Financial Planning Strategies of High School Seniors: Removing Barriers to Career Success

This study explored the postsecondary financial planning of graduating 12th graders as a barrier to educational and career decision making and success. Seniors planning on pursuing postsecondary education (N = 744) from 16 high schools completed an online survey measuring their plans for financing their postsecondary education. They also provided information regarding their academic achievement, motivation, certainty, and postsecondary goals and plans. Students clustered into 4 distinct financial planning strategy groups. These financial planning clusters were evident across a diverse sample of high schools. Almost half of all graduating 12th graders had limited financial planning strategies. Groupings and strategies employed by students were significantly related to career development theory and research. The critical role for career development services in promoting student success is discussed.     

The Psychology of Working: A New Framework for Counseling Practice and Public Policy

The authors present the psychology‐of‐working perspective (D. L. Blustein, 2006; N. Peterson & R. C. González, 2005; M. S. Richardson, 1993) as an alternative to traditional career development theories, which have primarily explored the lives of those with choice and volition in their working lives. The major historical and conceptual features of the psychology of working are reviewed, with a focus on how this framework provides a more inclusive and, ideally, more just vision for the career counseling field. Implications for career counseling and a case presentation are provided to examine how this new perspective can inform counseling practice. A brief overview of public policy implications concludes the article.     

Darwin Meets the King: Blending Sociology and Evolutionary Psychology to Explain Police Deviance

Ce papier utilise la perspective de Parnaby et Leyden's ( 2011 ) qui adapte l'approche de Merton de la déviance policière en incorporant des éléments de psychologie évolutionniste. Nous proposons que l'intégration de la psychologie évolutionniste contribue à un modèle théorique plus robuste. Plus précisément, nous considérons qu'une structure sociale anomique crée les conditions sociales par lesquelles des mécanismes psychologiques adaptifs qui coïncident avec les modes d'adaptation de Merton et se manifestent dans le comportement. Nous soulignons l'importance d'une intégration de la sociologie et de la psychologie évolutionniste et adressons certains malentendus sur cette dernière. In this paper, we build on Parnaby and Leyden's ( 2011 ) modified Mertonian approach to police deviance by incorporating elements of evolutionary psychology. It is our contention that an infusion of evolutionary psychology will lead to a more robust theoretical model. Specifically, we argue that an anomic social structure helps create the social conditions within which specific adaptive psychological mechanisms manifest behaviorally in ways that coincide with Merton's modes of adaptation. The importance of integrating sociology and evolutionary psychology is emphasized while a number of misunderstandings about the latter are addressed.     

A Cognitive Career Course: From Theory to Practice

A university career development course based on cognitive information‐processing theory was assessed. Students who took the course showed a significant decrease in their negative career thoughts when the Career Thoughts Inventory (J. P. Sampson, G. W. Peterson, J. G. Lenz, R. C. Reardon, & D. E. Saunders, 1996a) was used as a pretest and posttest measure. The greatest decrease in negative thinking was found in students with the highest level of negative thinking at the beginning of the course. The specific components of negative career thinking—decision‐making confusion and commitment anxiety—contributed significantly to the main effect. There were no significant interactions with ethnicity or sex.     

The Separate and Combined Effects of SIGI or DISCOVER and a Career Planning Course on Undecided University Students

Research to consider the effectiveness of computer-assisted guidance systems (CACG) and credit career planning courses was conducted during the 1988 spring semester at Pennsylvania State University and the University of Virginia. The research methodology included use of a four-group pretest-posttest design at each university. Group treatment conditions using undecided university students were the following: (a) CACG use by students enrolled in a career planning course, (b) students enrolled only in a career planning course without CACG use, (c) CACG use by students enrolled in an introductory business or psychology course, and (d) students enrolled only in an introductory business or psychology course. Participants (N = 112) were in first through fifth semester standing and were assigned randomly to CACG use conditions.     

“I Don’t Want to Work in Agriculture!” The Transition from Agricultural Education to the Labor Market in Rural Russia

In Russia, the shift in career incentives from agriculture‐related jobs to other sectors, even among agriculturally educated students, presents two main challenges to rural labor markets. The first relates to the shortage of agricultural employees. The second concerns difficulties in the school‐to‐work transition, characterized by long periods of unemployment. This article addresses these challenges by studying the career incentives of postsecondary agriculturally educated students, based on data from the Altai region, Siberia (N = 474). We use a logit regression to predict the probability of career transition, given the incentives. We examine whether familial background and life expectations are associated with plans to pursue a career in agriculture within a life course context. The results show that students’ career plans with respect to agriculture vary according to both sociofamilial background and views about one’s life course.     

