Social connectedness and career and talent development self-efficacy: direct and mediating effects

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to evaluate relationships among the primary school students’ social connectedness to parents, teachers and peers, and their career and talent development self-efficacy (CTD-SE). CTD-SE encompasses talent development, career exploration and the acquisition of good work habits. Results suggest that the connectedness with parents and teachers was significantly related to the three types of CTD-SE, while peer connectedness was only associated with career exploration SE and work habit formation SE. Additionally, there was significant interaction between school grade level and parent connectedness on talent development SE. A stronger relationship between parent connectedness and talent development SE was found for Grade 3 than Grade 5 students. Implications for further research and practice are discussed.