Abstract
Vocational education constitutes a vital component of China's educational system, playing a significant supporting role in national development. However, societal perceptions shaped by traditional cultural ideologies and the phenomenon of “involution” have led to vocational education being perceived as far less attractive than academic education. Nevertheless, the impact of stereotype threat on vocational education students’ development remains largely theoretical, lacking empirical validation. This study collected 849 valid responses from vocational education students across five Chinese provinces via an online survey, employing structural equation modeling to test hypotheses. Findings reveal: 1. Stereotype threat positively correlates with parental expectation conflict and career decision difficulties, but negatively correlates with career identity; 2. Parental expectation conflict positively correlates with career decision difficulties but negatively correlates with career identity; 3. Career decision difficulties negatively correlate with both career identity and career development confidence; 4. Career identity positively correlates with career development confidence; 5. Stereotype threat, parental expectation conflict, and career decision difficulties all indirectly negatively correlate with career development confidence. Overall, stereotype threat emerges as a significant antecedent variable that constrains the development of vocational education. Mitigating this threat is imperative to ensure vocational education students gain better and more equitable development opportunities.
Keywords
Introduction
Over the past century, the establishment of vocational and technical education and training systems has been widely recognized as crucial for national (regional) and urban industrial and economic development, employment promotion, addressing livelihood issues, and achieving educational equity (Ye et al., 2024). To advance China's economic and social development, the Chinese government has continuously formulated policies over the past decade to enhance the appeal of vocational education and training. While these policies have yielded progress in resource allocation, institutional models, and industry-academia collaboration, rebuilding the public perception of vocational education remains challenging.
In traditional societal perceptions, vocational education pathways remain viewed as a “compensatory” choice subordinate to academic pathways (Guan & Blair, 2024), with the assumption that students choosing vocational education will pursue low-skilled manual labor with few or no opportunities for advancement. Influenced by these factors, China's vocational education occupies a disadvantaged position within the educational hierarchy and is socially labeled as having relatively weaker academic achievements (Bao et al., 2023). The formation of vocational education stereotypes stems from multiple causes, with one significant factor being the highly competitive nature of China's basic education system. The Gaokao (college-entrance examination) serves as the primary means of assessing academic performance and learning ability within China's education framework. Students with outstanding scores are more likely to gain admission to regular undergraduate institutions, while those with lower scores face limitations in the tier of institutions they can apply to, often leading them to choose vocational colleges instead (Bao et al., 2023). Furthermore, the combined effects of parental expectations, resource disparities between urban and rural areas and schools, media narratives, and employer hiring preferences reinforce the societal perception of vocational education as “low-quality.” Consequently, students within the vocational education system face significant prejudice in Chinese society, stigmatized as “stupid and lazy” youth (Wang, 2021).
Past research has identified the detrimental effects of stereotype threat on the vocational education system and its students. At the institutional level, public biases against the value of vocational education impact student enrollment patterns, funding allocations, and industry engagement (Annen et al., 2025). Simultaneously, labor market biases against vocational credentials may lead to employment discrimination against vocational graduates, potentially even depriving them of advancement opportunities. At the individual level, vocational education students (vocational college and vocational undergraduate students) are labeled as “academic underachievers” through academic evaluations and social comparisons, which in turn affects their self-perception and developmental expectations (Wang, 2021). From a vocational education psychology perspective, career development should serve individual self-growth and value realization. Only when students’ interests, abilities, and values align with occupational demands can they achieve fulfillment in their careers and maximize personal value (Ye et al., 2025). Currently, societal evaluations often stereotype vocational education students as “incompetent” or “lacking motivation.” This distorts societal perceptions of their skill development and career potential and it also impedes their progress in career identity formation and self-actualization. Therefore, dismantling stereotypes and reshaping societal evaluations of vocational education are essential for enhancing educational equity and they are also practical necessities for safeguarding vocational education students’ mental health.
Notably, societal stereotypes about vocational education are not abstract constructs but have permeated micro-contexts within individuals’ daily lives, learning environments, and workplaces (Schmader, 2010). These stereotypes continuously remind students of potential negative evaluations through symbols, language, or institutional practices. These everyday contexts exert subtle psychological influences on students. Consequently, research on career development among vocational education students should incorporate new localized perspectives and variables (Ye et al., 2023). However, a critical question remains: how do these societal evaluations of vocational education translate into observable psychological processes within specific interactions, and how do these processes further shape students’ future career development confidence? Career development confidence relates not only to students’ overall assessments of career opportunities, growth potential, and controllability of development, but also to their professional studies, job search preparation, and career decision-making. Yet existing vocational education research has yet to reveal how stereotypes are received, interpreted, and internalized into stable psychological expectations within micro-situations.
Therefore, this study aims to examine the relationships among stereotype threat, parental expectation conflict, career decision difficulties, career identity, and career development confidence. It explores how stereotype threat influences students’ career identity through process-oriented mechanisms such as parental expectation conflict and career decision difficulties, ultimately affecting their career development confidence. This provides practical evidence for understanding career self-construction among vocational education students.
