Mediating Role of Career Exploration in the Relationship of Emotional Intelligence and Career Certainty in 9th Grade Students

Given the importance of selecting a job for everyone, the purpose of the present study was to investigate the mediating role of the career exploration in the relationship between emotional intelligence and career certainty of the 9th grade students. The research method used was correlation. The statistical population consisted of all 9th grade students of Mashhad city in the academic year of 2017-2018 and 352 students were selected by multi-stage random cluster sampling. They were responded three questionnaires: 1. Emotional Intelligence Checklist (Bar-On, 2006), 2. Career Exploration Scale (Hirschi, 2010) and 3. Career Certainty Scale (Durr & Tracey, 2009). For data analysis, structural equation modeling with AMOS software version 22 was used. Results showed that the relationship between emotional intelligence with career certainty, emotional intelligence with career exploration and career exploration with career certainty are significant. The results also confirmed the mediating role of the career exploration in the relationship between emotional intelligence and career certainty. So, according to the results of the study, it is suggested that school officials and counselors consider the factors affecting the career certainty of the student's.