Social Class and Expectations of Rural Adolescents: The Role of Parental Expectations

This study investigated mechanisms involved in the intergenerational transmission of social class, specifically addressing the prediction of career expectations. The results indicated that among rural high school students (N= 200) in Grades 10–12, there was no direct effect of socioeconomic status (SES; as measured by parent education and occupation) on career expectations. However, there was a direct effect of educational expectations on occupational expectations. Building on the importance of educational expectations in the prediction of occupational expectations, the results suggested that perceived parental expectations explain variance in educational expectations. Overall, it seems that the effect of SES on occupational expectations was mediated by educational expectations; therefore, individuals of lower SES who have increased educational expectations are more likely to have occupational expectations similar to those of their higher SES peers. Moreover, increased parental expectations were positively associated with educational expectations among individuals of various SES levels.     

From Childhood to Adulthood: A 15‐Year Longitudinal Career Development Study

In 1987, 208 second graders were interviewed about their occupational aspirations and expectations, school likes and dislikes, educational plans, and other variables. They were reinterviewed every 2 years through senior year in high school. A 5‐year post‐high school follow‐up was conducted, and 35 young adults (23 years old) from the original sample completed a detailed questionnaire. Young adults reported significantly less career direction and preparation in high school than they did as seniors in high school. Comparisons between 3 generations within the same families were conducted on educational and occupational achievement. The importance of teachers and parents in children's career development is discussed.     

Effects of a Career Course on Chinese High School Students' Career Decision-Making Readiness

Career decision-making is a critical task for high school students, yet little is known about how career interventions affect their decision-making skills and self-efficacy. We investigated the outcome of a career intervention in a Chinese high school setting to determine whether it would reduce the difficulties students faced in making a career decision and elevate their self-efficacy in career exploration. A career intervention course was delivered to 413 high school students (228 female, 185 male) who completed a demographic questionnaire, the Major Decision-Making Self-Efficacy Scale (Peng & Long, 2003), and the Career Decision-Making Difficulties Questionnaire–Chinese Version (Shen, 2005) before and after the intervention. Results indicated that the intervention had a positive impact on reducing students' difficulties making career decisions but had mixed results on career self-efficacy. Proactive, systematic, multilevel, and structured interventions over longer periods of time would likely help youth develop their career decision-making skills.     

Longitudinal Relations of Parental Influences and Adolescent Career Aspirations and Actions in a Collectivist Society

Using social cognitive career theory as a framework, we examined the longitudinal effects of proximal parental contextual influences on career aspirations and actions in a collectivist context. We used a sample of 954 Indonesian high school students and measured parental career expectations, adolescent‐parent career congruence, self‐efficacy, outcome expectations, career aspirations, planning and exploration, twice, 6 months apart. The best‐fitting model was reciprocal, with the results showing that parental career expectations predicted subsequent career aspirations and planning, and aspirations and congruence with parents regarding career matters predicted future exploration. Self‐efficacy and outcome expectations were reciprocally related over time. Self‐efficacy served as an across‐time predictor of both parental contextual variables. Career exploration predicted future self‐efficacy and planning predicted later outcome expectations.     

Factors Influencing STEM Career Aspirations of Underrepresented High School Students

A shortage of female and minority students pursuing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers has prompted researchers and policy makers to examine the current STEM supply pipeline. This study examined factors influencing STEM career aspirations of a nationally representative sample of 9th‐grade students (N = 21,444). Characteristics of students who aspired to STEM careers and non‐STEM careers were examined. Guided by the career aspirations model (Mau & Bikos, 2000 ), the authors conducted logistic regression analyses to investigate variables predicting STEM career aspirations. Results indicated that race, gender, socioeconomic status, math interest, and science self‐efficacy were the most important predictors of STEM career aspirations. Counselors in school and related career services contexts are encouraged to consider these important factors in identifying high school students who are interested in STEM career choices, as well as in planning career interventions to facilitate their career paths. Future researchers could test the applicability of this model with middle school students or adults.     

Self-Esteem,Vocational Identity,and Career Salience in High School Students

This study used Super's (1980) life span career development theory to investigate the relations between self-esteem level, vocational identity, and career salience in high school students. Two hundred fifty-one students were randomly selected from junior classes in urban, suburban, rural, and vocational schools. Results indicated that high self-esteem students scored significantly higher than low self-esteem students on vocational identity and career salience (participation, commitment, and values expectations) in school and home or family roles, but they did not differ on work, community, or leisure roles. Implications for life span career counseling are discussed.     

