Career Education for Adults With Mental Disabilities

This article provides an overview of assessment and counseling tools and strategies that may be used by employment counselors when working with adults who have mild and moderate mental disabilities.     

Career Maturity in Young Adults With Learning Disabilities: What Employment Counselors Should Know

Increasing numbers of those with learning disabilities who are entering college have been found to have special needs related to both academic survival and career development that are often unrecognized and unmet in institutions of higher education. This article reviews research on the characteristics of young adults with learning disabilities, discusses factors that are associated with the career maturity of young adults with learning disabilities, and offers suggestions to employment counselors that would be useful when working with this population.     

Career Education for Students With Disabilities

Career education is as important for students in special education services as it was a decade ago. The majority of these students continue to experience extreme difficulties in making a successful transition from secondary programs to employment and independent living. The authors review the state of the art and then present a life-centered career education curricular approach to prepare students with the important competencies needed for successful adult adjustment. Sample programs are cited. The school counselor is viewed as an important contributor to this process, and several critical guidance functions are recommended by using a comprehensive guidance program model. A challenge to the professional is presented to complete the unfinished agenda that presently exists in services to students with disabilities.     

Evaluating the Effectiveness of an Abduction Prevention Program for Young Adults With Intellectual Disabilities

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of behavioral skills training (BST) and in situ training (IST) for teaching abduction prevention skills to young adults with intellectual disabilities. Four individuals, ages 18–24, participated. Five BST sessions were conducted for each participant. Following BST, in situ assessments took place at the participants’ school to assess acquisition of the skills. The data show that none of the participants reached criterion level following BST although some of the participants improved their score from baseline. IST was then implemented with two of the participants achieving criterion level and two participants exhibiting two of the three safety skills.     

Career Placement Project: A Career Readiness Program for Community College Students With Disabilities

This study examines the effect of a Career Placement Project using enhanced career services specifically designed for community college students with disabilities. The 4 areas of services provided by the project were career exploration, Job readiness, Job-seeking skills, and Job shadowing. A pretest-posttest design using a participant group and a control group measured change in career readiness. Based on the data, it seems that the Career Placement Project was effective in increasing the career preparedness of participating students with disabilities.     

Career and Career-Related Educational Concerns of College Students With Disabilities

This article providas career counselors with an overview of career-related issues relevant to students with disabilities in postsecondary educational settings. Topics addressed include the impact of disability on career development, the impact of disability on postsecondary educational participation, and access and accommodation issues. The authors argue for an expanded role for career counselors who work with college students with disabilities. It is concluded that career counselors can play an important role in facilitating college students with disabilities in their adaptation to the college environment, their acquisition of appropriate accommodations, and their transition to employment.     

青少年早期职业不确定性及其影响因素

本文首先总结了国外有关青少年早期职业不确定性的研究进展,包括职业不确定性的认知和情感成分、早期职业不确定性与有效求职行为之间的联系;其次,进一步分析了影响青少年早期职业不确定性的各种主要因素,如个性差异、职业兴趣、人口学变量、早期工作经验和家庭环境;最后,对未来有关早期职业不确定性的研究方向提出展望。     

Spirituality: A Coping Mechanism in the Lives of Adults With Congenital Disabilities

The purpose of this study was to gain insight into the perspective of individuals with congenital disabilities about spirituality as a coping mechanism during crucial times in their lives. Qualitative analysis of interviews assessing turning points in the lives of 15 adults (6 women and 9 men; M = 37 years) with spina bifida, cerebral palsy, or attention deficit disorder was performed to determine how spirituality assisted them at these crucial times. Four recurring themes were identified: God as a guiding force, inner strength, meaning in life, and appropriateness of the use of spirituality in counseling. The authors discuss their findings and the use of spirituality in counseling adults with congenital disabilities.     

Perceptions of Parenthood Among Young Adults: Implications for Career and Family Planning

Motivations and expectations of parenthood were assessed in 505 female and male undergraduate students. Parents and those intending to have children agreed more strongly with intrinsic motivations and also endorsed more benefits for having children than did the unsure group. Those intending to have children estimated costs of parenthood to be significantly less than either parents or those unsure of having children. Women across all three parenting groups estimated the costs of parenthood to be higher than did male respondents. Results are discussed in the framework of violated expectations and the need for prepregnancy intervention programs.     

