Shaping Future Leaders in Taiwan: The Impact of Personality, Parental Emotional Blackmail, and Career Adaptability on Military Cadets

Eastern countries emphasize family relationships, where parents may use emotional blackmail—leveraging fear, obligation, and guilt through filial piety—to influence children’s career adaptability. Career adaptability involves proactive strategies to meet career demands. This study investigates the relationship among personality traits, parental emotional blackmail, and career adaptability among the military in a sample of 1,164 Taiwanese military cadets (884 males and 280 females; ages 18–22, M = 19.72, SD = 1.40). Results revealed that personality traits and parental emotional blackmail together explain 49.9% of the variance in career adaptability, with personality contributing most significantly (49.3%), particularly through traits like conscientiousness. Parental emotional blackmail contributed 0.7%, with obligation negatively and guilt positively influencing career adaptability. Some personality traits as a mediator between emotional blackmail and career adaptability. These findings highlight the interplay between family dynamics and personality in shaping cadets’ career adaptability, offering valuable guidance for future cadets in military academy selection.