Integrating Family Therapy Training in a Clinical Psychology Course

Teaching family therapy to clinical psychology trainees is not common practice in Australian clinical psychology training programs. There is sparse discussion in the literature. Family therapy is an evidence based intervention that complements a diversity of established theories and psychotherapies and would complement the intervention skills of trainee clinical psychologists. The aim of this paper is to illustrate how family therapy training may be integrated into a postgraduate clinical psychology course. The literature on core family therapy knowledge, skills and training methods will form the backdrop to a review of specific family therapy training courses for clinical psychology trainees. This will then be mapped against a consideration of accreditation requirements of clinical psychology courses in Australia and suggestions made for integrating family therapy into their training curriculum. Anecdotal feedback from students provides an initial step toward evaluation.     

Vocational Psychology and Career Guidance Practice: An International Partnership

Vast changes in the world of work spurred by rapid technological growth and globalization have called for a more inclusive, progressive, and forward thinking conceptualization of vocational theory, practice, training, and policy. Discussions across 8 discussion groups at the 2007 joint symposium of the International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance, Society for Vocational Psychology, and National Career Development Association addressed various topics in the field of vocational psychology and career guidance. Several themes emerged that have captured the attention of career scholars and practitioners across the globe: culture and context in theory and practice, research as a process within a contextual system, partnership and collaboration, and social responsibility and public policy.     

Educational Psychology in India: Its Present Status and Future Concerns

This study examined the status of educational psychology in the general curricula of psychology and education at various academic levels in India. It also focused on the published research in this area during the last 15 years. Analysis reveals that educational psychology in India is struggling for a respectable place in the psychology curricula. Despite the fact that it has been included as a foundation course in education curricula, the course of study is characterized by an arbitrary selection of topics and stereotypic, inappropriate, outdated contents. Fewer research studies are conducted in educational psychology than in some other branches of psychology in India. A lack of in-depth analysis of the research problems and of collaborative efforts, a failure to keep up with recent international research and theorizing, an excessive use of the questionnaire method with easily available respondents, and instrument-dependent research are some of the characteristics of educational psychology research in India. To make educational psychology more responsive to the changing social needs, suggestions are made regarding changing the orientation and emphasis in the teaching of the discipline, and altering research priorities within the framework of the country's historical and sociocultural contexts.     

Values and Evolutionary Psychology

Scholars suggest that evolutionary psychology may provide a foundation for assumptions regarding human values. I explore this suggestion by developing two arguments regarding the permissiveness of norms regulating male and female sexual activity. The first relies on the standard rational choice assumption that people value resources, and the second relies on an assumption suggested by evolutionary psychology that actors value seeing their children successfully reach adulthood. These two assumptions produce contrasting predictions regarding sex norms. I describe the implications of these predictions for explaining cross‐cultural variation and present evidence that supports the evolutionary psychology‐based predictions in this context. I also suggest implications of the two approaches for explaining norms cross‐nationally and within the United States. The article provides support for the utility of evolutionary psychology in developing assumptions about values.     

The Crisis in Psychology

The crisis ofpsychology is not in the lack of psychologists or lack of literature being produced. It is in the poor development of our understanding of human life, the science itself, and the relationship of the science to the world. Three senses in which there has been loss, subject matter, method, and mission, are discussed. The loss with respect to subject matter is associated with the systematic denial of the self-evident fact that mentation, at least in the form of decisions, plans and goals, is essential to human conduct The loss with respect to method is based on the uncritical acceptance of the assumption that the psychological is readily revealed by applying statistical methods to aggregated measures of behavior. The loss with respect to mission is manifested in the separation of modem psychology from its classical association with political science, and the task of designing the social order so that it is in harmony with human nature. The historical role of psychology in promoting the unfortunate idea that the main purpose of education is to fix responses rather than to enlighten and liberate is indicated.     

Evaluating Differences in College Students' Career Decision Making on the Basis of Disability Status

College students with and without disabilities (N = 121) completed measures of career decision-making self-efficacy (N. E. Betz, K. Klein, & K. M. Taylor, 1996) and career decision-making attributional style (D. A. Luzzo & A. Jenkins-Smith, 1998). Students with disabilities reported significantly lower levels of career decision-making self-efficacy and exhibited more of a pessimistic attributional style for career decision making than did their peers without disabilities. Results are discussed in the context of developing effective career counseling interventions for college students with disabilities.     

The Interplay of Psychology and Societal Transformation

This special issue of the International Journal of Group Tensions examines the contribution of psychology to societal transformation worldwide and the impact of societal transformation on psychology. In this introduction, I review the aims and scope of the journal and the focus of the special issue. Second, I identify several key consequences of societal transformation that are not bounded by culture, nationality, or politics, underscoring the psychosocial outcomes. Third, I articulate the role of psychology in societal transformation, highlighting the conceptual, methodological, and practical tools available to describe, study, and effect change. I also address psychosocial explanations of resistance to societal transformation. Fourth, I discuss the impact of societal transformation on psychology as a discipline and profession, noting how such transformation has influenced academic training and professional practice in psychology. I also note how societal transformation has altered public opinion about psychology. I conclude by providing an overview of the articles that comprise the special issue, underscoring their shared themes.     

