The initial career choices that young people make can shape the course of their working lives. These choices are influenced by their occupational aspirations and goals as well as the opportunities that are available to them. Whether a person’s occupational aspirations are achieved or not can have an impact on their sense of wellbeing. We know from existing research that a person’s wellbeing is enhanced when they are able to fulfil their goals (Pavot & Diener, 2008). However, failing to achieve their goals can result in disappointment, frustration or social withdrawal. The overall aim of the research was to understand how occupational aspirations and outcomes affect young people’s wellbeing in the UK. We investigate the occupational aspirations of young people when they were aged 16 to 18 and their achievements five years later, assessing their levels of wellbeing (measured as satisfaction with job, income, leisure time, health and overall life satisfaction) at each age. Two main questions are addressed: 1. To what extent do young people achieve their occupational aspirations? 2. Are young people’s occupational aspirations and achievements associated with their wellbeing? We draw on goal setting theory to help us interpret the findings from our research and examine a potential relationship between career aspirations, outcomes and wellbeing. Data were drawn from Understanding Society, which is the largest longitudinal household panel survey of its kind in the UK and includes questions on life changes, education and wellbeing. The sample of 208 (59% female, 82% British) was derived from respondents aged 16 to 18 in Wave 3 of the survey (covering Jan 2011 to Jul 2013), and then matched with their responses five years later. The outcome variables included changes in each of the measures of wellbeing between the two time points, and hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to investigate any possible relationship. We found that just over half of the young people in this study either achieved the occupational aspiration they held at the age 16-18 or overachieved (52.3%). Furthermore, the data showed no significant relationship with individual levels of wellbeing and the fulfilment of their occupational aspirations. However, those who did not fulfil their aspirations reported lower levels of financial wellbeing compared to those who achieved their occupational aspirations. Overall, it appears that young people’s wellbeing is not impacted by achieving or failing to achieve occupational aspirations.

Pavot, W., & Diener, E. (2008). The Satisfaction With Life Scale and the emerging construct of life satisfaction. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 3(2), 137–152. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760701756946