Theoretical Framework, Research Hypotheses, and Model
Stereotype Threat Theory
Stereotype threat theory (STT) offers a crucial social psychological perspective for understanding performance differences across groups. This theory posits that individuals experience heightened psychological pressure when placed in situations where negative stereotypical beliefs about their group's capabilities may be validated (Spencer et al., 2016). This state, defined as stereotype threat, consumes cognitive resources and may lead to reduced performance on relevant tasks while generating negative emotions such as anxiety (Schmader, 2010). Specifically, stereotype threat describes an individual's predicament in specific contexts where they fear being treated differently based on this impression (Spencer et al., 2016). This risk induces detrimental psychological states that impair performance in the domain. Stereotype threat theory emphasizes situational explanations, arguing that performance disparities stem not from ability deficits but from anxiety and cognitive overload triggered by specific evaluative contexts (Schmader, 2010). This offers individuals an alternative interpretive framework for understanding their experiences.
Stereotype threat exerts significant negative effects across diverse groups in various domains (Pennington et al., 2016). In education, it erodes students’ opportunities to develop competencies during their learning journey (Appel & Kronberger, 2012), such as disrupting working memory, diminishing learning engagement, and undermining professional identity. Within the Chinese vocational education context, students face not only unequal employment opportunities but also a series of stereotypes constructed around “vocational school students.” This theory provides a crucial theoretical foundation for understanding the impact of stereotypes. Simultaneously, it establishes the theoretical basis for constructing the “stereotype threat—psychological mechanisms—career development confidence” pathway.
Social Information Processing Theory
Social information processing theory (SIP) is widely applied to explain how individuals perceive and process information within social environments, thereby forming attitudes and generating behaviors. This theory posits that attitudes and behaviors are partially determined by information embedded within social contexts (Salancik & Pfeffer, 1977). One function of SIP is to decompose the subcomponents of how individuals understand and respond to their social environments (Venticinque et al., 2024). According to SIP, when confronted with social situational cues, individuals transform incoming information into behavior through a sequential series of psychological steps. First, they interpret the information based on prior experiences. Second, they select desired outcomes. Third, they evaluate potential responses based on approval, ability to execute the behavior, and expectations of outcomes. Finally, they execute the response (van Reemst et al., 2016). This sequential process constitutes the fundamental flow from “seeing” to “doing” in social contexts (Crick & Dodge, 1994).
Within China's vocational-academic tracking context, SIP explains how vocational education students transform external evaluative cues into subjective judgments about their own development, which further influences career development confidence. During tracking, enrollment, and career selection, students repeatedly encounter negative messages from families, schools, peers, media and the job market. These negative evaluations gradually internalize into students’ cognitive frameworks for understanding situations. Therefore, from a SIP perspective, the relationship among external stereotypes, cognitive processing biases, changes in identity and beliefs, and career confidence can be viewed as a sequence of operational psychological processes. This provides theoretical support for the causal pathway identified in this study, in which stereotype threat leads to parental expectation conflict, increases career decision difficulties, shapes career identity, and ultimately influences career development confidence.
Social Identity Theory
Social identity theory (SIT) emphasizes that individuals define “who I am” not only based on personal traits but also through identification with social groups to understand their position and value within the social structure (Alparslan & Akdoğan, 2023). Social categorization serves as a crucial starting point for this theory, wherein individuals classify themselves into specific groups and thereby establish fundamental judgments about identity boundaries (Gürsoy Erdenay, 2025). Furthermore, social identity is relational and comparative (Rivera et al., 2024). SIT further indicates that significant others in society assign positive or negative connotations to a group identity. This external evaluation is transmitted to group members through daily interactions, where members voluntarily or involuntarily internalize it during exposure (Gürsoy Erdenay, 2025). Regarding stigmatized evaluations, individuals become aware that this identity may be exposed during interactions and serve as a basis for others’ judgments. Consequently, the more prominent this identity is in a specific context, the stronger the corresponding feelings of insecurity and defensive psychological reactions become (Quinn & Chaudoir, 2009). In response, individuals may employ strategies such as weakening identification with the group, reducing identity visibility, or seeking mobility to higher-status groups to maintain self-esteem. However, these actions simultaneously erode their original social identity, potentially undermining future developmental prospects in the long term.
Within the Chinese vocational education context, families’ inherent stereotypes about vocational education contribute to shaping the social identity of “vocational school students”, making vocational education students more susceptible to perceived stigma (Zoellner, 2025). Furthermore, students’ identification with the “vocational school student” identity directly influences their willingness to view this identity as a source of self-worth (Pilz, 2025) and to develop positive developmental expectations. Thus, SIT explains the psychological mechanism through which stereotypes influence individual vocational confidence via identity construction processes.
Theoretical Integration
STT, SIP, and SIT each explain specific psychological phenomena. However, no single theory can fully reveal how stereotypes undermine career development confidence among vocational education students. STT focuses on threat generation. SIP addresses cognitive distortion. SIT concentrates on identity reconstruction. This study integrates these three complementary theories to comprehensively explain the psychological process from perceiving threat to forming career confidence among vocational education students.
The formation of career development confidence among vocational education students involves three interconnected psychological processes. First, when students realize they may be negatively evaluated based on their “vocational student” identity, they experience psychological pressure and anxiety. STT explains how external stereotypes trigger this pressure state. Second, this pressure state alters how students process career-related information. They are prone to biases when gathering information, weighing options, and evaluating outcomes. SIP reveals how pressure distorts cognitive processes. Finally, these persistent cognitive biases gradually reshape students’ perceptions of their “vocational student” identity and their career self-concept. SIT elucidates how cognitive biases ultimately influence identity construction. Together, these three theories depict the complete psychological journey from perceiving threat to forming career confidence.
