Social-cognitive factors affecting clients’ career and life satisfaction after counseling

This study examines factors affecting clients ’ career and life satisfaction in the first 6 months after having participated in career counseling. In particular, we tested a large subset of the recent social-cognitive model of work satisfaction of Lent and Brown using a longitudinal data set of 195 for-mer counseling clients. Our results showed that clients ’ goal self-efficacy at the end of the career counseling had a positive impact on their career satisfaction 6 months later. This relationship was fully mediated by external barriers, goal progress, and subsequent goal self-efficacy. The level of career satisfaction 6 months after the counseling was in turn positively related with clients ’ life satisfaction. Also personality traits had an influence on clients ’ career and life satisfaction, though only indirectly via goal self-efficacy