ECONOMICS COURSEWORK AND LONG‐TERM BEHAVIOR AND EXPERIENCES OF COLLEGE GRADUATES IN LABOR MARKETS AND PERSONAL FINANCE

Using survey data from over 2,000 students who attended one of four large public universities in 1976, 1986, or 1996, we investigate the relationship between taking more coursework in economics, or choosing economics as an undergraduate major, and a wide range of later decisions and outcomes in labor markets and personal finance, many of which have not been analyzed in earlier research. Generally, economics coursework and majoring in economics are significantly related to higher levels of earnings, home equity, and savings. They are also associated with working more hours and negatively related to completing graduate degrees (except the MBA). Among graduates with positive savings, those with more economics coursework invest more in individual stocks and money market accounts, and are more likely to have employer‐provided life insurance. They have fewer credit cards, which are more often paid in full each month. Most of these findings also hold for graduates who majored in business, but on average economics majors worked more hours and earned more than business majors, were more likely to have been self‐employed, and expected to retire at an older age. Business majors were more likely to have experienced a layoff, and were even less likely than economics majors to complete graduate degrees (except the MBA). Economics majors expected to save even more than business majors by retirement, and viewed short‐term and precautionary motives for saving as more important. Finally, our results suggest that exposure to economics through course‐taking is more important for later outcomes than actual performance in those courses. (JEL A22, J3, D12)     

Choice of Social Work as a Career: Possible Influences

Abstract

Little is known about why students choose social work for a career. Certain life events in the family of origin may exert a compelling influence, though other factors are certainly involved. This study examines the influence of selected life events and such factors as prior employment, volunteering, and influential persons via a survey of 415 social work students and a comparison group of 203 nonsocial work students. Social work students were more likely to report problems such as alcoholism and emotional illness within their families of origin and to attribute these experiences to their choice of career.     

Annual Review: Practice and Research in Career Development and Counseling—1995

The author reviews and summarizes more than 200 articles related to career development issues that were published in 1995. The goals were to identify articles relevant to clinicians and to provide a comprehensive and coherent overview of the career development literature. The articles were reviewed and organized within seven areas: counselor-client relations, business and industry, university career centers, career development theories, gender differences, work and family issues, and cross-cultural issues. Implications for future research directions and for assisting clients with their career development challenges are discussed.     

Bi-Cultural Socialization and Ethnic Identity in Daughters Adopted from China

Abstract

To varying degrees, parents who adopt children from China attempt to bring Chinese people, language, and culture into daily life as a way to help their adopted children feel proud about their ethnic heritage. Do attempts to provide bi-cultural socialization really influence ethnic identity? And, if so, what are the costs and benefits? In this article we draw on a longitudinal study of families with children adopted from China to describe their pre-teen and teenage daughters' orientations toward Chinese identity. The results indicate that Chinese ethnicity is an important component of adolescent identity for many adoptees, and that the odds of its being important are directly related to bi-cultural socialization influences within and outside of the family. Chinese ethnic identity does not appear to compromise the importance of American identity or closeness with family members who are not of Chinese descent. However, it does have the potential to magnify feelings of loss of birth parents and distress associated with pre-adoption histories in China.     

Differentiation Levels of College Students: Effects on Vocational Identity and Career Decision Making

This study assessed the effects of differentiation levels on the career development of college students. Participants were 231 college students who completed the Differentiation of Self Inventory (Skowron & Friedlander, 1998 ), My Vocational Situation (Holland, Daiger, & Power, 1980 ), the Career Decision Profile (CDP; Jones & Lohmann, 1998 ), and demographic questions. The results supported the hypotheses that higher levels of the various components of differentiation would predict higher levels of vocational identity and fewer difficulties with career decision making. In particular, lower levels of emotional cutoff and emotional reactivity and higher levels of “I position” predicted higher levels of vocational identity and career decision making. Results suggest a more complicated picture for fusion, with higher levels being predictive of lower levels of decisiveness but not significantly related to vocational identity. Implications of the results for career counselors are provided.     

Improving Prediction of Significant Career‐Related Constructs for High School Students With Learning Disabilities

Preparing students with learning disabilities (LDs) to make the transition into the world of work is considered an essential preparation that high schools can provide. However, existing services are limited for career development preparation, and available programs rely on assessments normed for samples of students without LDs. This study examined the predictability of critical career‐related constructs of dysfunctional career thoughts, career maturity, and vocational identity in high school students with LDs, using a sample of 139 such students. Data analyses were performed using multiple regression and t tests. Results indicate that it is possible to predict important career constructs for students with LDs using standardized instruments, which can inform subsequent interventions.     

