Although research has examined and supported the role of environmental adversity in career decision-making, little is known about the prediction power of childhood environmental adversity for career decision-making. To provide guidance for early career interventions, particularly in disadvantaged populations, the current study drew on life history theory and used a sample of U.S. college students (n = 310) and a sample of U.S. noncollege individuals during emerging adulthood (n = 308) to examine a mediation model involving childhood unpredictability, childhood poverty, career decision ambiguity aversion, and career decision-making difficulty. The results support the mediation of ambiguity aversion in the positive predictions of childhood unpredictability for all four factors of career decision-making difficulty. However, the results do not support the indirect predictions of childhood poverty for all four factors of career decision-making difficulty through ambiguity aversion but support the direct prediction of childhood poverty for lack of readiness. Therefore, the current study illuminates the importance of a predictable family environment during childhood for career decision-making during emerging adulthood and provides implications for the validity of life history theory in career decision-making, the development of ambiguity aversion, and early career interventions. Implications and future directions of research regarding childhood poverty are also discussed.

尽管研究已经检验并支持了环境逆境在职业决策中的作用，但人们对于儿童环境逆境对职业决策的预测能力知之甚少。对于早期的职业生涯干预，特别是在弱势群体提供指导，目前的研究借鉴了生活史理论和使用的美国大学生（样本ñ新兴成年期（期间= 310）和美国noncollege个体的样品ñ= 308），以考察涉及儿童期不可预测性，儿童期贫困，职业决策模棱两可以及职业决策难度的中介模型。研究结果支持在对儿童职业决策困难的所有四个因素的儿童不可预测性的积极预测中对歧义厌恶的调解。但是，结果并不支持通过歧义性厌恶对职业决策困难的所有四个因素进行的儿童贫困的间接预测，而是支持对缺乏准备状态的儿童贫困的直接预测。因此，本研究阐明了童年期可预测的家庭环境对于成年后的职业决策的重要性，并为生活史理论在职业决策中的有效性提供了启示，歧义厌恶的发展以及早期的职业干预。还讨论了有关儿童贫困的研究意义和未来的方向。