Professional Identity and Life Satisfaction in Pre-Service English Teachers: The Roles of Career Adaptability and Proactive Personality
Year: 2026
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Professional identity is an important factor influencing pre-service English teachers’ life satisfaction and career development; however, its underlying mechanisms and moderating conditions remain insufficiently explored. Drawing on career construction theory, this study examines the relationship between professional identity and life satisfaction, with a particular focus on the mediating role of career adaptability and the moderating role of proactive personality. Using a cross-sectional online survey of 668 Chinese pre-service English teachers, this study measured professional identity, career adaptability, proactive personality, and life satisfaction with validated scales. Moderated mediation was examined in SPSS using PROCESS macro (bootstrapping, 5,000 resamples). Professional identity was positively associated with life satisfaction ( p < .001). Career adaptability partially mediated this relationship, accounting for 79.41% of the total effect. Moreover, proactive personality moderated the association between professional identity and life satisfaction; however, it did not moderate the relationships between professional identity and career adaptability or between career adaptability and life satisfaction. The findings suggest that career adaptability partially mediates the relationship between professional identity and life satisfaction, and that proactive personality moderates this relationship. These results clarify the psychological mechanisms through which professional identity relates to pre-service teachers’ life satisfaction and provide empirical evidence to support the development of both universal and personalized training systems for teacher education programs.
Source: SAGE Open
Authors: Yinpin Huang, Qi Tian
Institution: Jingchu University of Technology
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,600
OpenAlex ID: W7167669246