The Adaptive Success Identity Plan (ASIP): A Career Intervention for College Students

The Adaptive Success Identity Plan (ASIP) uses the construct of success identity as the core of a career intervention program. Three empirical studies (N > 2,000) explored the success identity construct and its application in a structured career intervention. Study 1 provided reliability and validity evidence of the measures. Study 2 indicated that programming efforts targeting family involvement, self-efficacy, and stress and time management should enhance a number of college outcomes. Study 3 found that students who received the ASIP intervention were more likely to use the success identity construct in defining their role in college success.     

Adult probation and Parole Services in Victoria

Abstract

The first practicum is often regarded as a critical transition period in the development of a professional social worker, but little is known about the way students interpret their experience, assess their competence and/or re-evaluate their commitment to this career. The present study relies on interview data provided by fourth year social work students at the University of Tasmania. Its findings show what types of learning experience students deem to be significant and how they develop a sense of professional competence. Implications of the findings for professional bodies, training institutions, supervisors and students are discussed.     

Self‐Efficacy,Perceptions of Barriers,Vocational Identity,and the Career Exploration Behavior of Latino/a High School Students

This study explored the potential relationship between the social cognitive variables of career decision‐making self‐efficacy and perceptions of barriers and the outcome variables of vocational identity and career exploration behaviors in a sample of 128 urban Latino/a high school students. The results indicated that higher levels of career decision‐making self‐efficacy were related to both a more differentiated vocational identity and a greater engagement with career exploration tasks. Perception of fewer barriers was also found to be related to a more integrated vocational identity. Implications for career counseling and future research are discussed.     

Disability Services and College Students with Psychiatric Disabilities

Abstract

Weiner (1999) has suggested that the process of accepting a disability and its associated limitations is often protracted for students with psychiatric disabilities, thus leaving many students unable to fully participate in services or in the design of academic accommodations. This research examines the relationship between psychiatric disability identity and use of academic accommodation services for 57 undergraduates with psychiatric impairments who are experiencing problems in their academic functioning. Willingness to utilize services was related to students' identification as having a psychiatric disability. Social work interventions are needed to support students in accepting psychiatric disabilities while concurrently crafting necessary accommodations.     

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.     

Going beyond a tale of two sectors: a reflective career planning toolkit for social work students

ABSTRACT

This paper seeks to make the case that social work students would benefit from thinking beyond the binary of statutory sector vs voluntary sector when thinking about their future career. It argues instead that they should think in terms of their own philosophical worldview, their own preferences in terms of the mechanics of day-to-day practice, and the reasons for those preferences. Drawing on reflection literature, Johns’ Model of Reflection (2017) and an element of Motivational Interviewing, and informed by a value pluralist perspective, the paper sets out a reflective process for social work students to use. The process supports students firstly to explore their own core values and worldview, then to consider their feelings about more practical aspects of the social work role, and finally to find the connections and possible dissonances between the two. It is hoped that the article and the reflective process here advanced can contribute to students being able to plan for their professional futures in a way that does not depend principally on having to choose between statutory or voluntary sector practice, but on a much wider array of factors and values.     

Is There a Time for Everything? Attitudes Related to Women's Sequencing of Career and Family

Attitudes affecting career and family choices are examined in a sample of 203 US university business students, both male and female. 4 sequencing patterns were examined: the timing of marriage and career, simultaneously balancing career and family, the timing of career and children, and the choice of career with no children. Opinions were sought about women's careers before marriage, careers before children, the ability to balance children and career, and no children with a career. The results of the intercorrelation matrix analysis showed that age, marital status, and number of children were significantly correlated at a low level. Age and race were related to the belief that women should have careers before marriage. Gender is related to the beliefs about women's career before children, no children with a career, and the ability to balance a career and children. Multiple regression resulted in gender differences: women were significantly less likely to believe in no children with a career (t = 4.40, p 0.001). Women were also more likely to believe that career comes before having children (t = 2.15, p .05) and that women can successfully balance a career and children (t = 3.27, p .001). Race and attitudes were also significantly related to sequencing career and marriage (t = 2.64, p .01). The belief that women should establish their careers before marriage was more likely to occur among minorities, which was an unexpected finding. The implication is that men are more traditional in their beliefs about working women and marriage. Additional research is suggested on the examination of the relationship between race, nationality, and attitudes about the sequencing of career and marriage. An instrument that measures women's development and the factors influencing sequencing decisions at different career stages is needed. Questions remain unanswered about whether women desiring children choose less demanding careers, whether women's choice of career or employer is influenced by family considerations, and the relationship between husband's and wive's career ideals and their plans for children. The implications for counselors are that women need to be made aware of the options available and advantages and disadvantages for the sequencing of career and family. Conflict may occur with the spouse over sequencing choices. Additional counseling in various stages of a career is also important.     

