Racial/Ethnic Minority Vocational Research: A Content and Trend Analysis Across 36 Years

The authors examined 281 racial/ethnic minority (REM) career‐related studies published in the Journal of Vocational Behavior, The Career Development Quarterly (CDQ), the Journal of Career Assessment (JCA), and the Journal of Career Development between 1969 and 2004. Publication trends, article content and type, samples, and leading author and institutional contributors are reported. CDQ published the largest percentage of these articles (33.5%, n = 94), whereas JCA had the largest percentage (13%) of REM career articles relative to other articles it published during this time frame. There was an increase in the number of REM career articles being published across the years.     

Multicultural and International Research in Four Career Development Journals: An 11‐Year Content Analysis

In an increasingly diverse and global society, it is important to evaluate the cultural responsiveness of vocational research. The authors examined trends in the publication of multicultural‐focused articles from 2005 to 2015 in 4 journals: The Career Development Quarterly, the Journal of Career Assessment, the Journal of Career Development, and the Journal of Vocational Behavior. Methodological, thematic, and construct trends were examined across the identity categories of gender, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, gender identity, ability status, religion/spirituality, age, immigration status, and international research. Results showed increases in social class and international research but continued neglect of sexual orientation, gender identity, and ability status. The themes of career exploration and promoting agency received the most attention; equity in work settings received the least. Findings suggest that more research with underrepresented groups is needed and that counselors may need to rely on resources outside the current literature to ensure best practices with these clients.     

Using the Intelligent Careers Card Sort® With University Students

The authors describe the experiences of university students who completed the Intelligent Careers Card Sort® (ICCS), a career exploration exercise that is based on the Intelligent Career framework. The Intelligent Career suggests that there are 3 ways of knowing, which individuals should consider to successfully navigate the workplace: knowing‐why, knowing‐how, and knowing‐whom. This model is discussed in the context of the subjective career and the changing economy, and research on card sorts is briefly reviewed. In general, students thought that the ICCS was a useful part of the career development groups in which it was administered.     

Content Analysis of CDQ From 1994–2003: Implications and Trends for Practitioners and Researchers From a Decade of Research

A review of the content of The Career Development Quarterly (CDQ) was conducted for the period between 1994 and 2003. In total, 297 articles were published in CDQ during this period. The content analysis was based on content, authorship, and institutional affiliation. The principal areas of research were career development: life‐span perspectives and women's workforce participation. Of the articles published during this period, 33% fell into 1 of these 2 categories. Compared with the previous analysis (W. Buboltz & M. Savickas, 1994), a change was noted in the amount of research in women's workforce participation, which rose from 1.4% to 12.8%, whereas research on career development interventions fell by approximately 50%. The authors discuss implications and areas for future research.     

Gender Similarity or Gender Difference? Contemporary Women's and Men's Career Patterns

Career development research has often explored gender differences in and development of career patterns ( Gottfredson, 2006 ). Hyde's (2005) meta‐analysis indicated that men and women shared more similarities than differences. Applying Hyde's gender similarities hypothesis to careers, the authors conducted a 2‐stage study. Stage 1 was an analysis of career choices of couples (a socioeconomically and educationally advantaged group) announcing their wedding in the New York Times. Stage 2 was a comparison of a New York Times wedding cohort with a cohort from 11 other U.S. newspapers, examining national trends and exploring generalizability of the findings from Stage 1 of the study. Results revealed that there are shifting trends in career choices, most notably in the legal profession.     

The Case of Mandy: Applying Holland's Theory and Cognitive Information Processing Theory

In this article the authors discuss the application of Holland's theory (Holland, 1997) and cognitive information processing theory (CIP; Peterson, Sampson, & Reardon, 1991) to the case of a college student named Mandy who was deciding about a major and a future career. The authors also describe how a career planning class, the Self-Directed Search (SDS; Holland, Powell & Fritzsch, 1994), the Career Thoughts Inventory (CTI; Sampson, Peterson, Lenz, Reardon, & Saunders, 1998), and Improving Your Career Thoughts: A Workbook for the Career Thoughts Inventory (Sampson, Peterson, Lenz, Rearson, & Saunders, 1996) were used as interventions to allow Mandy to become aware of her negative thinking patterns and to begin the process of reframing these thoughts. The outcome of Mandy's case, her personal reactions to this article, and practical implications for other service providers, are discussed.     