Research Hypotheses and Research Model
Research Hypotheses
Social categorization processes lead individuals to classify themselves and others into distinct groups. This not only shapes behaviors that reinforce group identity (Castano et al., in press) but also makes us susceptible to the perceptions of those around us (Venticinque et al., 2024). Research indicates that in Chinese families, support for children pursuing vocational education and technical-skilled careers remains low (Wang, 2021), with vocational education often viewed as a suboptimal choice. According to STT, social contexts that remind individuals of negative stereotypes associated with their group trigger concerns about being negatively evaluated based on that identity (Spencer et al., 2016). When parents expect their children to attend general high schools or academic undergraduate programs, but their children are already enrolled or about to enroll in vocational institutions, negative stereotypes related to vocational education may amplify parental doubts about this pathway.
Stereotype threat not only impairs students’ academic performance but may also permeate career decision-making processes. Research indicates that experiencing stereotype threat can heighten individuals’ anxiety (Pennington et al., 2016) and diminish confidence in decision-making contexts. Furthermore, studies suggest stereotype threat weakens individuals’ perceptions of their usefulness in serving others and contributing to societal development (Smith et al., 2015). In vocational education settings, students who repeatedly encounter labels such as “low ability” often internalize these evaluations. This internalization increases the likelihood that they stagnate in information gathering, option comparison, and outcome anticipation. Consequently, stronger stereotype threat correlates with greater perceived difficulty in career decision-making.
Furthermore, when a group is persistently stigmatized, its members often maintain self-esteem by weakening group identification or seeking mobility into higher-status groups (Brown, 2020). Many Chinese students enter vocational education and training (VET) not by active choice but through passive diversion due to exam failures, leading to their long-term classification as a suboptimal group in societal hierarchies. Research indicates that stereotype threat alerts students that their group identity may be used to evaluate their abilities (Kusluvan et al., 2022). In the short term, students may self-regulate by investing more cognitive resources to avoid confirming negative stereotypes. However, long-term resource depletion impairs performance and erodes confidence in their chosen field of study (Ståhl et al., 2012). During this process, some students maintain psychological distance from vocational education tracks and related occupational roles, no longer willing to view “vocational school student” as a source of identity. This may lead students to weaken their identification with the career roles associated with their field of study (Spencer et al., 2016). Consequently, stronger stereotype threat may correlate with lower levels of career identity among students. Based on the above analysis, this study proposes the following hypothesis: H1: Stereotype threat is positively correlated with parental expectation conflict H2: Stereotype threat is positively correlated with career decision difficulties H3: Stereotype threat is negatively correlated with career identity
Parents’ expectations regarding career paths constitute critical information for students making career decisions (Neuenschwander & Hofmann, 2022). On the one hand, when students perceive parental aspirations for them to attend general high schools or academic undergraduate programs, while they themselves are already enrolled in or more likely to enter vocational colleges. This gap can gradually develop into an expectation conflict. On the other hand, the family serves as adolescents’ most significant reference group, and parental expectations are often internalized as norms students should adhere to (Martinez et al., 2020). When students realize that vocational education does not align with their parents’ expectations, they often experience direct normative pressure from their families. Research shows that many students respond by delaying their career decisions to balance personal interests with parental expectations, and they oscillate between different options as a result (Wang, 2023). Under the combined influence of information processing biases and identity conflicts, stronger parental expectation conflict leads to greater obstacles in students’ career decision-making processes. Therefore, parental expectation conflict may be positively correlated with career decision difficulties.
Social identity serves as a crucial foundation for personal identity formation (Sugimura et al., 2025). Adolescents’ identity development becomes intricately intertwined with the social identities of their peer groups. Students’ attitudes and expectations toward vocational education are not solely determined by individual factors but also depend on how they interpret and integrate surrounding information (Al-Momani & Rababa, 2025). Parental expectations (Bao et al., 2023), peer evaluations of VET (Hurskainen et al., 2023), and media stereotypes about vocational education students all serve as cues captured by students and incorporated into their information processing, thereby influencing their evaluations of vocational education. Among these influences, parents serve as a crucial evaluative reference point, and their negative attitudes toward vocational education often carry greater weight (Boonk et al., 2021). Furthermore, the family is a key context for internalizing group status. If parents consistently devalue vocational education in daily interactions, students become more likely to diminish their identification with their chosen field of study and related occupations. Based on the above analysis, this study proposes the following hypotheses: H4: Parental expectation conflict is positively correlated with career decision difficulties H5: Parental expectation conflict is negatively correlated with career identity
Career decision difficulties represent a multidimensional psychological barrier. They manifest when students cannot form stable choices that align their interests, abilities, and career preferences (Gati et al., 1996) and this pattern signals an ambiguous career self-concept. Research also indicates that decision difficulties extend beyond choosing a future career, correlating with unclear identity and confused career self-concept (Lee et al., 2022). This implies that high levels of career decision difficulties fundamentally correspond to lower, less stable career identity. If students persistently experience internal conflict during career decision-making, they struggle to develop a clear career identity. Integrating the above analysis, higher levels of career decision difficulties may correlate with lower levels of career identity among students.
