Association Among Parent–Teacher Relationship, Autonomy Support, and Career Development of High School Students Across School Types

Abstract

The parent–teacher system is influential in promoting students’ career development. Guided by the systems theory framework of career development and spillover theory, this study examined the direct association between parent–teacher relationships and high school students’ career development. Furthermore, it analyzed the indirect effect of parent–teacher relationship on career development through parents’ and teachers’ support for students’ autonomy and the moderating role of the type of school. Data analyses were conducted on 1,452 students (46.5% males) in Grade 10 (aged approximately 15–16 years) from an academically oriented high school (53.0%) and a vocational high school (47.0%) in Beijing. The students completed questionnaires on the parent–teacher relationship, parent autonomy support, teacher autonomy support, and career development. The results indicated that the parent–teacher relationship predicted career development directly as well as indirectly through parent autonomy support. Moreover, there was no difference in the results of the structural equation model analysis among students in academically oriented and vocational high schools. Last, further implications and limitations are discussed.