Individual psychological predictors in longitudinal studies of professional and educational careers

Abstract

The article presents first results of the Monitoring of educational and labor trajectories of high school and university graduates. This project has been launched by HSE in 2009. The research group has conducted surveys among university students in their last year studies in two regions of Russia. The purpose has been to determine individual indicators that would best predict changes in the educational and professional trajectory. There have been determined groups of students for whom the probability to change career after the graduation is particularly high. The article discusses the significance of the chosen independent variables as concerns the two main reasons for a trajectory change: lack of certainty in the professional career in the last year of studies and low academic achievements of students. The future possibilities of the launched study are discussed.