Career development, coping, and emotional distress in youth living with HIV

The career planning and exploration of youth living with HIV (YLH) is explo red. A total of 115 YLH completed the Career Decision Scale and the Career Planning subscale of the Career Development Inventory, indexes of emotional distress, physical health, coping techniques used, and demographic informa tion. YLH reported significantly lower scores for career planning than did the normative group. YLH who scored higher on career planning reported less emotional distress, were more likely to use positive coping, and were less likely to use self-destructive or depressed coping. YLH who were more cert ain of their occupational choice had less emotional distress and used more positive coping. None of the career development scores related to time sinc e HIV diagnosis or T-cell count. As one of the first studies exploring the career development of YLH, the findings suggest the viability of further in vestigation of the career development of YLH and of interventions for promo ting career development.