Career development confidence is a comprehensive belief built upon perceived competence, knowledge base, and professional identity, which increases as students deepen their understanding of their own roles (Sahlin et al., 2025). The formation of career development confidence relies on the continuous accumulation of experiences during learning and the resulting sense of self-efficacy (Sousa et al., 2025). When students experience career decision difficulties, they often struggle to formulate clear action plans. This struggle reduces their sense of control over their future development. Longitudinal studies of vocational high school samples also indicate that positive interactions between social identity and personal identity promote adolescent self-development (Sugimura et al., 2025). Consequently, prolonged career decision confusion leads to diminished confidence in career development. Based on the above analysis, this study proposes the following hypotheses: H6: Career decision difficulties are negatively correlated with career identity H7: Career decision difficulties are negatively correlated with career development confidence
A higher career identity implies that individuals cognitively position themselves clearly within their professional roles and emotionally recognize the significance of their chosen career path (Ali & Mehreen, 2024). It also reflects their willingness to invest effort and engage in deep learning in pursuit of that direction. This identification lays the foundation for forming a positive career self-identity. Research also indicates that vocational education can more directly enhance students’ income prospects and career opportunities through systematic skill development and connections with industry professionals (e.g., internships, apprenticeships), thereby improving their evaluation of vocational education pathways (Chu et al., 2018). However, within China's vocational education context, students still face persistent negative societal evaluations. Even when students themselves reject these stereotypes, their capabilities remain questioned due to their vocational student identity (Chu et al., 2018). This makes the formation of a stable career identity particularly crucial for maintaining positive career development confidence. Supported by a higher career identity, students are more likely to perceive vocational education as a worthwhile long-term investment, thereby accumulating positive learning experiences (Feng et al., 2025) and strengthening their confidence in future development opportunities. Based on the above analysis, this study proposes the following hypothesis: H8: Career identity and career development confidence are positively correlated.
Career development confidence represents vocational education students’ expectations regarding their ability to achieve long-term developmental goals through their chosen career path. It is the cumulative result of multiple psychological processes. First, stereotype threat intensifies students’ focus on negative perceptions such as the perceived inadequacy of vocational education students and their limited career prospects—thereby heightening tension in parent-child communication and career decision-making (Shapiro et al., 2013). This elevates levels of parental expectation conflict and career decision difficulties, further eroding identification with the “vocational student” identity. Existing research also indicates that stereotype threat impairs academic performance by occupying working memory and intensifying self-monitoring (Bullock et al., 2025). Students in this context struggle to maintain confidence in the developmental prospects of their chosen field, further substantiating stereotype threat's impact on career development confidence.
Second, parental expectation conflict and career decision difficulties represent two distinct risk categories that more closely align with students’ psychological experiences. Parental expectation conflict stems from significant others’ disapproval of the current career path, while career decision difficulties reflect students’ hesitations during information gathering, option weighing, and decision-making. On the one hand, research indicates that when parental and student career expectations show significant inconsistency, children are more prone to indecision during career choices and may even avoid critical career decisions (Zhang et al., 2022), thereby hindering the formation of stable career development confidence. On the other hand, career decision difficulties themselves indicate incomplete exploration of a specific career direction and relatively low career identity levels (Ho et al., 2024). Therefore, parental expectation conflict indirectly reduces career development confidence by increasing career decision difficulties and weakening career identity, while career decision difficulties indirectly diminish career development confidence by hindering the clarification of career identity. Based on the above analysis, this study proposes the following hypotheses: H9: Stereotype threat and career development confidence exhibit an indirect negative correlation. H10: Parental expectation conflict is indirectly negatively correlated with career development confidence H11: Career decision difficulties and career development confidence exhibit an indirect negative correlation
Hypothesis Model
Interdisciplinary models encourage hypotheses about how two or more processes work synergistically (Venticinque et al., 2024). This study integrates STT, SIP, and SIT from a complementary theoretical perspective. STT focuses on threat activation mechanisms. It explains how external negative evaluations are perceived in specific contexts and transformed into internal psychological pressure, supporting hypotheses H1, H2, and H3. Once threat states are activated, SIP reveals how this psychological pressure systematically influences students’ processing of career-related information through selective attention, interpretation bias, and response evaluation bias. This framework supports hypotheses H4, H5, H6, and H7. The continuous accumulation of cognitive processing biases penetrates deeper psychological structures. SIT elucidates how these accumulated experiences reshape students’ identification with vocational education and related occupational roles, providing theoretical foundation for hypothesis H8. The organic integration of these three theories jointly supports the indirect effects proposed in hypotheses H9, H10, and H11. Overall, this study examines educational issues from a social psychological perspective. Grounded in social psychological theories, it proposes eight direct path hypotheses and three indirect path hypotheses to develop a mediating hypothetical model. This model aims to validate the relationships among five variables: stereotype threat, parental expectation conflict, career decision difficulties, career identity, and career development confidence. The research model is shown in Figure 1.
Hypothesis model.
Research Methods
Procedures and Participants
Data collection commenced only after obtaining research ethics approval from the institution affiliated with one of the authors. The questionnaire included a research statement regarding informed consent. This study employed snowball sampling techniques. Counselors and homeroom teachers from vocational colleges and vocational undergraduate institutions in Shandong Province, Guangdong Province, Chongqing Municipality, Zhejiang Province, Hainan Province, and other regions forwarded the questionnaire link. An online survey targeted students enrolled for over one year, encouraging participants to forward the questionnaire to other students in the same grade after completion. The survey ran from September 16 to September 29, 2025, yielding 974 completed responses. After excluding 125 invalid responses due to excessive consistency or completion times less than 2 min, the valid sample comprised 849 participants, yielding an effective response rate of 87.16%. The sample included 524 males and 325 females, with an average age of 19.97 years (standard deviation: 1.32 years).
