Career Competence Development of Students in German Secondary Schools: A Latent Transition Analysis

The development of career-related competences plays an important role in the context of adolescent identity formation as they represent existential tools in the process of a life-long career development. Drawing from the career competence model of Driesel-Lange et al. (2010), we aimed to analyze the development of career competence in German secondary school. Students were in ninth grade (Wave 1), 56% female with a mean age of 14.82 (SD = .50) years. Studying a three-wave longitudinal data set (N t1 =309, N t2 =337, N t3 =302), we first examined the existence of latent career competence profiles using latent profile analysis (LPA). The results suggested four profile groups, three of which mainly differed in terms of level (low – medium – high). The fourth group also diverged by its career competence pattern. Using latent transition analysis (LTA) we then analyzed developmental trajectories. The study indicated that 43% of the students remained in their initial profile groups, hence did not show any development in terms of career competence. 57% of the sample moved between profile groups. The results also suggested that 16% of students did not progress to a medium or higher level regarding their career competence, therefore forming an at-risk group.