Introduction to the Special Issue: Global Perspectives on Vocational Guidance

This special issue of The Career Development Quarterly presents the outcomes from an international symposium, titled International Perspectives on Career Development, jointly sponsored by the International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance and the National Career Development Association. The articles in this special issue discuss international perspectives on and comparative approaches to educational and vocational guidance that differentiate career development practices in different nations. In addition to the articles in this issue, a selection of papers presented at the symposium has been jointly published in a thematic issue of the International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance, 5(2).     

The Career Development Quarterly: A 22‐Year Publication Pattern Metastudy

Patterns of articles published in The Career Development Quarterly (CDQ) from 1990 to 2011 were reviewed in this metastudy. Author characteristics (e.g., gender, employment setting, nation of domicile) and article characteristics (e.g., topic, type, design, sample, sample size, participant type, statistical procedures and sophistication) were described and analyzed for trends over time. Significant changes were noted in increased proportions of female authors, international contributors, research articles, more sophisticated research designs, and decreased numbers of practitioner‐authors. These trends highlight a robust journal that continues to evolve to address changing career development and counseling challenges.     

Introduction to the Special Section

In this special section of The Career Development Quarterly, the authors pay tribute to the contributions of David Valentine Tiedeman (1919–2004) to the theory and practice of career counseling and development and vocational psychology. Tiedeman is honored as laying the foundation for the contemporary theory and practice of career construction. The articles published in this section emerged as a result of a special symposium dedicated to honor Tiedeman and his work that was held at the 2006 National Career Development Association Global Conference in Chicago.     

The Structure and Measurement of Career Indecision: A Critical Review

This article presents a comprehensive review of literature published between 2000 and 2017 relating to the theoretical and empirical progress of indecision structural models and assessment. Because career indecision remains a central topic for counseling, it is important for the field to achieve an updated understanding of relevant models and measurement. Based on their review, the authors found that factors of career indecision can be reliably and validly measured by three instruments: the Career Decision Difficulties Questionnaire, the Emotional and Personality Career Difficulties scale, and the Career Indecision Profile. Drawing from these results, the authors developed an integrative model of career indecision consisting of five factors: neuroticism/negative affectivity, choice/commitment anxiety, need for information, lack of readiness, and interpersonal conflicts. Implications and recommendations for practice and research are discussed in a global context.     

A 20-Year Retrospective of The Career Development Quarterly

A review of The Career Development Quarterly was conducted for a 20-year period (Volumes 23 through 42). A total of 791 articles were classified into the 14 substantive areas of career research and practice devised by Fitzgerald and Rounds (1989). Author institutional affiliation, geographic location, and leading contributors were also computed. Two principle areas of research activity and publication were evident (life-span perspectives on career development, and career development interventions), which accounted for 51.2% of the articles examined. Overall, Quarterly content has remained stable and no clearly definable trends across the years were apparent in any given topic.     

Counselors' Perceived Person–Environment Fit and Career Satisfaction

This correlational study examined the relationship between career satisfaction and person–organization, demands–abilities, and needs–supplies fit with counselors (N= 464) using the Perceived Job Fit instrument ( Cable & DeRue, 2002 ) and a scale of career satisfaction adapted from the Adult Career Concerns Inventory ( Super, Thompson, Lindeman, Myers, & Jordaan, 1988 ). Using a linear, multiple regression analysis, the authors found that person–organization fit (p= .01) and needs–supplies fit (p= .00) were both positively related to career satisfaction and that there was no relationship between demands–abilities fit and career satisfaction.     

Career Self‐Efficacy and Perceptions of Parent Support in Adolescent Career Development

The authors examined the relative contributions of both proximal and distal supports to the career interests and vocational self‐efficacy in a multiethnic sample (N = 139) of middle school adolescents. Consistent with Social Cognitive Career Theory, it was found that (a) vocational self‐efficacy and career planning/exploration efficacy consistently predicted young adolescents' career interests across Holland (J. L. Holland, D. R. Whitney, N. S. Cole, & J. M. Richards, 1969) themes; (b) gender and career gender‐typing predicted interests in Realistic, Investigative, and Social careers; and (c) perceived parent support accounted for 29% to 43% of the total unique variance in vocational self‐efficacy for all Holland theme careers.     