Regarding regional selection, this study chose five provinces (Shandong, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Henan) as survey areas based on multiple considerations. First, the sample covers eastern coastal regions, northern regions, and central regions. This distribution helps capture differentiated stereotype experiences that vocational education students may face under varying economic development levels and industrial structures. Second, institutions in these provinces have accumulated rich educational experience and maintain representative enrollment scales. Finally, the research team has established stable partnerships with multiple vocational institutions in these regions. These partnerships enable effective access to target populations through institutional channels, ensuring data collection quality. Additionally, China's vocational institutions exhibit certain regional concentration characteristics in geographic distribution. This study's regional selection reflects this objective reality.
This study employed snowball sampling to recruit participants. Two control measures were implemented to reduce potential sampling bias. First, multiple independent initial contact points were established at each partner institution. These contact points covered different program categories and grade levels to enhance sample heterogeneity. Second, a dynamic monitoring strategy was implemented. Sample distributions across variables such as gender, program, and grade level were regularly monitored during data collection. When overconcentration emerged in any category, subsequent recruitment directions were adjusted accordingly. This ensured balance in key demographic characteristics of the final sample Table 1.
Basic Information.
Measurement Tools
The measurement tools employed in this study were developed through contextual adaptation and expansion of established questionnaires, as well as refinement based on variable definitions. The initial draft underwent content validity review by five doctoral experts specializing in vocational education research to confirm the relevance of variable concepts to items, the comprehensiveness of scale coverage, and textual readability. Twenty vocational education students were then invited to pilot the questionnaire. Revisions were made based on their feedback, resulting in a final version comprising seven background characteristic items and five scales totaling 38 questions. The questionnaire employed a 5-point Likert scale, with scores ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).
Stereotype Threat
Based on the conceptual framework of stereotype threat, this study developed an 8-item stereotype threat scale to measure participants’ perceptions of societal biases toward vocational education. For example, vocational education is often viewed as “second-rate education.”
Parental Expectation Conflict
Based on the conceptual framework of stereotype threat, this study developed a 7-item parental expectation conflict scale to measure participants’ perceptions of the gap between their parents’ academic expectations and their own abilities or interests. For example: “There is a significant discrepancy between the professional direction my parents favor and my own interests.”
Career Decision Difficulties
This study adapted and expanded Creed and Yin (2006) career decision difficulties information inconsistency scale, comprising 8 items, to measure participants’ perceptions of difficulties in making future career choices. For example: “Family members’ opinions on my career development choices are inconsistent.”
Career Identity
This study adapted and expanded the career identity scale from Yang et al. (2022), comprising seven items, to measure participants’ identification with occupations related to their major. For example: “I am willing to pursue a career related to my major after graduation.”
Career Development Confidence
This study adapted and expanded the career confidence scale from Marciniak et al. (2021), comprising eight items to measure participants’ confidence in their future career development after employment. Example: “Regardless of environmental changes, I can achieve my career aspirations.”
Statistical Methods
This study is a quantitative research centered on confirmatory factor analysis. All statistical analyses were conducted using SPSS 23.0 and AMOS 26.0 software. First, common method bias tests were performed using SPSS 23.0 to ensure the robustness of the research results. Subsequently, reliability and validity tests were conducted on the scales, descriptive statistics were calculated for each variable, and Pearson correlation analysis was used to explore relationships between variables and assess discriminant validity. Confirmatory factor analysis was then conducted in AMOS 26.0 to examine the fit of the measurement model and overall model, ensuring model quality met acceptable standards. Finally, structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to conduct confirmatory tests on the 11 proposed hypotheses.
Research Findings
Common Method Bias (CMB)
To assess the presence of common method bias, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted, extracting five factors with eigenvalues greater than 1. The first factor explained 11.313% of the variance, well below the 50% threshold proposed by Podsakoff and Organ (1986), indicating no severe common method bias. The five factors collectively explained 62.874% of the total variance, indicating a reasonable factor structure with good validity.
Measurement Model Analysis
Before conducting structural equation modeling, the fit of the measurement model should be examined. Hair et al. (2019) and Kenny et al. (2015) recommend that χ2/df should be less than 5, RMSEA should be less than 0.10, GFI and AGFI should be greater than 0.80, and factor loadings (FL) for each item should not be less than 0.50. The item deletion results for this study are as follows: stereotype threat was reduced from 8 items to 5; parental expectation conflict from 7 items to 6; career decision difficulties from 8 items to 6; career identity from 7 items to 6; and career development confidence from 8 items to 7 Table 2.
Measurement Model Analysis.
Reliability and Validity Analysis
All variables in this study demonstrated good reliability and validity. Cronbach's α ranged from .86 to .98, CR values ranged from .86 to .90, and the FL values for the constructs ranged from .72 to .76, with AVE values ranging from .51 to .58. These results meet the data standards recommended by Cheung et al. (2024) Table 3.
Reliability and Validity Analysis.
The correlation coefficients for all variables in this study are less than the square root of AVE, meeting the recommended criteria for discriminant validity proposed by Cheung et al. (2024). The discriminant validity analysis is shown in Table 4.
Discriminant Validity Analysis.
Note: Diagonal values represent the square root of AVE; other values denote correlation coefficients.
Analysis of Variance by Professional Type
Results indicate that no significant differences were found across professional types for stereotype threat (F = 1.143, p > .05), parental expectation conflict (F = .640, p > .05), career identity (F = 1.488, p > .05), and career development confidence (F = 2.230, p > .05) showed no significant differences across major types, with all effect sizes being small (η2 < .02). However, career decision difficulty exhibited significant differences across major types (F = 4.545, p < .01, η2 = .016). Scheffe method revealed that students in engineering and technology programs (M = 3.054, SD = .849) exhibited significantly higher career decision making difficulties than those in business and management programs (M = 2.826, SD = .800). Similarly, students in arts, design, and communication programs (M = 3.144, SD = .790) demonstrated significantly greater career decision-making difficulties than those in business and management programs. Differences in career decision-making difficulties exist among students from different majors, while stereotype threat, as a group-level psychosocial phenomenon, exerts a universal influence Table 5.
