Profiles of career adaptability and their associations with sociodemographic characteristics, big five traits, and mental health among Chinese primary and secondary school teachers

In this era of educational and career pathways fragmentation and unpredictability, fostering and sustaining career adaptability has become a major concern. This study contributes to the advancement of research on career adaptability by adopting a person-centered approach and applying the career construction model of adaptation framework in a cross-sectional design on primary and secondary school teachers’ career adaptation in Guangzhou, China (N = 1,437). This study aimed to (a) identify distinct profiles of career adaptability based on different combinations of its four facets, (b) examine the associations of profile membership with sociodemographic characteristics, Big Five traits, and mental health. Latent profile analyses revealed a 3-profile solution, namely, relatively lower adaptability, moderate adaptability with stronger control, and high adaptability profiles. The findings showed that most Big Five traits were associated with higher career adaptability profiles, and teachers with non-teaching majors were more likely to belong to the high adaptability profile. Inversely, the agreeableness trait predicted membership only in the moderate adaptability with stronger control profile, rather than in the high adaptability profile. Moreover, differences in mental health were found between the three profiles; teachers with high adaptability profiles showed significantly higher levels of mental health. These findings suggest that level effects are predominant in career adaptability profiles in this Guangzhou teacher sample, suggesting that shared adaptability resources are associated with adaptivity and adaptation.