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.     

Affect in Daily Career Decision Self‐Efficacy and Career Choice Anxiety

The authors investigated the impact of emotional intelligence on 2 career decision variables: daily career decision self‐efficacy and daily career choice anxiety. They also examined the mediating effects of daily positive affect on these variables. At baseline, 103 Korean undergraduate and graduate students completed questionnaires about emotional intelligence. Using a daily diary method, the authors also collected data on participants’ daily positive affect, daily career decision self‐efficacy, and daily career choice anxiety for 21 consecutive days. Hierarchical linear model analyses indicated that emotional intelligence predicted daily career decision self‐efficacy and daily career choice anxiety. These findings suggest that fostering emotional intelligence and daily positive affect could help students determine their future career. For individuals experiencing difficulty in the career decision process, counselors may foster career decision self‐efficacy and reduced career choice anxiety via enhancing clients’ emotional intelligence and daily positive affect.     

The Effects of Perceived Barriers,Role Models,and Acculturation on the Career Self‐Efficacy and Career Consideration of Hispanic Women

This study used path analysis to examine the relationship between perceived barriers, acculturation, and role model influence on the career self‐efficacy and career considerations of a sample of Hispanic women. Two path models were examined. The male‐dominated model accounted for 15% of the variance, and the female‐dominated model accounted for 26% of the variance. No relationship was found between the variables of interest and male‐dominated career self‐efficacy and consideration. However, perceived barriers were related to female‐dominated career consideration and Anglo acculturation significantly contributed to female‐dominated career self‐efficacy. Results are discussed with regard to career practice and research with Hispanic women.     

Parental Support in Adolescents' Career Development: Parents' and Children's Perceptions

Using social cognitive career theory (Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 2000 ), this study examined the role of parents' and children's perceptions of parental support in adolescents' career choices. A total of 94 Italian adolescents (30 boys, 64 girls) and both of their parents (N = 188) participated in the study. The authors tested a fully mediated model between mothers' and fathers' perceptions of support and career choice through the indirect effect of adolescents' perceptions of parental support and career self‐efficacy. Results provided support for the model. Specifically, both mothers' and fathers' perceptions of support predicted their adolescents' career choice through the mediating effect of the youths' perceptions of parental support and career self‐efficacy. These results have important implications for practice and underscore that parents need to be involved very early on in their children's vocational development.     

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.     

Construction and Initial Validation of the Planned Happenstance Career Inventory

This study was conducted to develop and initially evaluate the psychometric properties of the Planned Happenstance Career Inventory (PHCI), which aims to assess skill in using chance events to develop career opportunities. After item generation and exploratory factor analysis, 130 original items were reduced to 25 items across 5 factors (5 items for each corresponding factor). Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the validity of this 5‐factor structure, and the goodness of fit showed an adequate fit to the observed data for both women and men. Results showed that PHCI subscales correlated moderately and in expected directions with career preparation, career decision‐making self‐efficacy, and career stress. These findings suggest that the PHCI, which assesses 5 dimensions of career‐related planned happenstance skill, shows promise as a useful tool for facilitating understanding of the influence of chance events on career choice behavior.     

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.     

The Origin of Major Choice,Academic Commitment,and Career‐Decision Readiness Among Taiwanese College Students

The present study aimed to examine if and how career‐decision readiness relates to the origin of college major choice among Taiwanese college students. A total of 375 junior and senior college students (147 women, 228 men) responded to measures of college major choice, academic commitment, career self‐efficacy, and career‐decision readiness. Results indicated that students' academic commitment to a college major tend to increase when they choose their majors based on personal and career preferences. In sequence, high levels of academic commitment lead to high levels of career self‐efficacy, and increased self‐efficacy augments the extent of career‐decision readiness that students manifest near the end of their college education. These findings have practical implications insofar as many Asian students choose a college major because of parents and other authority figures, and these findings demonstrate that a full understanding of career‐decision readiness may require incorporating the origin of college major choice and its academic effects into future research.     

Integrating Individual Differences in Career Assessment: The Atlas Model of Individual Differences and the Strong Ring

Career assessment methods often include measures of individual differences constructs, such as interests, personality, abilities, and values. Although many researchers have recently called for the development of integrated models, career counseling professionals have long faced the challenge of integrating this information into their practice. The authors examine the use of integrated models to enhance the career counseling process, including Armstrong, Day, McVay, and Rounds's (2008) RIASEC‐based Atlas Model of Individual Differences (using Holland's 1997, typology of 6 interest types: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional [RIASEC]) and Armstrong, Smith, Donnay, and Rounds's (2004) basic interests‐based Strong Ring. These models provide a structured framework for presenting clients with assessment feedback that emphasizes connections between interests, personality, and abilities.     