Dysfunctional Career Thoughts and Perceived Quality of Parental Relationships in Adolescents With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is known to cause significant difficulties in interpersonal relationships. Empirical research in career development has demonstrated that close, supportive relationships are associated with positive vocational behaviors (Kenny et al., 2018). We examined dysfunctional career thoughts and perceived quality of parental relationships in high school students with ADHD. One hundred two adolescents (76 boys, 26 girls) with ADHD responded to measures of career thoughts and interpersonal relationship quality. Preliminary exploratory analysis, using multiple linear regression, showed that male participants' dysfunctional career thoughts were statistically significantly related to their relationships with their mothers. For female participants, relationships with fathers represented an area for further exploration. Results suggest that career professionals can enhance positive outcomes of decision-making and problem-solving issues in adolescence with additional focus on relational interventions. Future research should incorporate the influence of gender and race/ethnicity on crucial relationships and focus on paternal relationships using cognitive information processing–based interventions with this population.     

Rural Latino Youth Career Development: An Application of Social Cognitive Career Theory

This study used social cognitive career theory (Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994 ) to investigate the career development of 9th‐grade students living in 2 rural communities with large numbers of Latino immigrants. Participants (55.3% Latino) responded to measures of vocational skills self‐efficacy, career decision outcome expectations, career aspirations, and barriers to postsecondary education. Contrary to previous findings, results indicated that Latino students in these communities reported higher self‐efficacy beliefs than did White students. Latino students also reported higher perceived barriers, but this did not seem to relate to their career aspirations. Results suggest that school and career counselors should focus on programming that attends to Latino students' self‐efficacy and outcome expectations, as well as efficacy for overcoming barriers. Doing so could prove useful for increasing career achievement among rural Latino youth.     

LINGERING NUANCES: GENDERED CAREER MOTIVATIONS AND ASPIRATIONS OF FIRST-YEAR LAW STUDENTS

This study examined students' career motivations and aspirations at the beginning of their legal education and after one semester in law school. Interviews with 29 law students within the first few weeks of their first semester revealed interesting differences in women's and men's long-term, but not short-term, career ambitions: notably women had lower expectations for their career trajectories than did men. Work and family concerns also played a role in women's perception of possible career paths and were defined by both women and men as potential barriers to their careers. Follow-up interviews with the same students after their first semester in law school also exposed the different experiences of the law students based mostly on their gender and grades. After one semester of law school and after first-year grades were received, the gendered reactions to their grades provided insight into women's and men's perceptions of viable career options.     

Influencing Client Expectations About Career Counseling Using a Videotaped Intervention

Realistic client expectations about career counseling are essential to positive client outcomes. The authors investigated a videotaped intervention designed to influence participants' expectations about career counseling using a pretest/posttest experimental design. As measured by the Expectations About Counseling‐Brief Form (H. E. A. Tinsley, 1982), undergraduate participants who watched the videotaped intervention significantly increased their expectations of personal commitment to career counseling and decreased their expectations of counselor expertise compared with participants who watched a control videotape. A secondary hypothesis, that changes in expectations would positively affect attitudes toward career counseling as measured by the Attitudes Toward Career Counseling Scale (A. R. Rochlen, J. J. Mohr, & B. K. Hargrove, 1999), was not supported.     

Reasons for Leaving the Academy: a Case Study on the ‘Opt Out’ Phenomenon among Younger Female Researchers

This study provides a contemporary case for exploring the assumed ‘opt out’ phenomenon among early‐career female researchers. Based on rich data from a Danish case study, we adopt an integrated, holistic perspective on women's reasons for leaving the academy. We propose the concept of ‘adaptive decision‐making’ as a useful analytical starting point for synthesizing structure‐ and agency‐centred perspectives on academic career choices. Our study provides new insights into the myriad of structural and cultural conditions circumscribing the career ambitions and expectations of younger female (and male) researchers, at a critical transition point epitomized by high demands for scholarly productivity, international mobility and accumulation of social capital. Located within the context of Danish higher education, our study also adds to the current discussion of why academic gender stratifications persist in a country renowned for its leading international position on issues of societal gender equality.     

Parental Participation in Issues Concerning their Sons and Daughters with Learning Disabilities

'Participation' is much in vogue in current service parlance. This paper brings together literature on the participation of parents of people with learning disabilities. Research has focused mostly on participation during the school career, although increasing attention is being paid to participation at times of transition to adult services and moves from the family home. A number of issues surrounding participation are discussed: information, service philosophy, parental expectations for their sons and daughters and relative levels of parental and professional responsibility, aiming to illustrate the complexity of this concept and issues that exist for research and practice.     

Career concerns and personnel investment in the Major League Baseball player draft

This study examines the relationship between career concerns of organizational decision-makers and their investments by analyzing data from Major League Baseball's (MLB) annual player draft. Career concerns for MLB general managers (GMs) can create incentives to prioritize near-term success and thus spend fewer draft resources on high school players (who, being younger than college players, are less likely to provide near-term benefit to an MLB team). Findings are consistent with this: underperforming expectations in the prior season leads teams to spend significantly smaller proportions of signing bonus dollars on high school players, an effect driven by GMs with relatively short tenures.     

Step to college. Moving from the high school career academy through the 4-year university.

