New directions: introducing the ‘Best Article’ Award

This research, conducted in 1998, examines the career expectations of student social workers as they approach the end of their DipSW training. The study looked at students' attitudes towards seeking a job following the end of their course, including their aspirations and their self-assessed readiness to practise. It also looked at the perspective of local social work agencies, seeking their views on how well prepared newly qualified social workers are for the realities of practice. The majority of students were planning to seek full-time employment in the statutory sector with local social work agencies in the field of community care. Most students did not expect to be promoted within the first five years after qualifying; job satisfaction was regarded as more important than career development. In the longer term, however, the majority envisaged that they would progress beyond the level of basic grade social worker. Issues were identified in relation to students' perceived readiness to practise, the availability of suitable employment in the area of students' preference, and the numbers of social work students able to work through the medium of Welsh.     

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.     

Interpersonal Influences on Students' Academic and Career Decisions: The Impact of Sexual Orientation

The authors investigated differences in interpersonal influences on career decision making between gay, lesbian, and bisexual (GLB) and heterosexual college students. Contrary to hypotheses, GLB students reported having more career role models than did heterosexual students, and the amount of inspiration received from role models did not differ between the 2 groups. However, GLB students perceived they received less support and guidance from others in their academic and career decision making. As expected, GLB students were more likely to endorse the importance of a career role model's sexual orientation and support of people with their own sexual orientation. Career intervention and research implications are discussed.     

The Influence of Gender,Generation Level,Parents' Education Level,and Perceived Barriers on the Educational Aspirations of Mexican American High School Students

A portion of social‐cognitive career theory (R. W. Lent, S. D. Brown, & G. Hackett, 1994) was tested by examining contextual factors related to the educational aspirations of 186 Mexican American high school students. A 3‐step hierarchical regression analysis was conducted to determine the influence of gender, generation level, parents' education level, and perceived educational barriers on educational aspirations. Results indicated that perceived educational barriers significantly predicted students' educational aspirations above and beyond the influence of gender, generation level, and parents' education level. Implications for Mexican American students' educational goals are provided.     

Role Induction in Career Counseling

Many vocational psychologists advocate addressing career as well as personal concerns in career counseling. However, some clients may have inappropriate expectations toward career counseling and may not be prepared or want to discuss personal issues. This study examined whether perceptions of the career counseling process could be modified with the use of role induction. Results indicated that, whereas role induction was associated with perceptions of students' own career concerns, gender was a strong influence in perceptions of counseling overall and in the stigma associated with a holistic perspective on career counseling.     

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.     

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.     

Factors That Influence Persistence in Science and Engineering Career Aspirations

The author investigated students' persistence regarding career aspirations in science and engineering (SE) professional careers as a function of race and sex. In a nationally representative sample of 8th graders, persistent racial minority and female students were compared with nonpersistent racial minority and male students regarding their self‐concept, parental involvement, socioeconomic status, and academic achievement. Men were more likely than women to persist in SE career aspirations. Persistent students scored higher than did nonpersistent students on all of the variables studied. Academic proficiency and math self‐efficacy were 2 of the strongest predictors of persistence in SE careers.     

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.     

Perceived family economic hardship and student engagement among junior high schoolers in Ghana

Research has shown that several factors influence student engagement, but little is known about the predictive role of family economic hardships on student engagement, particularly in the sub-Saharan African context. This study used data from junior high school students in Ghana to examine the association between perceived family economic hardship and students' classroom engagement, and the intervening role of future intentions. The structural equation modeling results indicate that perceived economic hardship is associated with behavioral engagement in school in two ways. The first is the direct positive link from perceived economic hardship to engagement (i.e., the motivational pathway). The second is a more nuanced channel whereby perceived economic difficulties are negatively associated with students' participation in academic work, but only through the inconsistent mediating (suppression) role of students' future intentions (i.e., the demoralizing pathway). The nuanced psychological and behavioral outcomes suggest the need for programs that cultivate educational resilience among young people.     

The Role of Career Barriers in High School Students' Career Choice Behavior in Taiwan

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of career barriers in social cognitive career theory (R. W. Lent, S. D. Brown, & G. Hackett, 1994). The participants were 584 high school students in Taiwan, Republic of China. The gender differences in perceived career barriers and career self‐efficacy were significant. Results of hierarchical regression analyses indicated that some of the perceived career barriers were significant in predicting individuals' career choice behavior after controlling for career self‐efficacy in certain career types.     

