Introduction: With social changes, the realization of smooth and satisfactory employment of college students is an issue that requires deep thought. Basic psychological needs satisfaction play an important role as a guiding factor that affects students’ career adaptability. This study aims to explore the relationship and mechanism between the satisfaction of students’ basic psychological needs satisfaction and their career adaptability.Methods: A survey is conducted among students from six different universities across the country, using the Basic Psychological Needs Satisfaction Scale, the Career Adaptability Scale, the Career Decision Self-Efficacy Scale, and the Career Outcome Expectations Scale.Results: The satisfaction of basic psychological needs, career decision self-efficacy, and career outcome expectations are all significantly positively correlated with career adaptability.Career decision self-efficacy plays a partial mediating role between basic psychological needs satisfaction and career adaptability among college students. The moderated mediation model found that career outcome expectations play a regulatory role in the effect of career decision self-efficacy on career adaptability.Discussion: College students’ basic psychological need satisfaction can positively predict career adaptability directly and indirectly affect career adaptability through career decision self-efficacy, and career outcome expectations have a moderating role between career decision self-efficacy and career adaptability.

Purpose: Academic adjustment is essential for the academic success of higher vocational college students. Although previous research has explored the role of perceived peer support in the academic adjustment of general undergraduate students, its role and underlying mechanisms in this group remain unclear. This study aims to explore the relationship between perceived peer support and academic adjustment, focusing on the chain mediating roles of academic hope and professional identity.Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 9,075 students from 35 higher vocational colleges across 15 provinces and cities in China, using multi-stage stratified random sampling. Validated scales were used to measure perceived peer support, academic adjustment, academic hope, and professional identity.Results: The findings revealed that perceived peer support not only directly influences academic adjustment but also exerts an indirect effect through the individual mediation of academic hope and professional identity, as well as through the sequential mediation from academic hope to professional identity.Conclusion: Perceived peer support, academic hope, and professional identity significantly promote academic adjustment among higher vocational college students. These findings provide theoretical insights into the mechanisms of academic adjustment and offer practical implications for educational strategies, emphasizing the importance of fostering perceived peer support, academic hope, and professional identity to enhance students’ academic success.

Enhancing the career adaptability of university students is a practical necessity for addressing the challenge of student employment. This study explores the relationship between basic psychological needs satisfaction and career adaptability among university students based on Basic Psychological Need Theory and Social Cognitive Career Theory and constructs a corresponding chain mediation model. A survey was conducted among 635 university students from six provinces across China. The results indicate the following findings: (1) grit partially mediates the relationship between basic psychological needs satisfaction and career adaptability among university students; (2) career decision-making self-efficacy also partially mediates this relationship; and (3) grit and career decision-making self-efficacy serve as chain mediators in the relationship between basic psychological needs satisfaction and career adaptability. This study provides empirical support and significant guidance for enhancing the career adaptability development of university students.