Professional Type Analysis of Variance.
Notes: 1. Engineering and Technology (Mechanical, Mechatronics, Computer Science, Architecture); 2. Business and Management (Accounting, Marketing, Tourism); 3. Art Design and Communication (Art Design, Fashion Design, Film and Television, Broadcasting and Program Hosting); 4. Education (Early Childhood Education).
Hypothesis Model Validation
The model fit indices for this study are: χ2 = 723.608, df = 397, χ2/df = 1.823, RMSEA = .031, GFI = .945, AGFI = .936, NFI = .948, NNFI = .973, CFI = .976, IFI = .976, RFI = .943, PNFI = .865, PGFI = .807. All fit indices met the criteria recommended by Hair et al. (2019).
Results indicate that stereotype threat positively correlates with parental expectation conflict (β = .760***); stereotype threat positively correlates with career decision difficulties (β = .314***); stereotype threat negatively correlates with career identity (β = –.193**); parental expectation conflict was positively correlated with career decision difficulties (β = .477***); parental expectation conflict was negatively correlated with career identity (β = –.186**); Career decision difficulties were negatively correlated with career identity (β = –.261***); career decision difficulties were negatively correlated with career development confidence (β = –.143***); career identity was positively correlated with career development confidence (β = .699***). All eight hypothesized direct effect paths were supported.
Regarding explanatory power: stereotype threat explained 57.8% of family expectation conflict; stereotype threat and family expectation conflict together explained 55.5% of career decision difficulties; stereotype threat, family expectation conflict, and career decision difficulties explained 33.2% of career identity variance; and stereotype threat, family expectation conflict, career decision difficulties, and career identity explained 56.7% of career development confidence variance. The model validation is shown in Figure 2.
Model validation.
This study employed bootstrapping with 5000 resamples to obtain confidence intervals for indirect effects while simultaneously testing the mediation hypothesis. Results indicate that stereotype threat is positively indirectly correlated with career decision difficulties (β = .363***); negatively indirectly correlated with career identity (β = –.317***); and negatively indirectly correlated with career development confidence (β = –.438***). Family expectation conflict and career identity showed an indirect negative correlation (β = –.124***); family expectation conflict and career development confidence showed an indirect negative correlation (β = –.275***); career decision difficulties and career development confidence showed an indirect negative correlation (β = –.174***). The indirect effect analysis is shown in Table 6.
Indirect Effect Analysis.
p* < .05, p** < .01, p*** < .001
Discussion
Path Relationships Between Stereotype Threat and Other Variables
This study found that when vocational education students perceive higher levels of stereotype threat, they experience more pronounced conflict with parental expectations regarding their education. This conflict further exacerbates decision difficulties in career choice, diminishes career identity, and consequently undermines career development confidence. First, stereotype threat exhibits positive correlations with parental expectation conflict and career decision difficulties. This aligns with perspectives on stereotype threat presented by Spencer et al. (2016) and Pennington et al. (2016). Students may face negative judgments due to their group identity, significantly increasing self-doubt and imposing additional pressure during decision-making.
Second, stereotype threat negatively correlates with career identity and indirectly negatively correlates with career development confidence. This perspective is supported by Brown (2020), who found that when a group faces long-term stigmatization, individuals often reduce their identification with it to protect their self-esteem. This finding similarly applies to vocational education students in China. According to STT, students internalize external negative stereotypes as self-stigma, which weakens their identification with vocational education and related occupational groups (Leng et al., 2025). This diminishes confidence in their own abilities and ultimately impacts future career development. Conversely, if students establish positive social identification within the vocational education community, they perceive their target occupation as a worthwhile path to pursue, thereby maintaining higher levels of career development confidence. In other words, career development confidence is not directly influenced by stereotype threat but is progressively affected through intermediary mechanisms such as expectation conflict, decision-making dilemmas, and impaired career identity. This indicates that stereotype threat impacts not only students’ current learning experiences but also their long-term career development judgments. This finding provides empirical evidence for understanding how social stigma influences the career paths of vocational education students under the academic-vocational tracking system.
Path Relationships Between Parental Expectation Conflict and Other Variables
This study found that when vocational education students perceive more pronounced conflicts in parental educational expectations, they face greater difficulty choosing their desired career path. This also hinders the development of career identity, making it harder to cultivate higher levels of career confidence. First, parental expectation conflict positively correlates with career decision difficulties. This aligns with the perspectives of Wang (2023) and Boonk et al. (2021). Students often assign greater weight to parents’ negative attitudes toward vocational education. Consequently, many students adopt delaying strategies in career choice to meet family expectations. Additionally, this finding aligns with Zhang et al. (2022)'s research on parental influence in career decision-making: when parental and child career expectations are significantly misaligned, children are more likely to hesitate or even avoid critical career choices during the decision-making process.
