A Phenomenological Study of Career Anxiety Among College Students

This study explored the phenomenon of career anxiety through a qualitative investigation of the experiences of 7 traditional‐aged college students who were in various stages of their undergraduate degree programs. Using Moustakas's ( 1994 ) method of transcendental phenomenology, the authors conducted in‐depth interviews to answer the following questions: (a) What are coresearchers’ (participants') experiences with the phenomenon of career anxiety? and (b) In what contexts do the coresearchers experience career anxiety? Seven themes emerged: general symptoms of anxiety, existential concerns, pressure, lack of career guidance, cognitive distortions, social comparisons, and economic/occupational uncertainty. The findings provide a contextual and developmental perspective on career‐related anxiety that can guide counselors in the implementation of interventions for reducing anxiety associated with career choice and development.     

Academic and Career Development of Undocumented College Students: The American Dream?

Little is known about the academic and career decision‐making process for college students with undocumented status. This study used a multiple case study approach to explore how academic and work‐related decisions were made for 2 college students with undocumented citizenship status. Participants responded to a series of questions about their academic and career development. Data collected from these interviews were analyzed by a research team. After cross‐case analysis, 6 themes emerged: (a) barriers; (b) emotional impact; (c) resiliency, supports, and coping; (d) discrimination; (e) familial and cultural influences; and (f) academic, work, and career factors. Findings suggest that counseling professionals should attend to systemic, academic, and work‐related barriers that directly affect the educational and career decisions of students with undocumented citizenship status. Future research could expand on the present study by further exploring systemic and contextual factors that influence how undocumented students make academic and career choices using varied qualitative and quantitative methodologies.     

Career‐Related Parent Support and Career Barriers: An Investigation of Contextual Variables

The authors used social cognitive career theory (Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994 ) as the basis for examining the person and contextual variables of gender, ethnicity, educational and career barriers, and career‐related parent support for incoming 1st‐year African American, Asian, Latino, and White college students. Women, as compared to men, perceived significantly higher levels of career barriers but similar levels of coping efficacy in dealing with these barriers. Women also reported receiving more career‐related emotional support from parents than did men. For all participants, career‐related parent support accounted for a significant portion of the variance for perceptions of educational and career barriers and coping efficacy with educational and career barriers.     

Student Training Promotes Mentoring Awareness and Action

Student training is a critical but often overlooked aspect of the mentoring process. Composite mentoring, involving the strategic selection of a diverse set of mentors, is proposed to guide students to take a more active role in their own mentoring experiences. A mentoring program with composite mentoring as a guiding framework was designed and implemented for college women pursuing science careers. The effectiveness of the program is illustrated, and students reported enhanced mentoring and career‐related experiences. Implications for advising, career counseling, and mentoring program design are discussed.     

Gender discrimination and career decision-making difficulties among female Chinese college students: The buffering role of coping styles

The current study examined the relationship between gender discrimination and a form of career decision-making difficulties: emotional and personality-related career decision-making difficulties among female Chinese college students. It further examined the buffering effect of coping styles on the above relationship. A series of hierarchical regression analyses were conducted on a sample of 1427 female Chinese college students from 19 universities located in different regions in China. Results indicated that only suppressive style of coping served as a buffer on the relationship between gender discrimination and career decision-making difficulties. Also, gender discrimination, reflective style of coping, and reactive style of coping were positively associated with career decision-making difficulties. These results supported the need to develop career interventions focusing on discussion of gender discrimination, its impact on one's career decisions, as well as teaching distraction coping strategies in reducing the negative impact of gender discrimination on career decision-making difficulties among female Chinese college students.     

Academic Underachievement and Recovery: Student Perspectives on Effective Career Interventions

Academic achievement has a significant influence on various career development and decision‐making factors. Therefore, it is important for career counselors to understand how past academic underachievement affects students’ current lives and to develop interventions that might ameliorate negative effects. This study examined the experiences of 9 ethnically diverse college students who had experienced and overcome academic failure. Data were collected by individual interviews and analyzed based on the consensual qualitative research method. Four themes emerged in relation to participants’ academic underachievement and recovery: attitude, study strategies, external support, and coping difficulties. The results suggest that underachieving students are better able to cope with and overcome academic difficulties when they set clear career goals, use effective learning strategies, consciously put forth more effort, and receive external support.     

