Psychometric Evaluation of the Chinese Version of the Parent Career Behavior Checklist in a Sample of Non-engaged Youth and Their Parents

Background: Understanding the parental influences on the career development of non-engaged youth (NEY) has been an underdeveloped research area. Furthermore, psychometrically valid and reliable tools for assessing how parents of NEY support their children in dealing with career issues remain largely unavailable in academia. Objective: This research aimed to validate a quantitative measure for such assessments. Specifically, the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the Parent Career Behavior Checklist (C-PCBC) in a sample of NEY and their parents were examined. Method: Through a community-based project providing career counseling and development services for NEY in different districts of Hong Kong, 142 parent–child dyads completed parallel versions of C-PCBC and other related questionnaires. A multi-group confirmatory factor analyses examining NEY and their parents was conducted. Results: The results demonstrated an acceptable model fit and confirmed a 22-item twofold factor structure, namely parental psychosocial support and parental career-related actions. Moreover, the construct validity of the C-PCBC was supported by significant correlations with parenting and youth development measures. Substantial perceptual differences between NEY and their parents on the degree of parental psychosocial support and parental career-related actions were also found. Conclusions: The present research indicates that the C-PCBC possesses acceptable psychometric properties. However, the results indicate that NEY and their parents have different perceptions of parental involvement, suggesting a lack of parent–child communication and mismatches in expectations. The findings here have implications for how parental support and parent–child relationships should be addressed when providing career counseling and development programs for NEY.