This study addresses the question "Do school-to-work programs, as embodied by career academies, facilitate postsecondary education?" The author conceptualizes postsecondary education as a series of steps through the university and examines the high school career academy's influence on entrance into, route through, and outcomes from a 4-year university. Data are drawn from applicant and student records at a comprehensive, urban university for all individuals originating from a single district's high schools. The findings suggest that students from career academies have higher academic achievement upon leaving high school, less need for remediation in English at the university, and a 4-percentage-point increase in graduation from the university than students who are not from academies. These findings suggest that school-to-work programs could facilitate positive outcomes in postsecondary education. However, the continued high rates of remediation and the low rates of graduation, even for students from career academics, suggest that their influence might not be enough to ensure success in postsecondary education. This analysis therefore suggests that further research should identify program components that increase postsecondary education and determine how these components can be institutionalized and built on in subsequent reforms.     

Career Development and School Success in Adolescents: The Role of Career Interventions

Using longitudinal survey data, the present study examined the effect of participation on career development skills in 6 career education experiences and school success among South Korean adolescents (2,473 young men, 2,132 young women; mean age = 15.86 years). Regression analyses indicated that students who participated in career education programs in school once or twice over a 2‐year period had the highest scores in both career development skills and school success. In contrast, there was no relationship between career education, career development skills, and school success for students who participated in career education programs only once or not at all. Results support the influence of career education interventions on students' career development skills and school success. This study provides accountability information on the effectiveness of career education interventions at South Korean secondary schools. The authors offer suggestions about more effective career interventions that can be applied in South Korean high schools.     

College Women's Career Self-Efficacy and Educational Environments

This study examined the relationship between the composition by sex of women's high school and college environments as well as the sex of their selected influential teachers in each of these settings and their reported self-efficacy in careers judged traditional or nontraditional for women. Two hundred and seventy-four junior and senior female students from both single-sex and coeducational private liberal arts colleges served as participants. Results indicated no main effects for composition by sex of an institution, or the sex of influential teachers, nor were there any significant two-way interactions. Two significant (p > .05) three-way interactions did emerge, however. One indicated that nontraditional career self-efficacy was predicted by a single-sex high school and college environment with either no high school influential teacher or the choice of a male one. The second predicted three-way interaction indicated increased nontraditional career self-efficacy by students attending single-sex high schools and colleges and choosing a male college influential teacher.     

Through the Brick Wall,and the Glass Ceiling: Women in the Civil Service in Bangladesh

In Bangladesh the disparity between male and female representation in public administration is wide. Fewer women are employed in the civil service and they figure prominently in jobs set aside for them, while executive positions are generally occupied by men. Both systemic and subjective discrimination have created obstacles for women's access to public employment. They have to surmount enormous difficulties, first to gain entry into the civil service by thwarting social and cultural barriers and competing against well‐prepared and favoured male contestants, and then fight against a variety of odds to climb up the career ladder. Public personnel management is dominated by men whose perceptions and attitudes influence the development of personnel policies with a clear male bias. This has led to women's persistent discrimination in recruitment, placement, advancement, mobility and training. Women quotas are capriciously administered and subjective discrimination serves as a barrier in their career path. The promotion system is heavily inclined towards subjectivity and generally works against them. Most women come with high expectations and are committed to and always enthusiastic about their work and keen to advance their career, but circumstances work against them.     

Evaluating Factors Associated With the Career Maturity of High School Students

This study evaluated the career maturity and career decision-making attributional style of high school students in an ethnically diverse, southeastern urban school system. Participants provided information about sex, age, current class standing, ethnic background, type of diploma sought, career goal, and grade point average and completed the Assessment of Attributions for Career Decision Making (Luzzo & Jenkins-Smith, 1998) and the revised Career Maturity Inventory (Crites & Savickas, 1995). Results indicated a significant, positive relationship between career maturity and an optimistic attributional style. Young men perceived more control over their career decision making than did young women. Suggestions for counselors are discussed.     

Women's desire for the kaleidoscope of authenticity,balance and challenge: A multi‐method study of female health workers’ careers

Improved health care and increased life expectancy have extended working lives and changed the nature of work for many women. The aim of this research is to explore women's kaleidoscope career intentions of authenticity, balance and challenge, and understand the impact of life roles on their career choices. The research comprises two studies. In Study 1, interviews with 14 female hospital pharmacists demonstrate how their desire to increase non‐work life roles while caring for ageing parents has influence over their career choices. In Study 2, a survey of 178 female direct care workers confirms life roles’ impact on their kaleidoscope career intentions. Findings demonstrate that different life roles strongly influence women's career choices in a number of ways, primarily their desire to increase their leisure and engagement with activities outside work. In later life, carer responsibilities play an influential role in female career choices, particularly those related to eldercare. Finally, kaleidoscope career intentions may be influenced by life roles. These findings have considerable implications for both the expansion of careers and gender theory, and development of public and business policies aimed at attracting and retaining human resources.