Predicting (Dis)satisfaction in Adolescents’ Educational Choices with Ville Puonti & NCDA's Research Committee

NCDA’s Research Committee Co-Chairs, Dr. Deb Osborn and Brian Calhoun, host Ville Puonti, winner of The Career Development Quarterly’s Article of the Year, about a Finnish longitudinal study of ninth graders who must choose between vocational or academic tracks. Addressing limited European research on early adolescents’ work values and dropout-related mismatch, the study identified three replicable value profiles — ambitious, meaning-seeking, and compensation-oriented — that predicted career decision-making self-efficacy, task values for career planning, satisfaction and engagement after the transition to secondary education, and dropout intentions. The discussion highlights using values exploration and targeted, holistic counseling, and recommends accessible practitioner tools.

Ville Puonti is a career counseling psychologist in the Finnish Public Employment Services and a dissertation researcher with the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. His professional interests focus on the cross-cultural utility of career theories, models and career assessment instruments and evidence-based development of career counselling services, especially in the context of the public employment services.

Brian Calhoun is a Professor of the Practice at Wake Forest University - Department of Education (Winston-Salem, NC). He teaches classes with the College to Career series in the undergraduate college. His professional interests include career counseling and development, and he serves as co-chair of the National Career Development Association (NCDA) research committee. His research agenda focus is on career interventions that assist students with developing and learning more about their career options in the world of work. 

Dr. Deb Osborn is a Professor and Director of the APA-accredited Combined doctoral program in Counseling Psychology and School Psychology in the Educational Psychology and Learning Systems Department at Florida State University. She also co-directs the Center for Career Research, and is a Nationally Certified Counselor. She is a Fellow, Past President, and Eminent Career Award recipient of the National Career Development Association. 

Resources

Ville Puonti, Asko Tolvanen, Johanna Rantanen, and Noona Kiuru – “Predicting (Dis)satisfaction in Adolescents’ Educational Choices – Investigating Profiles in Work Values Across the Transition to Secondary Education” in The Career Development Quarterly, (Volume 73, Issue 2) pp 105-118. First published April 3, 2025.

Open access article: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/cdq.12374 

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