Career adapt-ability has recently gained momentum as a psychosocial construct that not only
has much to offer the field of career development, but also contributes to positive coping,
adjustment and self-regulation through the four dimensions of concern, control, curiosity and
confidence. The positive psychology movement, with concepts such as the orientations to
happiness, explores the factors that contribute to human flourishing and optimum functioning.
This research has two main contributions; 1) to validate a German version of the Career
Adapt-Abilities Scale (CAAS), and 2) to extend the contribution of adapt-abilities to the field
of work stress and explore its mediating capacity in the relation between orientations to
happiness and work stress. We used a representative sample of the German-speaking Swiss
working population including 1204 participants (49.8% women), aged between 26 and 56
(Mage = 42.04). Results indicated that the German version of the CAAS is valid, with overall
high levels of model fit suggesting that the conceptual structure of career adapt-ability
replicates well in this cultural context. Adapt-abilities showed a negative relationship to work
stress, and a positive one with orientations to happiness. The engagement and pleasure scales
of orientations to happiness also correlated negatively with work stress. Moreover, career
adapt-ability mediates the relationship between orientations to happiness and work stress. In
depth analysis of the mediating effect revealed that control is the only significant mediator.
Thus control may be acting as a mechanism through which individuals attain their desired life
at work subsequently contributing to reduced stress levels.