The Relationship between Career Stress and Academic Motivation of Vocational Higher Education Students

University students are exposed to different stressors such as an uncertain future and the difficulties of integrating into the system. The pressure to find a job represents a large part of the career stress of university students. Academic motivation is expressed as students' desire in the academic field and their tendency to take action. After graduation, university students make great efforts to get a job according to their graduation area. A college student worries about landing a job immediately after graduation. This research aims to examine the relationships between career stress and academic motivation based on the views of associate degree students. The data of the research was collected from students in eight vocational schools of a university located in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey in the 2020-2021 academic year. With the analysis of the collected data based on the students' opinions, it was found out that the academic motivation of university students was low, and their intrinsic and external motivations were at an average level. In addition, associate degree students had below-average career stress. The results of multiple regression analysis showed that the sub- dimensions of career stress, such as pressure to find a job, and external conflict dimensions were significant predictors of all three dimensions of academic motivation. Moreover, personal factors and other organizational variables that may have a mediating effect on the relationship between career stress and academic motivation, can be examined more holistically in the future, using more advanced statistics