Vol. 3 No. 1 (2026): Journal of Counseling and Educational Research

This conceptual paper examines how technological innovation, particularly the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), artificial intelligence, and automation, is reshaping the world of work and the career-adjustment demands facing Nigerian youth. Drawing on a structured synthesis of peer-reviewed literature, national policy documents, and international labour-market reports published between 2015 and 2026, the paper analyses three interlocking shifts: the restructuring of global and Nigerian labour markets, the transformation of work values and occupational identity, and the counselling responses required to support youth adjustment. The World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report 2025 projects that 92 million jobs will be displaced and 170 million created by 2030, with 39% of existing skill sets requiring transformation. Nigeria's ICT sector contributed approximately 19.8% of real GDP in the second quarter of 2024, while youth unemployment estimates range from 6.5% under the National Bureau of Statistics' revised methodology to over 50% under civil-society assessments, underscoring the scale of adjustment required. The paper argues that professional counsellors occupy a strategic position for translating these macro-level shifts into individual career resilience, and concludes with prioritised, actor-specific recommendations for counsellor education, professional bodies, curriculum policy, and government agencies to strengthen Nigeria's national human-capital response.

This study examined the relationships among resilience, academic stress, and positive mental well-being among Senior High School (SHS) students at Elizabeth Seton School and used the findings as a basis for developing a school-based mental health program. A mixed-methods research design was employed, combining a quantitative descriptive-correlational approach with a qualitative interview component. The quantitative phase involved 162 SHS students from the STEM, ABM, and HUMSS strands who participated through total enumeration sampling, while 10 students participated in semi-structured interviews through convenience sampling. Quantitative data were collected using the Perception of Academic Stress Scale (PAS), Warwick–Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS), and Resilience Scale (RS-23). Frequencies, percentages, weighted means, standard deviations, and Spearman's rank-order correlation were used to analyze the quantitative data, while thematic analysis was used to examine the qualitative interviews. The findings showed that students experienced high academic stress (M = 3.44, SD = 1.08), moderate positive mental well-being (M = 3.24, SD = 1.11), and moderate-to-high resilience (M = 5.06, SD = 1.49). Resilience had a weak positive but statistically non-significant relationship with academic stress (ρ = .136, p = .082), whereas it had a strong positive and statistically significant relationship with positive mental well-being (ρ = .745, p < .001). Qualitative findings highlighted academic overload, parental and societal expectations, limited rest, peer and family support, religious or spiritual coping, goal-focused persistence, disengagement, and technology use as important aspects of students' experiences. Overall, the findings suggest that resilience should not be viewed as a mechanism that necessarily reduces academic stress but may be more closely associated with students' positive mental well-being. The findings served as the basis for a proposed school-based mental health program integrating academic stress management, resilience-building, positive mental well-being promotion, and healthy coping strategies.

Academic stress is a common issue among students resulting from increasing academic demands. This study aimed to determine the influence of peer social support on academic stress among ninth-grade students at SMP Negeri 257 Jakarta. A quantitative approach using a survey method was employed, involving 162 students selected through simple random sampling. Data were collected using a Likert scale and analyzed via simple linear regression. The results indicate that peer social support has a significant effect on academic stress; the higher the social support received by students, the lower their level of academic stress. Social support acts as a protective factor in helping students manage academic pressure. This study underscores the importance of a supportive social environment within the school. However, the study was limited by the number of variables and the scope of the sample. Future research is encouraged to incorporate additional variables to provide more comprehensive findings.