Background. Early career choice is a developmental task at the adolescent age (D.B. Elkonin, I.S. Kon, D.I. Feldstein). Diversified educational system in Russia makes it objectively possible to implement various trajectories of professional development in the transition from childhood to adulthood (L.A. Golovei, O.A. Karabanova, N.S. Pryazhnikov). The paper is devoted to the study of parental involvement in career choice in the context of the modernization of the Russian educational system. The scheme of Personal Career Plan (PCP) is a substantive procedural model of career choice (N.S. Pryazhnikov). The adolescent PCP development is studied as a process that is realized through the interaction between the adolescents and their parents and is understood as the co-adjustment process (G.V. Burmenskaya) of the efforts of adolescent and parents in solving the task of building the PCP. The collaboration of parents and adolescents is determined by child-parent relationship (CPR), development of personal autonomy, autonomy of adolescent in CPR. There is lack of research devoted to the study of parent-child relationship at the stage of the career choice, types of parental involvement in the adolescent’s PCP g.

Objective. The objective of the research is to study the correlation between parental involvement in career choice by adolescents and emotional autonomy in CPR in adolescence (according to adolescents).

Design. The paper presents the results of the authors’ empirical research parental involvement (according to adolescents). The study was conducted in 2016-2017 and represents a part of a broader research of the conditions and factors for PCP in the Russian adolescents. The sample included 167 adolescents of Moscow high schools from 14 to 18 y.o. The techniques included modified “Parent Career Behavior Checklist” (Keller, Whiston, 2008), and modified “Emotional Autonomy scale” (EAS) (Steinberg, 1986) (author’s adaptation).

Findings. The obtained data allowed to conclude that the parental involvement in career choice is quite possible. Five groups of adolescents with different level of parental (mothers’ and fathers’) support in career choice (according to adolescents) were distinguished. The results confirm the correlation of adolescent’s emotional autonomy in CPR and the features of parental involvement in career choice (acoording to adolescents).

Conclusion. The hypothesis of the correlation of the parental involvement and the emotional autonomy in CPR was confirmed. The nonlinear character of the relationship between parental involvement and emotional autonomy of adolescents in the CPR has been revealed. 

The paper discusses various approaches to the definition of «success» and types of success. It also presents the results of the pilot study of success representations in modern adolescents: semantic universals are identified, the notion of «success» is defined, the most important characteristics of success in adolescents are highlighted. Using authorized techniques the “definition of success” highlights the notion of “success” to be the most consistent characteristic of “the achievement of goals”. One of the most significant characteristics is “self-realization”. Adolescents also define success as the experience of “joy and satisfaction from the work done” and as “a sense of welldeserved happiness”. It is of particular interest that such category as “popular in the society” is the least important in determining the success of a given sample. The most interesting part of the research is to analyze particular cases of success in famous personalities who are significant for adolescents, i.e. representatives of show business, modern business (e.g. Bill Gates), or members of the family and friends. The sphere of politics is less popular, and the sphere of science, art and sports are so rare for adolescent sources of success patterns.

The research is able to communicate ideas about the success of adolescents with the experience of meaningfulness of their lives. Those adolescents who evaluate their past, present and future life as meaningful and loose enough do not feel the strength to manage their own lives, regard themselves as not very successful people and the very success is seen as volatile and rare. The image of success in adolescents who consider their life meaningful are positive and bright: they do not consider it such a rare and changing phenomenon, probably because more than once they have experienced success in various areas of their lives.

As a result, a correlation representation of adolescents about the success with the experience of the meaningfulness of their lives is established.