Leisure Behavior and Occupational Identity in University Students

This study examines relationships between leisure behavior and occupational identity in a group of 109 undergraduate students at a Midwestern state university. Significant relationships (p < .01) were found among thinking and contemplating, ethical leisure behavior, and occupational identity. University students who participated more in intellectual and creative leisure activities were more advanced in occupational identity achievement. Implications for life span career development interventions are discussed.     

Make Your Work Matter: development and pilot evaluation of a purpose-centered career education intervention

Developing a sense of purpose is both salient and desirable for adolescents, and purpose in people's lives and careers is associated with both general and work-related well-being. However, little is known about whether purpose can be encouraged through school-based interventions. This article reports the results of a quasi-experimental pilot study and follow-up focus group that evaluated Make Your Work Matter, a three-module, school-based intervention designed to help adolescent youth explore, discover, and enact a sense of purpose in their early career development. Participants were eighth-grade students. Compared to the control group, the intervention group reported increases in several outcomes related to purpose-centered career development, such as a clearer sense of career direction; a greater understanding of their interests, strengths, and weaknesses; and a greater sense of preparedness for the future. However, no significant differences were found on items directly related to purpose, calling, and prosocial attitudes. These results inform the ongoing development of Make Your Work Matter and other school-based career interventions and pave the way for larger-scale trials of such purpose-promoting intervention strategies.     

What is rehabilitation counseling?: A student's perspective on professional identity

This article (a) reviews changing perspectives about the roles and functions of the rehabilitation counselor and (b) summarizes the reflections of a graduate student in rehabilitation counseling regarding how these perspectives have influenced her emerging professional identity. A review of the literature indicates many different thoughts as to where the profession will stand in the 21st Century. These differing opinions make it challenging for students deciding what career direction to take in their course of study, as well as for practitioners who must stay abreast of new developments in the field to maintain job marketability.     

Disabled students: identity,inclusion and work-based placements

Research about disabled identity reflects diverse perspectives on the merits and challenges associated with such an identity. This paper explores the impact of disabled identity on the inclusion of disabled students in higher education and employment contexts. It considers their experiences of inclusion in a university setting and its associated work-based placements and discusses the extent to which students had to negotiate a range of experiences of disabled identity. The paper suggests that many disabled students, especially those with behaviour-related impairment labels, are subject to continued exclusion in university and, more particularly, work settings, and this contributes to an employment disadvantage compared with their peers. To this end, the paper highlights the importance of enhancing inclusion for disabled students, especially in employment settings, through a focus on reducing destructive identities.     

The Relationship Between Race and Students' Identified Career Role Models and Perceived Role Model Influence

The authors examined whether college students' race was related to the modal race of their identified career role models, the number of identified career role models, and their perceived influence from such models. Consistent with A. Bandura's (1977, 1986) social learning theory, students tended to have role models whose race was the same as their own, and this finding held among career role models who were not members of students' families. Caucasian and racial minority students did not differ respecting overall number of, and perceived influence from, career role models. Career intervention and research implications are discussed.     

Educational ties,social capital and the translocal (re)production of MBA alumni networks

Research on elite, transnational networks has identified social and cultural capital associated with particular academic credentials as being an important element in network formation. How and why such networks are reproduced after graduation, however, has received less attention. In response, in this article I combine work on social capital and personal networks to explore the reproduction of MBA alumni networks in London's financial services district that were created in leading business schools in the USA and UK. My analysis documents the ways in which business schools and individual alumni combine forms of virtual and corporeal co‐presence to reproduce translocal educational ties. I then argue that the motivation for sustaining these educational ties lies in the potential to convert the social and cultural capital of MBA alumni networks into different types of value ranging from enhanced career progression to increased alumni donations. In doing so, I develop debates on the intersections between social capital, academic credentials and the reproduction of elite networks.     

Career decision-making difficulties among career-decided college students

The procedures developed by Gati and colleagues to interpret scores in the Career Decision Difficulties Questionnaire were implemented to examine difficulties’ profiles among self-identified decided college students who reported being either comfortable or uncomfortable with their career choice. Of the 583 participants, 92.5% were career decided and 7.5% were undecided. Close to half (47.2%) of the career-decided students self-identified as uncomfortable with their career choice and reported similar career decision-making difficulties as their undecided peers. The most salient difficulties among decided uncomfortable students were general indecisiveness and lack of knowledge regarding occupations and the decision-making process. Greater difficulties related to lack of knowledge about oneself, and internal conflicts predicted membership in the decided uncomfortable group versus the decided comfortable group. Results indicated that career-decided students are not a homogenous group. Implications of the findings for career counseling with decided uncomfortable college students are discussed.