Family Influences on College Students' Anticipated Work-Family Conflict,Social Self-Efficacy,and Self-Esteem

The authors sought to test work-family conflict (WFC) theory by examining how family relationships may influence WFC, social self-efficacy, and self-esteem. They developed and tested a structural model of the relationship between family career influence and self-esteem through the mediating variables of anticipated emotion-based WFC, behavior-based WFC, and the cognitive variable of social self-efficacy. Data were collected from 301 college students (208 women, 93 men) and analyzed using structural equation modeling. Results indicated that family career influence positively related to college students' self-esteem through the mediating variables of social self-efficacy and emotion-based WFC. Behavior-based WFC did not function as a mediating variable. When focusing on issues related to students' self-esteem, career counselors should address ways that family influences anticipated emotion-based WFC and use interventions designed to increase social self-efficacy. Future researchers should consider and test additional mediating factors that may help explain how the dimensions of WFC relate to self-esteem.     

Reframing Black Social Work Students' Experiences of Teaching and Learning

This article draws on critical race theory (CRT) to foreground the role of race and racism in the ways in which Black students experience social work teaching and learning. It reviews some of the available literature on Black social work students' experiences of teaching and learning. The article reframes understandings of the perceived failures of this group of students to adapt to the world of higher education. It is argued that race and racism are salient determining factors in the experiences of Black students within social work education. Emphasis is placed on understanding the specificity of this group of students taking into cognisance the social, cultural, economic, and political contexts within which they are located. The article uses CRT as critical lens to reflect on peer support groups as potential counter spaces that can disrupt the negative experiences of black social work students.     

African-American students’ perceptions of public relations education and practice: Implications for minority recruitment

In-depth interviews were conducted with African-American public relations students to explore their perceptions of public relations and the role race may play in their career success. The motivations for pursuing public relations and perceptions of the field are not different than those of other groups of students found in previous studies. However, the findings provide insights that are helpful in recruiting African-American students, and also in retaining them in the major. Central themes that emerged from the data are that it is important to have African-American role models, and that students’ view race as a fact of life that can be both a barrier and an asset.     

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.     

A Grounded Analysis of Career Uncertainty Perceived by College Students in Taiwan

The authors examined career‐related uncertainties perceived by college students in Taiwan. Five hundred thirty‐two Taiwanese students responded to a free‐response instrument containing 3 questions related to career uncertainties: (a) the sources of career uncertainty, (b) the experiences at the moment of feeling uncertainty, and (c) coping efficacies toward the uncertainty. Responses were sorted into categories within each question based on the grounded theory methodology (B. G. Glaser & A. L. Strauss, 1967). A hypothetical model was developed to describe college students' perceptions of career uncertainties, experiences of feeling uncertainty, and coping efficacy toward the uncertainty.     

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.     

Student‐Perceived Mothers’ and Fathers’ Beliefs,Mathematics and English Motivations,and Career Choices

According to Eccles and Jacobs' (1986) parent socialization model, parents’ gendered ability and value beliefs influence girls’ and boys’ interpretations of those beliefs, and hence students’ domain‐specific valuing of tasks and competence beliefs and subsequent career plans. Studies have rarely analyzed how both student‐perceived mothers’ and fathers’ beliefs affect girls’ and boys’ task values, success expectancies, and career plans across domains. This study analyzed survey data of 459 students (262 boys) assessed through Grades 9, 10, and 11 from three coeducational secondary schools in Sydney, Australia. Longitudinal structural equation models revealed gendered value transmission pathways for girls in mathematics. Although mathematics test scores did not vary statistically significantly, girls reported statistically significantly lower mothers’ ability beliefs for them in mathematics than boys at Time 1, which led to their statistically significantly lower mathematics intrinsic value at Time 2 and mathematics‐related career plans at Time 3. Such gendered pathways did not occur in English. Matched same‐gender effects and gendered pathways in parent socialization processes were evident; perceived mothers’ value beliefs were more strongly related to girls’ than boys’ importance values in English. Student‐perceived fathers’ ability beliefs positively predicted boys’, not girls’, importance value in mathematics. Implications for educational practice emphasize the need to target girls’ and boys’ interest when aiming to enhance their mathematical career motivations.     

Career Aspirations and Expectations of Black,Mexican American,and White Students

The career aspirations and expectations of Black, Mexican American, and White college freshmen were examined. In addition, students' career expectations were compared to the jobs available in the labor market. Results suggested that (a) there seem to be more gender than ethnic differences in students' career aspirations and expectations, (b) differences in the career aspirations and expectations among Mexican American and White students followed traditional gender patterns, and (c) with some exceptions, the career expectations of students resembled the distribution of jobs in the labor market.