Exploring family factors affecting the career maturity of middle school students

The role of the family draws attention in the career choice of secondary school adolescents, which will be one of the most important decisions in the next stage of their lives. When the roles of families affecting the career maturity of adolescents are examined, cultural and socioeconomic characteristics significantly affect the career maturity of adolescents. It is stated that the development of career maturity is affected by the family environment in which adolescents live and the family's child-rearing styles. It appears that there are research findings showing that parental behaviors have a direct impact on the development of career maturity. In this regard, families can have a positive impact on the development of adolescents' career maturity, ensuring that the adolescent fulfills the characteristics of the current developmental period and is ready for the career maturity task of the next developmental period. In this context, the main purpose of the research is to discover the roles of families in the career maturity of adolescents. The research was conducted based on case study, one of the qualitative research methods. Using the non-random sampling method, a study group was formed with 10 students, their parents, and 10 teachers who taught these students. Individual interviews conducted within the scope of the research were subjected to content analysis. As a result of the research, it is seen that the most intense influence of families on the career maturity of adolescents is on the dimension of clarification of professional knowledge and planning, followed by the dimensions of planned orientation towards career choice and consistency of professional preferences. It has been determined that among the dimensions of professional maturity, the area in which the role of families is lowest is related to the crystallization of the individual's characteristics.