The Origin of Major Choice,Academic Commitment,and Career‐Decision Readiness Among Taiwanese College Students

The present study aimed to examine if and how career‐decision readiness relates to the origin of college major choice among Taiwanese college students. A total of 375 junior and senior college students (147 women, 228 men) responded to measures of college major choice, academic commitment, career self‐efficacy, and career‐decision readiness. Results indicated that students' academic commitment to a college major tend to increase when they choose their majors based on personal and career preferences. In sequence, high levels of academic commitment lead to high levels of career self‐efficacy, and increased self‐efficacy augments the extent of career‐decision readiness that students manifest near the end of their college education. These findings have practical implications insofar as many Asian students choose a college major because of parents and other authority figures, and these findings demonstrate that a full understanding of career‐decision readiness may require incorporating the origin of college major choice and its academic effects into future research.     

Predicting Undergraduate Student Retention in STEM Majors Based on Career Development Factors

A research gap exists with regard to examining the influence of career interventions and career readiness assessments on student retention in college majors related to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). To address this gap, the authors examined 3 variables as potential predictors of retention in STEM‐related majors: (a) a STEM‐focused career planning intervention, (b) students' initial major declarations, and (c) changes in scores on a measure of career readiness. Results revealed that all 3 independent variables were significant predictors of STEM retention but did not accurately predict students who would not be retained. These results have implications for undergraduate STEM initiatives, college counselors and career advisors, and researchers investigating the predictors of STEM retention. Future research should include additional predictor variables.     

Rural Appalachian High School Students’ College‐Going and STEMM Perceptions

The authors examined perceptions of key social cognitive career theory (Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994) variables related to college‐going and science, technology, engineering, math, and medical (STEMM) careers in 10th and 11th graders (N = 892) attending 3 rural Appalachian high schools. The authors examined differences in perceptions related to gender, prospective 1st‐generation college student status, and the presence or absence of aspirations to pursue a STEMM career. Young women and young men scored similarly on all but 1 dependent variable, college‐going self‐efficacy (young women scored higher). Students who had STEMM career aspirations had higher scores on every measure than those who did not. Results suggest examining a 3rd prospective 1st‐generation college student status group—students who are unsure of their parents’ education level—as a distinct group in future research. By examining the college‐going and STEMM attitudes of rural Appalachian high school students, this study advances the literature and informs practitioners on reducing educational and vocational inequalities in this region.     

Behavioral Exploration of Career and Specialty Choice in Medical Students

Understanding the process by which students naturally construct and internalize their educational experiences relating to career development is important to career counseling. The author investigated how exploratory behaviors during a community‐based field experience course contributed to the vocational development of 1st‐year medical students. Behavioral exploration data regarding medical career development and specialty decision making were collected from 91 first‐year medical students before and after they engaged in an exploratory behavioral activity, the Ambulatory Care Experience course. Findings suggest that students had not progressed in their medical career development and that more uncertainty existed among students after completing the course.     

Racism‐Related Stress and Ethnic Identity as Determinants of African American College Students' Career Aspirations

Drawing primarily on the construct of psychological buffer, the purpose of this study was to explore the extent to which racism‐related stress and ethnic identity are determinants of career aspirations. A total of 163 African American college students from a predominately White Midwestern university participated in the study. A moderation regression analysis was conducted. Results indicate that ethnic identity interacted with racism‐related stress (p= .04) to predict career aspirations. In other words, as racism‐related stress increases in the context of low identity development, career aspirations decrease. Conversely, as perceived racism increases in the context of high identity development, career aspirations increase. Implications for professionals and future research in the field of career counseling are discussed.     

Using Narrative Career Counseling With the Underprepared College Student

An increasing number of students enter college underprepared. These students do not have the academic skills to take college‐level courses and are placed in remedial classes. Career counseling can help underprepared college students make educated career decisions based on their current situations. This article explores the characteristics of underprepared college students, examines career‐related issues these students face, and reviews the literature on narrative career counseling. The life design method is applied to a case example of an underprepared college student to demonstrate how to best serve the needs of these students.     

Career Decision Self‐Efficacy of Asian American Students: The Role of Curiosity and Ethnic Identity

This study examined the role of curiosity and ethnic identity in career decision self‐efficacy among Asian American college students. Given that curiosity can promote the process of exploring one’s possible future self, opportunities, and career goals, the authors hypothesized that curiosity would be associated with career decision self‐efficacy, directly or indirectly, through a sense of ethnic identity. Results based on data from 425 Asian American incoming first‐year college students suggest that students with high curiosity tend to present a stronger sense of competence in completing career decision‐related tasks. These findings also confirmed a hypothesis that ethnic identity mediates the association between curiosity and career decision self‐efficacy. Implications for future research and career counseling with Asian American college students are discussed.     

