Adaptation and validity of the vocational identity status assessment among high school and university students

Shijie Song¹, Ke Yang^2,*
1 School of Marxism, Wuhan Polytechnic University, Wuhan, China
2 School of Tourism Management, Wuhan Business University, Wuhan, China
* Corresponding Author: Ke Yang. Email: email

Journal of Psychology in Africa https://doi.org/10.32604/jpa.2026.079090

Received 14 January 2026; Accepted 19 May 2026; Published online 22 July 2026

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Abstract

The present study adapted and validated the Vocational identity Status Assessment (VISA) among high school and university students, and examined the VISA score associations to academic achievement, depression and life satisfaction. A total sample of 694 Chinese senior high school students (53.9% females, mean age = 16.72 years, SD = 1.02) and 871 university students (47.2% females, mean age = 18.90 years, SD = 1.45) were tested in three independent cross-sectional rounds over a six-month period. The results showed a six-factor structure of the VISA with 26 items, which divided vocational identity into six types: achievement, foreclosure, moratorium, searching moratorium, diffusion and carefree diffusion. Therefore, the Chinese version of VISA fielded good psychometric properties (i.e., reliability and validity of scores). Differences in vocational identity statuses between high school and university students were found regarding their academic achievement, depression and life satisfaction Specifically, moratorium (high exploration with low commitment), diffusion (low exploration and low commitment), and carefree diffusion (unconcerned absence of vocational direction) were associated with less adaptive statuses in career development. These findings suggest a need for student career counseling and educational interventions to focus on students supporting youth with less adaptive vocational identity statuses, such as those in moratorium, diffusion, and carefree diffusion statuses.