Secondly, parental expectation conflict exhibits a negative correlation with career identity and an indirect negative correlation with career development confidence. According to the SIP, when significant parental expectation conflict arises, students often struggle to perceive any career choice as genuinely suitable during information processing. Continuing along the vocational education path is perceived as deviating from parental expectations, while shifting to an academic path lacks feasibility under current circumstances. This intensifies their career decision-making difficulties and ultimately undermines their confidence in career development. The finding indicates that resolving conflicts in parental expectations not only alleviates career decision-making pressure but also serves as a key pathway to strengthen career identity and career development confidence among vocational education students.
Path Relationships Between Career Decision Difficulties and Identity/Development Confidence
This study found that career decision difficulties exhibit negative correlations with career identity and career development confidence, while showing an indirect negative correlation with career development confidence. This indicates that when vocational education students encounter career choice difficulties, they struggle to develop a sense of career identity and find it harder to cultivate confidence in their future career development. This aligns with the findings of Lee et al. (2022). Career decision difficulties stem not only from the complexity of future choices but also involve identity ambiguity and confusion regarding career concepts. Furthermore, this finding aligns with Sousa et al. (2025), indicating that career confidence is rooted in the continuous accumulation of positive learning experiences, from which self-efficacy is developed. According to the SIP framework, career decision-making is a continuous psychological process (van Reemst et al., 2016). Students first encode clues related to career choices, then interpret this information within existing experiential frameworks, select goals, and generate and evaluate potential coping strategies (Venticinque et al., 2024). When students lack critical information about career choices or experience conflicts between their career preferences and competency requirements, they struggle to accumulate and engage with experiences centered on a specific career direction, thereby hindering the development of a stable career identity. According to SIT, these persistent frustrations may prevent students from forming stable, socially recognized identity positions within specific occupational groups, thereby negatively impacting career development confidence. This study extends the finding that career decision difficulties represent short-term distress, demonstrating that within vocational education pathways characterized by weak social evaluation and limited employment opportunities, career decision difficulties should instead be understood as a long-term risk state spanning information processing, identity construction, and career development confidence.
Path Relationships Between Career Identity and Development Confidence
This study found a positive correlation between career identity and career development confidence. That is, the greater the sense of identification vocational education students has with the professional field of their major, the higher their confidence in future career development. This aligns with Ali and Mehreen (2024)'s perspective that higher career identity signifies individuals possess a clear cognitive understanding of the professional roles associated with their field of study and emotionally endorse the value of this path. Furthermore, this finding also supports Feng et al. (2025), indicating that career identity facilitates the accumulation of positive experiences during the learning process. Career identity reflects students’ identification with their major and related professional roles, while career development confidence relies on subjective assurance that current educational and career paths will achieve long-term goals, establishing a positive relationship between the two. Compared to existing research primarily based on general undergraduate institutions, this study uses a vocational college sample to provide empirical evidence on how career identity supports career development confidence within an educational track long marginalized by society. It reveals that despite vocational education's disadvantaged position in societal evaluation, students’ career development confidence can still be significantly enhanced as long as they gradually develop a sense of belonging and value recognition toward their future careers through coursework.
Conclusions
Building upon STT, SIP, and SIT frameworks, this study proposed 11 research hypotheses validated through structural equation modeling. Findings reveal: 1. Stereotype threat positively correlates with parental expectation conflict and career decision difficulties but negatively correlates with career identity; 2. Parental expectation conflict positively correlates with career decision difficulties but negatively correlates with career identity; 3. Career decision difficulties are negatively correlated with career identity and career development confidence; 4. Career identity is positively correlated with career development confidence; 5. Stereotype threat, parental expectation conflict, and career decision difficulties all exhibit indirect negative correlations with career development confidence. Overall, we constructed a multidimensional integrated model framework for “career self-construction” through the hypothetical pathway of “threat/conflict-cognition-identity-confidence.”
Theoretical Contributions
Previous stereotype threat research has primarily focused on its impact on students’ academic performance. This study is the first to integrate the STT, SIP, and SIT theoretical frameworks. From a social psychology perspective, it expands our understanding of how career development confidence among vocational education students is threatened by social stereotypes and parental expectation conflict. This reveals that stereotype threat significantly undermines career development confidence among vocational education students. This insight highlights the critical importance of social information and environmental context for students’ career development. Additionally, the study demonstrates that stereotype threat impacts students’ identity construction.
Moreover, China's vocational education research has long prioritized macro-level theoretical discussions and policy analysis. Numerous survey reports have described the current status and challenges of vocational education in areas such as institutional conditions, employment rates, and regional development from a holistic perspective. However, these studies largely remain focused on institutional and structural dimensions. Micro-level exploration of students’ individual psychological processes and career development mechanisms remains insufficient. Particularly lacking are in-depth studies grounded in empirical data and evidence-based methodologies, which weakens the scientific foundation for targeted interventions and support strategies in educational practice. Therefore, this study contributes insightful evidence to the field of vocational education psychology in China. It enhances understanding of the construction processes of career identity and career development confidence among students in Chinese vocational institutions, providing more targeted theoretical support and practical recommendations for future curriculum design, career counseling, and intervention measures.
Implications for Practice
The Vocational Education Law of the People's Republic of China explicitly states that vocational education is an educational type of equal importance to general education and constitutes an essential component of the national education system and human resource development. But many members of society remain influenced by traditional “scholar-official” notions. Many parents view jobs with civil service status or high socioeconomic status as the ideal career path. Therefore, the sustained cultivation and promotion of accurate societal perceptions are particularly crucial. However, shifting public attitudes toward vocational education will require considerable time and concerted efforts from multiple stakeholders, including government, society, enterprises, and schools—to provide comprehensive support measures for skills development, interest exploration, and career advancement.
