Predicting career growth based on the identity styles of higher education students in Bojnord City

The concept of career development provides important guidelines for choosing a career and employment that is one of the most important factors in identity development. The purpose of this study was to predict career development based on identity styles among university students in Bojnord City. The research method applied in the present study was correlative where the relationship between career development and identity styles، and the prediction of career development based on identity styles were investigated. The population of the study was composed of university students in Bojnord in 2011-2012 academic year، of whom 500 (217 females and 283 males) students were selected according to the multi-stage cluster-sampling. In this study the Identity Styles Inventory (Chronbach’s alpha =. 65 –. 68) and Career Development Questionnaire (test-retest confidence for first section،. 75 and for second section،. 81) were used. To analyze the data، besides descriptive statistical methods، the Clomogrov-Smearnov statistical tests، the Pearson Correlation Test، and the Multiple Regression were administered. The findings showed that there was a positive significant correlation between informational identity style and career development (r=. 54، p<. 001)، but there was a negative significant correlation between diffused identity style and career development (r=-. 10، p<. 02). The analysis of multiple regression showed that informational identity style was a positive predictive variable for career development (β=. 56، p<. 001). The present results can be explained by similar characteristics style of informational identity، and the job selection process.