Impact of Dysfunctional Career Thoughts on Career Decision Self‐Efficacy and Vocational Identity

This study examined the mediating role of dysfunctional career thoughts in the relationship between career decision self‐efficacy (CDSE) and vocational identity (VI). For this purpose, the data were collected from 446 Korean college students. The authors used the Hayes ( 2013 ) PROCESS tool to analyze the data. The results showed that CDSE positively correlated with VI, whereas all 3 types of dysfunctional career thoughts negatively correlated with CDSE and VI. The results also indicated that all 3 subscales of dysfunctional career thoughts partially mediate the association between CDSE and VI. We provide implications and limitations of the findings.     

Validity of The Party Exercise for Determining Holland Codes

The Party exercise, found on many career guidance websites and published annually in the best‐selling job‐hunting book What Color Is Your Parachute? (Bolles, 2020), claims to provide a quick and easy way to determine a person's Holland RIASEC (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, Conventional) code. We examined whether this commonly used exercise indeed accurately predicts Holland codes. Undergraduate students (324 women, 147 men) responded to The Party exercise and then the Self‐Directed Search (Holland & Messer, 2013). Results indicated that The Party exercise has some ability to predict some RIASEC types. However, the results do not support use of this popular exercise in lieu of a career assessment measure that has well‐established validity.     

Effects of Social Supports on the Career Choice Consideration of Chinese Farmers: A Social Cognitive Perspective

Drawing from social cognitive career theory ( Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994 ), this study explored social supports’ influence on the career choice consideration of farmers during China's current process of urbanization. A questionnaire was designed based on interviews with 140 people and a pretest with a sample of 419 participants. A total of 628 participants were involved in the formal questionnaire survey. Results indicated that social supports had a dual effect: Positive supports were indirectly related to career choice consideration through the mediation of career self‐efficacy, whereas negative supports were related to career choice consideration directly. Implications for future research and the development of a career guidance and social support system for Chinese farmers are discussed.     

Attachment and Self‐Efficacy in Career Search Activities: A Structural Model

The author integrated attachment theory with social cognitive career theory (SCCT) to examine how attachment styles influence the career search self‐efficacy activities of interviewing, networking, job searching, and personal exploration. Using an undergraduate sample (N = 275, 81% women), the author tested a structural model. Results indicated that anxious attachment style was negatively related to interviewing self‐efficacy, whereas avoidant attachment style was negatively related to networking, job searching, and personal exploration self‐efficacy. Theoretical implications based on these findings provide support for an integrative model of attachment theory with SCCT. Career counselors are encouraged to consider clients’ attachment styles when working with individuals who are searching for employment. To help address the limitations of the study, future researchers could test the applicability of the current model with a more diverse sample.     

Mindfulness and Decision‐Making Style: Predicting Career Thoughts and Vocational Identity

Mindfulness has been a focus of psychological research and practice in recent decades. Yet, there is limited research on the relationship between mindfulness and vocational decision‐making. This study’s purpose was to examine the role of mindfulness in a career context by investigating the relationships among mindfulness, decision‐making style, negative career thoughts, and vocational identity. The sample included 258 undergraduate students (204 women, 54 men) at a large southeastern U.S. university. Mindfulness was significantly (p < .01) associated with fewer negative career thoughts, external and thinking‐based decision‐making styles, and higher vocational identity. Multiple regression procedures found that mindfulness, coupled with decision‐making style, accounted for 31% of the variance in negative career thoughts and 22% of the variance in vocational identity. These findings suggest that more holistic career counseling interventions could incorporate mindfulness techniques to help reduce anxiety and negative thoughts while increasing self‐clarity and problem‐solving skills. Future research could include more diverse samples, additional constructs (e.g., choice volition, self‐efficacy), and a pretest–posttest design to examine the efficacy of mindfulness‐based career interventions.     

