The impact of career adapt-abilities on AI anxiety among English majors: a dual perspective analysis based on core self-evaluations at the person- and variable-centered

Career adapt-abilities and AI anxiety — a study of 444 English-major undergraduates at four Chinese universities (July–August 2025) showing that career adapt-abilities significantly and negatively predict AI anxiety, with core self-evaluations partially mediating this relationship. Latent profile analysis identified three career adapt-abilities subgroups (low, medium, high): the low group showed the highest AI anxiety, the high group the lowest. This is direct empirical evidence that career-related readiness is a protective factor against AI anxiety.

Wang (2026) connects the knowledge base's AI Anxiety And Stress and career-readiness threads: students who feel more adaptable and prepared for their careers experience less AI anxiety. It positions career development as a buffer against the fear that AI will displace or devalue one's professional future.

Method

• Sample: 444 English-major students from four comprehensive universities in Sichuan, China.
• Design: Dual-perspective — variable-centered (regression/mediation) and person-centered (latent profile analysis).
• Measures: Career Adapt-Abilities Scale, Core Self-Evaluation Scale, and an AI Anxiety Scale.

Key Findings

• Career adapt-abilities negatively predict AI anxiety. Students with higher career adaptability report significantly lower AI anxiety.
• Core self-evaluations partially mediate the relationship — career adaptability works partly by strengthening positive core self-evaluations (self-worth, competence), which in turn reduce anxiety.
• Three latent profiles (low, medium, high career adapt-abilities) with significant differences in core self-evaluations and AI anxiety; the low group had the highest AI anxiety and the high group the lowest.
• Both analytic strategies converge, strengthening the robustness of the finding.

Implications

• For AI Anxiety And Stress: career anxiety is a distinct, empirically validated component of AI anxiety; building career readiness is a concrete protective intervention.
• For education and career services: strengthening career adapt-abilities (and core self-evaluations) can mitigate AI anxiety among students facing an uncertain AI-disrupted labor market — relevant to Career Development And Readiness and employability programming.
• For Self Efficacy: the core self-evaluations mediation points to self-worth/competence beliefs as the mechanism linking career readiness to lower anxiety.

Connected Concepts

• AI Anxiety And Stress
• Self Efficacy
• AI Literacy
• Higher Ed
• Well Being
• Motivation
• Professional Training

Connected Articles

• Kim AI Anxiety Comprehensive Analysis — comprehensive review of AI anxiety and its interventions
• AI Literacy Career Adaptability Business 2026 — AI literacy and career adaptability in business education
• AI Anxiety Strategic Regulation Writing 2026 — AI anxiety as a productive signal
• Workforce Readiness Smart Manufacturing Wrl 2026 — workforce readiness in manufacturing

Citation

Wang, X. (2026). The impact of career adapt-abilities on AI anxiety among English majors: a dual perspective analysis based on core self-evaluations at the person- and variable-centered. Frontiers in Psychology, 17, 1767791.