Breadth of Vocational Interests: The Role of Career Adaptability and Future Orientation

The authors examined the relationship between career adaptability, future orientation, and vocational interests. Specifically, they tested the role of career adaptability and future orientation in promoting a broader range of vocational interests, based on the principle that experiencing more interests can be useful in giving one's best in multiple occupations and in planning a broad range of career goals. A total of 762 Italian adolescents (383 males, 379 females) participated in the study. Results highlight the mediating role of future orientation in the relationship between 4 career adaptability resources and breadth of vocational interests. These results underscore that specific interventions in career adaptability and future orientation may foster a broader range of vocational interests, providing more opportunity for adolescents to respond to the demands of the current job market.     

A Multilevel Multinomial Model for the Dynamics of Graduates Employment in Italy

Social Indicators Research - Several studies have demonstrated that skilled human capital is a key resource for the economic growth of a territory, since it helps to increase productivity,...     

Friendship,humour and non-native language: Emotions and experiences of professional migrants to Australia

This article explores a particular consequence of migration, which is the need to make new friends in a new country. Migration scholars tend to ignore the process of making friends, when this can be a key challenge to integrating in a new society. We draw on semi-structured interviews with professional migrants to Australia, from a range of different countries, to explore how using non-native language impacted on new friendships. In particular, using the sociological lens of ‘facework’, we show how humour was used during new friendships with English speakers [Goffman, E. 1969. Where the Action Is: Three Essays. London: Allen Lane]. Non-native language confidence impacted on informal socialising because migrants encountered challenges using humour with new friends. This led to feelings of embarrassment, which had to be emotionally managed. Despite speaking good English, these non-native English language migrants can still face language challenges in informal settings. As the migrant's length of time in Australia increased, language confidence improved, however, there were still barriers when using humour. Whilst analysis is specific to Australia, given the increased numbers of professional migrants globally, further investigation is needed to explore if non-native English migrants to other similar cultures such as England, the USA, or Canada also experience such barriers to integration at local level.     

How College Men Understand Unwanted Sex with Women

Recent studies have shown that heterosexual college men report unwanted sex at higher rates than one might expect. And yet, college men’s perceptions of unwanted sex with women have been studied infrequently. This study examines how men understand unwanted sex with women and the impact of these experiences. Thirty-nine men, aged 18–25, were interviewed using open-ended questions related to their unwanted sexual experiences. Our findings demonstrate how men frequently minimize unwanted sex by framing it as either funny, unimportant, or something that happens to women. However, we find evidence that men's attempts at minimization are not always successful and that some experiences are indeed upsetting and/or hurtful. Rather than treating all men as a homogeneous category, our analysis details the circumstances associated with more or less troubling experiences. We find that there are particular circumstances (e.g. incapacitation), as well as personal characteristics (e.g. virgin), that position men to be more distressed by unwanted sex. This heterogeneity of men’s experiences explains some, but not all, differences in effects. Our analysis reveals that in experiences described as mild to severe, men talk about unwanted sex in highly contradictory ways. We argue that these contradictions are evidence of broader cognitive and emotional work done by men to convince themselves that unwanted sex does not matter to them. Our findings raise the possibility that when men use hegemonic notions of masculinity to understand their unwanted experiences, these interpretations serve to minimize the emotional damage that men might otherwise report.