Self‐Focused Attention and Career Anxiety: The Mediating Role of Career Adaptability

The purpose of this study was to examine how 2 forms of self‐focused attention, self‐reflection and self‐rumination, influence career anxiety. The authors hypothesized that the association between these 2 types of self‐focused attention and career anxiety would be mediated by career adaptability on the basis of a career construction model of adaptation. The participants were 326 undergraduate students in South Korea. The results of this study supported the hypothesized mediation model by indicating significant indirect effects of self‐reflection and self‐rumination on career anxiety via career adaptability. The direct effect of self‐rumination on career anxiety was significant (B = .44, p < .01), but the direct effect of self‐reflection on career anxiety was not significant (B = –.05, p > .05). The authors discuss implications for counselors to help college students manage career anxiety by encouraging and supporting increased career adaptability. Future research to examine the cross‐cultural validity of the current findings is needed.     

Situational Interest and Scientific Self‐Efficacy: Influence of an Energy Science Career Intervention

This study examined the efficacy of a career intervention aimed at promoting adolescents’ perceptions of scientific self‐efficacy (SSE), as well as interest in specific activities and careers relevant to energy science. One hundred thirty‐four adolescents (60 girls, 74 boys) completed self‐efficacy and interest measures on 4 occasions (Time [T] T1 to T4]) during the course of the 6‐day intervention. Results of latent change modeling yielded evidence of significant growth in SSE from T1 to T4. Results of a multiple regression analysis also revealed that situational interest in an energy science activity at T2 was a significant positive predictor of SSE at T4, thus offering further clarity regarding the theorized sequence of causal relations between interest and self‐efficacy. Findings call attention to the need for future research on the role of task‐level interest in the social cognitive career theory framework and highlight the importance of mastery experiences in the delivery of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics career interventions.     

Career Decision Self‐Efficacy of Asian American Students: The Role of Curiosity and Ethnic Identity

This study examined the role of curiosity and ethnic identity in career decision self‐efficacy among Asian American college students. Given that curiosity can promote the process of exploring one’s possible future self, opportunities, and career goals, the authors hypothesized that curiosity would be associated with career decision self‐efficacy, directly or indirectly, through a sense of ethnic identity. Results based on data from 425 Asian American incoming first‐year college students suggest that students with high curiosity tend to present a stronger sense of competence in completing career decision‐related tasks. These findings also confirmed a hypothesis that ethnic identity mediates the association between curiosity and career decision self‐efficacy. Implications for future research and career counseling with Asian American college students are discussed.     

Relative Deprivation and Career Decision Self‐Efficacy: Influences of Self‐Regulation and Parental Educational Attainment

Nearly 70% of Korean women pursue postsecondary education, yet they occupy lower‐status positions than do men (K. Kim & Han, 2008 ). Therefore, the authors examined relative deprivation in equal opportunities and its effect on career‐related self‐efficacy among 603 Korean female college students. Self‐regulation was hypothesized to mediate the effects of relative deprivation on career decision self‐efficacy. This effect was hypothesized to differ according to parents’ educational attainment due to different degrees of parental support. As expected, self‐regulation mediated the relationship between relative deprivation and career decision self‐efficacy for participants whose parents had high education levels. However, participants whose parents had low education levels demonstrated less involvement in resolving relative deprivation. Findings suggest that career counselors should use different interventions based on parental education level to influence students’ self‐regulation and to enhance career decision self‐efficacy.     

Family Factors Associated With Sixth‐Grade Adolescents' Math and Science Career Interests

This study tested a causal model, based on social cognitive career theory (SCCT; R. W. Lent, S. D. Brown, & G. Hackett, 1994, 2000), of math and science career interests among 6th‐grade adolescents (N = 318). Consistent with SCCT, it was found that career gender‐typing, mother's and father's support for pursuing math and science careers, as well as the structure of the family itself (2‐parent intact vs. single parent) predicted young adolescents' math self‐efficacy; career gender‐typing and mother's support predicted math outcome expectations; and math self‐efficacy and outcome expectations predicted math and science career interests. Counselor recommendations based on these findings are included.     

Decision‐Making Styles,Career Decision Self‐Efficacy,and Career Adaptability Among High School Students

We investigated the relationships between decision‐making styles, career decision self‐efficacy, and career adaptability among high school students. We also sought to determine whether gender moderates the relationships among these three constructs. A total of 216 Serbian final‐year high school students responded to career adaptability and decision‐making measures. Results of structural equation modeling showed that career decision self‐efficacy mediates a positive relationship between the rational and intuitive styles and a negative relationship between the dependent style and career adaptability. The rational style only had a direct effect on career adaptability. Gender moderated one path—a regression weight of self‐efficacy on career adaptability. For male students, self‐efficacy was not a significant predictor of career adaptability. The results suggest that career counselors might approach students differently depending on students' gender and that the role of gender in career decision‐making and adaptability processes should be investigated further.