Prospective First‐Generation College Students: A Social‐Cognitive Perspective

The authors investigated differences in college‐going expectations of middle school students who would be the 1st in their families to attend college. Social‐cognitive career theory (SCCT; R. W. Lent, S. D. Brown, & G. Hackett, 1994) was used to examine college‐related expectations in 272 seventh‐grade students. Differences were found between prospective 1st‐generation college students (PFGCSs) and their non‐PFGCS peers, with the former group demonstrating lower self‐efficacy, higher negative outcome expectations, and more perceived barriers. Path analysis demonstrated partial support for the SCCT model. An alternative model for PFGCSs is proposed.     

Transitioning Through College With Diabetes: Themes Found in Online Forums

Abstract

Objective: Content analysis of Internet-based diabetes forum text was used to examine the experiences encountered by students with diabetes transitioning into and through college. Participants: Forum posts (N = 238) regarding attending college with diabetes were collected and analyzed. Methods: Thematic coding was used to identify prominent topics, followed by analysis of theme distribution across college transitional stages. Three students with diabetes were recruited to review results and corroborate findings. Results: Twenty thematic categories were identified. Preparation for college involved efforts to move toward autonomous diabetes management. Transitioning in was marked by adjusting to a college lifestyle, then working to manage issues such as busy schedules and alcohol use as continuing students, and turning attention toward future career options and finances while transitioning out. Conclusions: As they move into and through college, students with diabetes negotiate developmental and diabetes-specific tasks within an environment that presents unique logistical, lifestyle, and psychological challenges.     

Negative Career Outlook and the Working Alliance in Career Counseling

The authors investigated 3 dimensions of the working alliance—goal, task, and bond—and the reduction of negative career‐related thoughts. A pretest–posttest design revealed a significant reduction in negative career thoughts after an initial career counseling interview was provided to college students (N = 87). Regression analyses revealed that task predicted negative career thoughts. The findings offer evidence of the effectiveness of career counseling and of the contribution of working alliance to counseling as a process and outcome variable.     

The Economic Value of Career Counseling Services for College Students in South Korea

This study investigated college students’ perception of the monetary value of career counseling services by using the contingent valuation method. The results of a multivariate survival analysis based on interviews with a convenience sample of 291 undergraduate students in South Korea indicate that, on average, participants’ expressed willingness to pay (WTP) for such services ranged from U.S. $10.22 to $10.54 per hour of individual career counseling. Self‐stigma and attitudes toward counseling had positive effects on their WTP, whereas the year in college and social stigma had negative effects. The results provide policy makers with preliminary evidence of the monetary value of career counseling.     

Neuroticism,Negative Thinking,and Coping With Respect to Career Decision State

Using structural equation modeling, the present study investigated relationships between neuroticism, coping strategies, and negative career thoughts within the context of attaining a positive career decision state. Results from the initial model, based on a sample of college students (119 women, 113 men; M = 20.3 years) enrolled in a career development course, revealed that coping strategies were not a significant contribution to the model. The final model, without coping strategies, showed that neuroticism had a significant indirect effect on career decision state through negative thinking and that the relationship between neuroticism and career decision state was also significant. Findings also indicate that in the presence of negative career thoughts, neuroticism becomes associated with a more positive career decision state. Practical implications include suggestions that counselors intervene on clients' negative career thoughts to potentially render their neurotic tendencies more productive in reaching a desired career decision state.     

Religion,Spirituality, and Career Development in African American College Students: A Qualitative Inquiry

The authors explored through semistructured interviews the interrelationships of religion, spirituality, and career development in a sample of 12 African American undergraduate students. Using consensual qualitative research methodology (C. E. Hill, B. J. Thompson, & E. N. Williams, 1997), they identified 6 primary domains or themes related to these students' experiences in this regard, including (a) degree of identification as religious and/or spiritual, (b) parents' influence on religious and spiritual beliefs, (c) roles of religion and spirituality in participants' career development, (d) challenges in dealing with academic and career‐related issues, (e) religious and spiritual strategies to deal with academic and career‐related challenges, and (f) indicators of success in future career or occupation.