Career Service Needs of College Students With Disabilities

Students with disabilities at 2 midwestern universities were surveyed as to their use of campus career-related services, their behavior regarding disability disclosure and accommodations, and their knowledge of ADA (Americans With Disabilities Act, 1990) employment-related guidelines. The results indicate that most students with disabilities do not use existing career development and employment services on campus. Students frequently disclose their disability to a prospective employer; however, students are less likely to request accommodations on the job. These trends may be explained in part by the student's limited knowledge of their employment rights under the ADA.     

Broadening Career Horizons for Students in At-Risk Environments

Researchers and practitioners embarked on a collaborative venture to develop, implement, and evaluate a career intervention program for 7th grade students who were at-risk for vocational underachievement. Students participating in the Career Horizons Program demonstrated enhanced confidence in performing tasks related to investigating, selecting, and implementing a career choice. They also considered a greater number of careers and selected those that were congruent with their interests. No change was found in confidence regarding degree of self-knowledge. Suggestions are provided for improving on the development and evaluation of career exploration programs to enhance career self-efficacy and broaden the career horizons of students in at-risk environments.     

Is More Truly Merrier?: Mentoring and the Practice of Law

Cet article examine deux questions sur le mentorat. D'abord, qui est le plus susceptible de bénéficier de services de mentorat au cours de sa carrière? Ensuite, comment le mentorat influence‐t‐il les carrières des professionnels? En utilisant une enquête longitudinale sur des avocats, les auteures évaluent l'incidence des postes et des aspirations en début de carrière sur les chances de bénéficier de services de mentorat. Elles mesurent les bénéfices du mentorat au moyen des récompenses de carrière intrinsèques et extrinsèques, pour découvrir que le contexte organisationnel et les attributs individuels constituent d'importants prédicteurs de qui bénéficiera de mentorat. Les professionnels ayant de multiples mentors se sont avérés les grands gagnants, en ce qu'ils obtiennent des récompenses de carrière plus importantes et plus diversifiées que ceux n'ayant pas de mentor. This paper addresses two questions regarding mentoring: First, who is most likely to receive mentorship during their career? And second, how does mentorship shape the careers of professionals? Using a longitudinal survey of lawyers, we evaluate the impact of early career positions and aspirations on the chances for mentorship. We assess the benefits of mentorship across extrinsic and intrinsic career rewards. We find organizational context and individual attributes are important predictors of who receives mentorship. Professionals with multiple mentors were the big winners in that they obtain greater and more diverse career rewards over those with one or no mentors.     

The Enduring Social Psychology of Robert K. Merton: Motivating Sentiments,Reference Groups and Self-Fulfilling Prophecies

Robert K. Merton (1910–2003) gained renown as a distinguished sociologist, especially in connection with the paradigm of “structural-functionalism” and he publicly self-identified as a “structuralist.” This paper calls attention to an emphasis in Merton’s work that sociologists have often overlooked, namely, his social psychology. I argue that, throughout his long career, Merton consistently pursued social psychological issues, including how non-logical action, appeals to shared sentiments and collective definitions of situations affect life in organized groups. I shall characterize his earlier analyses as “Harvard style,” and his later social psychological works as “Chicago style,” as a heuristic means of calling attention to interesting variations in framing. Merton’s formulations have impacted numerous subfields of sociology, and some (e.g., “self-fulfilling prophecies,” “the Matthew Effect”) remain influential even today. Examining Merton’s social psychology will contribute both to a fuller appreciation of his career and also to a more complete history of social science in the United States.     

Positive Adolescent Career Development: The Role of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Work Values

This longitudinal study of 268 Swiss adolescents, spanning across 8th grade, investigated the relation of intrinsic and extrinsic work values to positive career development in deciding, planning, and exploring. Results showed that girls reported more intrinsic and fewer extrinsic work values compared with boys. Students with an immigration background reported more extrinsic values than did students of Swiss nationality. When gender, nationality, and scholastic achievement were controlled, more general work value endorsement was a significant predictor of an above‐average increase in career development over the course of the school year. Endorsement of more intrinsic but not extrinsic work values was related to positive career development.     

The Legacy of Parsons: Career Counselors and Vocational Psychologists as Agents of Social Change

The commitment to social change demonstrated by the founder of vocational psychology, Frank Parsons, continues in several areas of vocational psychology today, including individual career counseling, guidance work in the schools, career interventions with special populations, and vocational research. This article highlights ways in which career counselors and vocational psychologists have focused and can continue to focus their practice and research to improve the condition of society and to provide interventions that enhance the ability of all individuals to love and to work in a meaningful way.