Ego Development and Psychosocial Functioning in Young Adults With and Without Psychiatric History

Ego development has been associated with positive outcomes, namely, with a better psychosocial adjustment and establishment of satisfactory relationships. However, ego development and psychosocial functioning are independent domains and a developed ego does not guarantee successful adaptation. Moreover, it is not clear whether ego development differentially influences psychosocial functioning in clinical and normative samples. The present study investigated the impact of ego development on the psychosocial functioning of young adults with (high-risk) and without (normative) psychiatric history. Results show an association between those two variables, especially strong for the high-risk group. High-risk individuals with successful psychosocial functioning exhibited levels of ego development more similar to those of normative young adults than to those of the remaining high-risk individuals. Moreover, as predicted, ego development mediated the relationship between psychiatric history and psychosocial functioning. Further support was found for the protective role of ego development, especially for individuals with psychiatric history.     

The Effects of Gender on Career Decision Problems in Young Adults

The authors investigated gender differences in psychological problems in the career decision making (CDM) process of young adults. Specifically, problems with decision anxiety, life-goal awareness, luck-fate orientation, authority orientation, and secondary gain motivation were investigated. Methodology involved administering the Career Decision Diagnostic Assessment (CDDA) instrument to 1,006 college students from four universities. Results indicated no gender differences in global levels of problems in CDM. Women reported more problems with life-goal awareness and authority orientation than did men. Men reported more problems with secondary gain motivations than did women. The results are discussed in terms of implications for gender-differentiated career counseling.     

Shyness Clinic: A Social Development Program for Adolescents and Young Adults

Shyness clinic groups were offered in a university counseling center for adolescents and young adults experiencing discomfort and difficulties in interpersonal relationships. Thirty-four students went through a preassessment and screening procedure. Twenty-three participated fully in the program. The first part of the program focused on anxiety management; the second on assertiveness in social relationships; and the third on development of conversational skills. According to results on preprogram and postprogram self-report inventories, written feedback from participants, and observations of the group leaders, participants improved in social skills and ability to manage anxiety.     

成人学习不良的筛查与诊断

西方（以美国为代表）逐步形成了一套符合自身特点的成人学习不良筛查与诊断模式。文章讨论了筛查与诊断的关系,介绍了成人学习不良筛查与诊断的基本环节,以及筛查与诊断工具的选择与评估标准,并在对西方成人学习不良筛查与诊断模式特点的分析基础上,对建立我国成人学习不良测评体系提出了建议。     

Improving Career Decision Making With Adults: Use of Portfolios

This article provides a model for developing a career portfolio process for use with high school students and adults functioning in various types of learning endeavors as they seek credentials or licenses for various careers.     

Self-Directed Career Planning for Persons with Disabilities

Persons with physical disabilities often confront barriers to employment. This article describes a career development project that has addressed the special needs of disabled adults by: (a) developing a multimedia-based, self-directed career planning program organized around modules tailored to meet the unique needs of adults with disabilities; (b) providing a training program for 15 disabled adults working as paraprofessional career guidance technicians; and (c) establishing linkages with educational institutions and community agencies to provide for the institutionalization of this project at the local level.     

Towards a Hierarchical Model of Self-concept for Hong Kong Chinese Adults with Physical Disabilities

This paper explores the basic facets and structure of the self-concepts of groups of 135 and 146 Hong Kong Chinese adults with and without physical disabilities, respectively. Comparison of responses to a 20-item scale indicated a very similar pattern of the importance the individuals in these groups attached to these areas of their lives. However, the non-disabled group did report higher satisfaction ratings on six of these areas and factor analysis of both the importance and satisfaction ratings showed a similar underlying factor structure for both groups. Content analysis of open-ended questions confirmed that both groups shared similar self-concept facets except that the subjects with physical disabilities most frequently reported the importance of “functional independence in daily living tasks”. It is proposed that this facet needs to be included in a self-concept instrument appropriate for subjects with physical disabilities. Models of self-concept were then suggested for each group.     

Sexual Enhancement for Young Adults

Despite the recent development of sexual enhancement programs, young, premarital aged adults (18 to 20) have usually been excluded from participation. Few models exist that attempt to meet the needs of this age group. In an effort to bridge this gap, a sexual enhancement workshop has been developed that focuses specifically on the needs of young adults.     

A Model for Individual Career Counseling

The focus of the article is on a visual model for individual career counseling. The model takes into account psychological, social, and economic factors and describes decision making as a journey with four discernible stages.     

Assessment Strategies for Students With Disabilities

Remedial strategies for children and adolescents with disabilities should have their roots in assessment. In this article the authors discuss improvements in assessment approaches, including new standards for psychological testing, updated and renormed cognitive assessments, and vocational assessments with increased ecological validity. The combined efforts of school psychologists, rehabilitation counselors, vocational evaluators, psychologists, and school counselors have yielded progress in the technical qualities of assessment and utilization. Through comprehensive and functional assessment, students with disabilities should find the transition from school to work with greater success.