Career interventions and social well-being among non-engaged youth: Examining the mediating effects of career competency

Although it is widely acknowledged that non-engaged youth (NEY) face different disadvantages in their school-to-work transitions, less attention has been paid to examining the impact of career interventions on NEY's career competency and social well-being. In our study, using data collected in the [email protected] community intervention project, we systematically investigated the effects of six career interventions—developing interest, awareness, and motivation (DIAM); semi-structured learning (SL); career counseling (CC); learning through service, volunteering, and caring (LSVC); workplace learning (WL); and facilitating pathway choice and implementation (FPCI)—on NEY's social well-being directly or indirectly through career competency. Two types of data were collected: data about career competency and social well-being, namely from 665 NEY aged 13–29 who participated in both the baseline and four-month follow-up surveys, and aggregated data about career interventions from baseline to follow-up along with NEY's demographic information provided by social workers responsible for supporting the participating NEY. Among our results, the effects of SL and WL on social well-being were significantly mediated by career competency, whereas the effect of LSVC directly contributed to social well-being instead of indirectly through career competency. Moreover, the effects of DIAM, CC, and FPCI were not significant in promoting NEY's career competency and social well-being. Overall, our findings suggest that career interventions involving learning through experience and deep interactions with relevant stakeholders in the workplace have more significant effects for improving NEY's social well-being through career competency. The empirical findings of our study yield practical implications for future career interventions with NEY.