Relationship between Family Variables and Career Adaptability: A Meta-Analysis.

This study aimed to examine the relationship between family variables (i.e., family support, family SES, parental career-related behavior (PCB) support, PCB interference, and a PCB lack of engagement) and career adaptability through a meta-analysis. A systematic search for relevant studies was conducted using research databases. Twenty-four quantitative studies were yielded from 1684 records on the association between family variables and CA that were published between 1981 and 2024. Two researchers conducted data extraction independently, following coding standards. Comprehensive Meta-Analysis Version 3.3 was used in this study. The result showed that PCB support demonstrated a moderately significant correlation with CA and the largest effect size (r = 0.325). A non-significant result was found only for the correlation between PCB interference and CA. Except for gender, the moderating effects of region, age, CA measure, and publication year were found in the relationship between some family variables and CA. One limitation is the restricted range of the samples due to few studies investigating samples from regions other than Asia. The findings can highlight future directions for family studies and career research and hold practical implications for institutes, companies, and communities related to career development. This study was registered in the Open Science Framework (10.17605/OSF.IO/76HNQ).