Pathways to Purpose: Belonging, Stress, and Optimism in Relation to Career Aspirations of Students

College students’ career aspirations are critical to their professional development. However, limited research has investigated career aspirations within the context of Hispanic Majority Institutions (HMIs). To address this gap, we examined relationships between belongingness, stress, optimism, and career aspirations and offered a mediation framework to clarify their associations using self-reported data from undergraduates ( N = 261) attending an HMI in the United States. We found that belongingness (acceptance) was positively associated with career aspirations pertaining to achievement, leadership, and educational attainment; whereas, the trend was reversed for belongingness (rejection). Serial mediation analyses revealed that acceptance was related to lower stress, which was associated with higher optimism, and in turn was related to more ambitious career aspirations. In contrast, rejection was related to higher stress, which was associated with lower optimism, and in turn was related to less ambitious career aspirations. We consider these findings through a theoretical framework that underscores the importance of promoting inclusion and acceptance within HMIs to support students’ career development.