Although the government promotes the status and importance of vocational education through regulations and policies, there appears to be significant room for improvement. This includes government oversight to prevent discriminatory or restrictive hiring practices by enterprises, expanding employment platforms for vocational school graduates, and increasing resource allocation and support for vocational institutions. Accelerating the establishment of master's and doctoral programs within vocational undergraduate programs, alongside creating more R&D-focused postdoctoral positions, will help build a comprehensive vocational education system aligned with international standards. Concurrently, governments and schools should promote diverse admission and advancement pathways to highlight the multifaceted nature of vocational education students. Only through more concrete measures can we accelerate the reversal of public perceptions.
Of course, enterprises must fulfill their social responsibilities. Enterprises should implement competency-based principles. In recruitment, replace general educational credential thresholds with specific skill and competency requirements for positions. Use skill tests and practical assessments to evaluate candidates’ abilities. Include vocational qualification certificates and skill competition experience as evaluation references. In promotion processes, clarify the weight of skill contributions and actual performance in advancement decisions. Only by ensuring equal development opportunities for vocational graduates can societal stereotypes toward vocational education be fundamentally transformed.
Additionally, while parents naturally desire the best educational resources for their children's future career success, such expectations may disrupt their offspring's sense of direction. Parents should cultivate the correct mindset: supporting children in choosing fields aligned with their innate traits and passions enables more authentic development. Parents should adjust their behaviors in the following aspects. First, actively update their perceptions of vocational education. They can attend school open days, review graduate employment data, and learn about advancement pathways to objectively understand vocational education. Second, adjust how they express expectations. They should avoid transferring regret about not entering regular universities to their children. This reduces the impact of negative emotions on students. Third, learn to listen to students’ thoughts on their major and career development. Based on mutual understanding, parents should work with their children to establish phased development goals. This transforms expectation gaps into concrete growth plans.
K-12 schools should implement early interventions before students enter vocational education tracks. First, systematically conduct career exploration and labor education through career experience courses, company visits, and skill workshops. These activities help students encounter diverse career types and cultivate interest in hands-on practice. Second, establish diversified student assessment systems. Beyond academic performance, add assessment dimensions such as practical skills, innovation capabilities, and collaborative spirit. This ensures students with different strengths receive recognition and encouragement. It helps build positive self-development confidence before tracking decisions.
The current exam-driven system, dominated by written tests, may lead students to stereotype themselves as academic underachievers. Therefore, one method to mitigate stereotype threat is to remind students that they belong to a group with positive performance expectations. This fosters the right mindset. It helps students recognize that vocational education aligns better with their interests and aptitudes. This transforms vocational education from a secondary option into a primary choice.
Research Limitations and Future Research
Although this study validated the relationship between stereotype threat and career development confidence among vocational education students, certain limitations remain. While the proposed model revealed associations among variables, it does not establish conclusive evidence of causality. Therefore, subsequent research could employ empirical (mixed) methods incorporating longitudinal data, interviews, and text analysis to help validate causal relationships. Second, this study made efforts to control sampling bias. However, the inherent limitations of snowball sampling may still affect the external validity of research findings. Future research could consider stratified random sampling methods to enhance generalizability of conclusions. Additionally, parental educational background and occupational class may significantly influence conflict intensity. High socioeconomic status families may intensify conflicts due to preferences for academic education. However, they may also buffer conflicts through resource advantages and open-mindedness. Low socioeconomic status families may strengthen conflicts due to social mobility expectations. Yet they may also accept vocational education due to pragmatic orientations. Middle-class families may exhibit strong expectation conflicts due to status maintenance anxiety. Future research could collect paired student–parent data. This would comprehensively reveal how family factors moderate the influence of stereotype threat.
China possesses the world's largest vocational education system. Having evolved from initially adopting Western vocational education models to establishing distinctive institutional frameworks and systems, it offers valuable educational experiences worthy of international reference. Consequently, future research may analyze and interpret China's vocational education narrative through diverse disciplinary and theoretical lenses. It may also uncover theoretical frameworks yet to be explored within its rich practical experiences.
Vocational education psychology, a vital branch of educational psychology, still faces numerous topics under discussion or requiring deeper research. Consequently, more empirical research is needed to understand stakeholders’ behaviors and psychological states, thereby more effectively promoting the high-quality development of vocational education. Potential future research directions include, but are not limited to: the multi-dimensional values of vocational education; career development amid skill mismatches; skill development under the influence of artificial intelligence; students’ self-identification (categorization); and students’ internalization of competition versus resignation.
Footnotes
Ethic Statement
This study was approved by the Academic Committee of the School of Education, Guangxi University of Foreign Languages (Approval No. GXUFL-SE-24009). The study was conducted in accordance with the ethical principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki. Informed consent was obtained from all participating students and/or their legal guardians, as appropriate, prior to their involvement. The confidentiality and anonymity of all participants were rigorously protected throughout the research process; all data were collected and analyzed anonymously, with no personally identifiable information retained. The study's purpose and procedures were fully explained to participants, and their right to withdraw at any time without penalty was emphasized.
Informed Consent
All participants were informed that the survey was voluntary and anonymous before filling in the questionnaire. They were told they could quit at any time. All the students responded by volunteering to participate in the survey.
Funding
The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the National Social Science Fund of China under the Major Project, "Research on the Interactive Evolution Law of Vocational Education and Socioeconomic Systems", (grant number Grant No.: 24&ZD178).
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Availability of Data and Material
The data in the article are available with the consent of the first author.