La.R.I.O.S. Research Activities

Larios Laboratory aims to achieve these main research goals:

• Developing assessment measures on variables involved in career decision making
• Analyzing effects of cognitive and not cognitive variables on decisional styles
• Identifying efficacy criteria for different vocational models
• Identifying efficacy criteria for career training programs
• Developing assessment measures and protocols for persons with disabilities
• Efficacy verification of training programs that aim to increase cognitive and not cognitive dimensions of decision making;
• Efficacy verification of career counseling and training programs
• Developing career training programs for persons with disabilities

• Analysis of the relationships between self-efficacy beliefs and Job satisfaction, in collaboration with the University of Maryland, Maryland, USA (prof. Robert Lent) and the Loyola University Chicago (prof. Steven Brown).
• Analysis of perceived support, self-efficacy beliefs and school career indecision, in collaboration with the University of Wisconsin - Madison, USA (prof. Scott Solberg).
• Analysis of the relationships between decisional styles, self-efficacy beliefs and coping strategies, in collaboration with the University of Melbourne, Australia (prof. Leon Mann).
• Analysis of problem solving abilities, in collaboration with the Missouri University, USA (prof. Puncky P. Heppner and Mary Heppner).
• Analysis of self-determination and career choice in adolescents and persons with disability, in collaboration with the Kansas University Center on Developmental Disabilities, USA (prof. Michael L. Wehmeyer).
• Analysis of professional interests in children and young adolescents, in collaboration with the Arizona State University, USA (prof. Terence Tracey) .
• Analysis of the relationships among parents support and the development of interests in children, in collaboration with the Cleveland University, USA (Donna P. Schulteiss).
• Analysis of concept of work, study and leisure time, in collaboration with the Boston College, USA (prof. David Blustein) and the Ben Gurion University, Israel (prof. Hanoch Flum).
• Analysis of coping strategies in young and old adolescents, in collaboration with the Melbourne University, Australia (prof. Erika Frydenberg).
• Analysis of the relationships among parents and children perceptions and attitudes toward work, in collaboration with the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine, USA (prof. Erik Porfeli).
• Analysis of career interests in children and adolescents with the University at Buffalo, USA (prof. Sandro M. Sodano).
• Analysis of career decision making difficulties in collaboration with the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israele (prof. Itamar Gati).

Life Design International Research Group

Prof. Salvatore Soresi and prof. Laura Nota are members of the 'Life Design International Research Group' that aims to identify future horizons of Vocational Psychology. This team includes: Jean-Pierre Dauwalder (University of Lausanne, Switzerland), Maria Eduarda Duarte (Universidade de Lisboa), Jean Guichard (Institut National d'Etude du Travail et d'Orientation Professionnelle - Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers, Paris, France), Jérôme Rossier (Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Switzerland), Mark Savickas (Behavioral Sciences Department; Northeastern Ohio University College of Medicine, USA), Raoul Van Esbroeck (Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium), Annelies E.M. van Vianen (University of Amsterdam).

The Career Adaptability International Collaborative

Larios researchers are members of this International team that was born in Berlin, 2008, that involve scholars of 15 European and extra-European countries.
This collaboration, guided by M. Savickas, aims to develop career development models and cross-culture measures focusing on career adaptability. A 50 items-instrument, "Career Adapt-Abilities Inventory" has just been developed in order to test career adaptability. The translation and adaptation of this instrument by the diverse national research teams is in progress.

University Network for Innovation in Guidance Erasmus-NICE

The Larios laboratory represents Italy in the project named "University Network for Innovation in Guidance" granted by European Union and coordinated by professor C. Schiersmann, Ruppercht Karls University of Heidelberg. Specifically the Larios laboratory is involved in the working group "New themes, new challenges - Innovation: Identify and develop further innovative training" coordinated by prof. J. Guichard, the Organisation de l'INETOP/CNAM, Paris, and it aims to collect and spread, referring to Life Design approach, career adaptability assessment measures.
http://dlearning.uni-heidelberg.de/

The Network for Innovation in Career Guidance and Counselling in Europe 2 (NICE 2)

The Network for Innovation in Career Guidance and Counselling in Europe 2 involves 45 partners from 28 European countries. Most of them are higher education institutions that offer degree programmes in career guidance and counselling or engage in related research. Supported financially through the European Commission, the members of NICE 2 will engage in several activities to enhance academic cooperation in our field from 2012 to 2015. Important projects within the “NICE 2” programme will be:

• the formulation of a joint memorandum on the role of higher education in career guidance and counselling,
• the development and testing of common points of reference for the academic training of career guidance and counselling professionals (e.g. the NICE Core Competences),
• activities to support the exchange of lecturers, researchers and students between the participating institutions, and
• the development of a sustainable infrastructure for future networking, including an online community and database.

The NICE 2 programme will be accompanied by many international workshops and three large conferences. In particular, a wide range of actors interested in the academic training and research in career guidance and counselling (including policy-makers, members of professional associations, and representatives of research and training institutions) will be invited to a large international conference in Canterbury from September 3-6 in 2014. For more information about NICE, please visit the homepage www.nice-network.eu

Scientific awards to Larios’s members (file pdf)