Perceived Career Barriers and Career Decidedness of First-Generation College Students

We examined the effects of perceived career barriers on career decidedness among first-generation college (FGC) students (n = 149) and non-FGC students (n = 182) at a 4-year university (mean age = 19.3 years). Participants responded online to measures of perceived career barriers and career decidedness. Results indicated that FGC students scored higher on lack of support and lack of time and financial resources than non-FGC students. For both groups, higher levels of perceived lack of skills were related to lower levels of career decidedness, whereas greater levels of family-related responsibilities predicted higher levels of career decidedness. FGC student status moderated the association between perceived lack of time/financial resources and career decidedness. Further research is needed to investigate the differential effects of various domains of career barriers. Career counselors are advised to consider FGC students' perceived career barriers in guiding students' career exploration and decision-making.     

Group Career Construction Counseling: A Mixed‐Methods Intervention Study With High School Students

This study investigated the value of group career construction counseling in a high school context. The author used purposive sampling to select participants who had sought career counseling. A mixed‐methods intervention study design was also used. Participants (N = 57) completed the Career Adapt‐Abilities Scale–South Africa (CAAS‐SA) before the 1st and after the 2nd intervention. The Career Interest Profile and the Maree Career Matrix were used to facilitate the intervention, and the CAAS‐SA was used to test the research hypotheses. The findings revealed that the boys’ and the girls’ career adaptability had improved meaningfully on all of the CAAS‐SA subscales. No gender‐based differences were found. However, differences were detected between both the boys’ and the girls’ pre‐ and posttest Control and Confidence subscale scores. The findings demonstrate the value of career construction counseling in group settings. More longitudinal research with diverse participants is needed.     

Assessing Efficacy and Importance of Career Counseling Competencies

The authors examined self‐efficacy and perceived importance of several career counseling competencies among counselors in school settings (N = 567). The social cognitive career theory was used as a conceptual framework. Participants completed a modified version of the Career Counseling Self‐Efficacy Scale (CCSES) that also included an importance rating. A principal components analysis was used to examine the factorial structure of the modified CCSES and to determine the generalizabilty of the original CCSES findings to practicing school counselors. In addition, counselors' importance ratings were compared to those of a panel of counselor educators and career guidance consultants.     

Advancing the Career Counseling Profession: Objectives and Strategies for the Next Decade

This article discusses the 9 analyses of the career counseling profession's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that appear in this September 2003 special issue of The Career Development Quarterly. The author identifies points of convergence, proposes a mission statement, and summarizes what career counselors seem intent on doing in the coming years. The analysts recommended that the career counseling profession concentrate on 8 objectives: advancing theory that is more holistic, contextual, and multicultural; using accumulated research more effectively; focusing new research on the career counseling process; exploiting technology to construct new tools; ameliorating career counseling training; expanding the National Career Development Association's role; increasing advocacy about public policy; and fostering the international growth of the profession.     

Career Adaptability and Turnover Intention: A Dual-Mediation Model

Career adaptability denotes psychosocial resources that help employees self-manage career change through both adapting themselves to the environment and adapting the environment to themselves. Previous studies have probed the former strategy and proposed a negative relationship between career adaptability and turnover intention. However, the presence of the latter strategy suggests a more complex relationship than previously thought. From a person-job fit perspective, the authors used structural equation modeling to examine the mechanism underlying the relationship between career adaptability and job satisfaction (an important predictor of turnover intention) among 218 employees working in China. The results showed that career adaptability had mixed effects on job satisfaction through the mediating role of task adaptivity and perceived overqualification. Overall, these findings carry theoretical and practical implications for career adaptability research and career counseling practices related to employee development.     

Reducing Adolescent Career Indecision: The ASVAB Career Exploration Program

An independent evaluation of the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) Career Exploration Program was conducted using nationally representative samples of high school students. The sample consisted of current ASVAB Program participants (n = 255) and two control groups of nonparticipants (n = 233, n = 189). A pretest‐posttest design showed that participation in the ASVAB Program increased career exploration knowledge and reduced diffusion and approach‐approach forms of career indecision, as assessed by the Career Decision Scale (S. Osipow, 1986).     

Practice and Research in Career Counseling and Development—2011

The Career Development Quarterly celebrated its 100th anniversary during the past year and continues to provide high‐quality research and conceptual articles of import to the study of career development and intervention. This article reviews the 2011 career counseling and development literature to highlight advances in theory, assessment, and intervention presented within the following themes: (a) from the past to the future, (b) work and well‐being, (c) diversity and career, (d) career theory and concepts, (e) career assessment, (f) career intervention, (g) career development: life‐span perspectives, and (h) international perspectives.