Construction and Reconfiguration of Vocational Identity among Mexican Psychology Students during University Training: A Thematic Analysis

Abstract

Aims: To analyse how psychology students perceive and narrate the construction and reconfiguration of their vocational identity throughout their university education, identifying the factors that account for the diverse trajectories of vocational interest reported retrospectively, including stability, expansion, and shifts away from an initial interest in the clinical area. Study Design: Qualitative study with a descriptive-interpretive design and a cross-sectional approach. Place and Duration of Study: Complejo Regional Nororiental of the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla (BUAP), Mexico, during the autumn semester of 2025. Methodology: Five focus groups were conducted with a total of 32 seventh-semester undergraduate psychology students. The information was analysed through thematic analysis, based on an open coding process followed by selective coding, organised into three categories: motivation for entering the programme, reconfiguration of vocational interest and professional projection, and criteria for choosing a specialisation. Results: Curiosity about understanding human behaviour emerged as the most consistent motivation for entering the programme, present across all five groups. Most participants entered with a limited perception of psychology, centred almost exclusively on the clinical area, which was progressively reconfigured through formative experiences, faculty influence, and self-perceived abilities. When choosing a specialisation, vocation was presented as the most important criterion in principle, although in practice it coexisted with—and was in several cases subordinated to—employability and income-related considerations. Conclusion: Vocational identity among psychology students develops gradually and non-linearly, mediated by direct formative experience, perceived self-efficacy, and the economic conditions of the context, thereby generating a persistent tension between the vocational ideal and the material conditions perceived as necessary to practise the profession. These findings underscore the need for psychology training programmes to actively support students' vocational exploration and to provide clearer guidance on the employability conditions of each area of specialisation.