The influence of family context on life,educational and occupational ideal among middle school students in China

This study examined the relationship between family context of middle school students on their educational and occupational ideals. Middle school students (N = 2000) responded to questions assessing family location, family structure, parental educational level and family economic status, as well as to the Middle School Students' Ideals Questionnaire. Multivariate analysis of variance indicated that life, educational and occupational ideals of female students and students in lower grades were higher than that of male students and students in higher grades. Regression analysis indicated that paternal education level have a positive association with educational and occupational ideals, but not life ideals, and family economic status have a positive relation to life ideals, but not educational and occupational ideals. Moreover, the interaction between family economic status and family location has a negative association with students' life, educational and occupational ideals. These results suggest that different factors predicted different ideals of adolescents, and that family economic status had a negative moderating effect on the relationship between family location and ideals of students.     

Career adaptability profiles and their relationship to adaptivity and adapting

Research on career adaptability predominantly uses variable-centered approaches that focus on the average effects in terms of the predictors and outcomes within a given sample. Extending this research, the present paper used a person-centered approach to determine whether subgroups with distinct adaptability profiles in terms of concern, control, curiosity and confidence can be identified. We also explored the relationship between the various adaptability profiles and adapting (career planning, career decision-making difficulties, career exploration, and occupational self-efficacy beliefs) and adaptivity (core self-evaluations and proactivity). Using latent profile analysis, we found distinct adaptability profiles among 350 German university students. Students with different profiles differed significantly in their levels of adapting. This finding was confirmed in a second study of 1226 students selected from the same population. In both samples, the adaptability profiles differed mainly in terms of their adaptability levels but not their shape. Moreover, in both samples, the students whose profiles indicated generally higher adaptability showed more adapting compared with the students whose profiles indicated generally lower adaptability. Study 2 also showed that students with higher-adaptability profiles showed significantly higher adaptivity. The results suggest that level effects dominate adaptability profiles, implying the existence of a general adaptability factor within university students that is meaningfully related to adapting and adaptivity.     

The Meaning, Development, and Career Outcomes of Breadth of Vocational Interests

Breadth of vocational interests (BVI) denotes the diversity of an individual's vocational interests. Not much is known about the meaning and development of BVI or its career outcomes. The authors' framework for conceptualizing the development of BVI includes three individual difference domains (i.e., life experiences, cognitive ability, and personality) related to the development of BVI and three possible outcomes (i.e., career commitment, job involvement, and stability of occupational classification). The framework is tested longitudinally. It appears that life experiences are more instrumental in the development of women's BVI, whereas academic achievement is more important for men. These findings have practical implications for counselors, career clients, and researchers alike. In light of the suggested changes in career management and the dynamic work environment, understanding BVI should prove insightful to all. BVI may be associated with adaptability to a changing economy and shifting job demands.     

Two sides of the career resources coin: Career adaptability resources and the impostor phenomenon

Considering the impostor phenomenon (IP) as an important psychological construct in the context of career development requires a theoretical grounding. Using the career construction model of adaptation as a guiding framework, we investigated how the IP is related to adaptive readiness (represented by core self-evaluations), career adaptability resources, and adapting responses, namely, career planning, career decision-making difficulties, career exploration, and occupational self-efficacy. We used parallel multiple mediation modeling to investigate specific indirect effects through concern, control, curiosity, confidence, and the IP. We conducted an online study with 289 university students. Results indicated a positive effect of core self-evaluations on career planning, career exploration, and occupational self-efficacy and a negative effect on career decision-making difficulties through adaptability resources. The IP emerged as a “maladaptability” resource: That is, it might be a hindrance to adaptive coping and behavior and consequently promote maladaptive coping and behavior by decreasing career planning and occupational self-efficacy and increasing career decision-making difficulties. Supplementary negative effects of the IP on adaptability resources are discussed.     

Matching Abilities to Careers for Others and Self: Do Gender Stereotypes Matter to Students in Advanced Math and Science Classes?

Interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) careers falls off more quickly for young women than for young men over adolescence, and gender stereotypes may be partially to blame. Adolescents typically become more stereotypical in their career interests over time, yet they seem to become more flexible in applying stereotypes to others. Models of career interest propose that career decisions result from the alignment of self-perceived abilities with occupation-required skills and that gender stereotypes may influence this process. To investigate the discrepancy between applying stereotypes to self and others, we examined if these models can be applied to perceptions of others. Focusing on students from fifth grade through college enrolled in advanced STEM courses, we investigated how STEM occupational stereotypes, abilities, and efficacy affect expectations for others’ and own career interests. U.S. participants (n = 526) read vignettes describing a hypothetical male or female student who was talented in math/science or language arts/social studies and then rated the student’s interest in occupations requiring some of those academic skills. Participants’ self-efficacy, interest, and stereotypes for STEM occupations were also assessed. Findings suggest that ability beliefs, whether for oneself or another, are powerful predictors of occupational interest, and gender stereotypes play a secondary role. College students were more stereotypical in their ratings of others, but they did not manifest gender differences in their own STEM self-efficacy and occupational interests. Experiences in specialized STEM courses may explain why stereotypes are applied differentially to the self and others.     

The relationship between vocational interests and the location of an ideal occupation in the individual's perceived occupational structure

The relationship between vocational interests and the location of an ideal occupation in the perceived occupational structure of career counselees was investigated. Ninety-six career counselees completed the RAMAK vocational interest inventory. Then, the occupational constructs of each subject were elicited by the career grid procedure. Finally, each subject rated 24 occupations and his/her ideal and rejected occupations on his/her own elicited constructs. The intrasubject analyses indicated that the preferences for occupational fields as measured by the interest inventory reflect the fields' proximity to an ideal occupation in the individual's perceived occupational structure. The implications for career development are discussed.     

聋人大学生心理控制源对求职行为的影响：职业成熟度的中介作用

采用中国大学生控制源测量问卷、职业成熟度量表和高校应届毕业生求职调查问卷对重庆、北京、吉林、天津4地4所高校的386名聋人大学生进行调查,旨在探讨聋人大学生心理控制源、职业成熟度与求职行为的关系,揭示职业成熟度在心理控制源与求职行为之间的中介作用机制。结果发现：（1）内控对职业成熟度和求职行为均具有显著的正向预测作用。（2）职业成熟度在内控与求职行为之间起部分中介作用。（3）职业成熟度在外控对求职行为的影响中起着“遮掩效应”。     

聋人大学生心理控制源对求职行为的影响：职业成熟度的中介作用

采用中国大学生控制源测量问卷、职业成熟度量表和高校应届毕业生求职调查问卷对重庆、北京、吉林、天津4地4所高校的386名聋人大学生进行调查,旨在探讨聋人大学生心理控制源、职业成熟度与求职行为的关系,揭示职业成熟度在心理控制源与求职行为之间的中介作用机制。结果发现：（1）内控对职业成熟度和求职行为均具有显著的正向预测作用。（2）职业成熟度在内控与求职行为之间起部分中介作用。（3）职业成熟度在外控对求职行为的影响中起着“遮掩效应”。     

Career specialty choice: A combined research-intervention project

This research describes and evaluates a workshop aimed at promoting career specialty choice and examines relationships between measured career specialty interests, work values, and personality type. Three consecutive classes of second-year medical students (N = 161) participated in a two-session specialty choice workshop. All participants in the study rated the usefulness of the workshop and reported their level of specialty choice certainty and satisfaction. They also responded to measures of medical specialty preference, work values, and personality type. Results indicated two distinct student subgroups of career-specialty-decided and -undecided students. The former subgroup evidenced more stability and certainty of specialty choice as well satisfaction with their choice. Both groups of students reported having benefited from the workshop. Significant gender differences in the relationships between scores on a measure of medical specialty preference and scores on measures of work values and personality emerged. Implications are discussed in terms of the differential career counseling needs of students either decided or undecided about their career specialty choices.     

FACTORS INFLUENCING CANADIAN HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS' CAREER MOTIVATION

The need to prepare adolescent girls for the reality of labor market participation prompted this study investigating the factors influencing female career motivation. Questionnaires were completed by 317 female students from grades 8, 10, and 12. Four criterion variables were used to assess overall career motivation: career commitment, occupational aspirations, educational aspirations, and vocational certainty. The relation–ship between the criterion measures and a set of predictor variables (socioeconomic status, school marks, grade level, masculine/feminine trait dimensions, attitudes toward women, and marriage/family commitment) was explored. A canonical correlation analysis, used to test the relationship between the predictor and criterion variables, revealed two significant sets of relationships. First, girls who obtained higher marks in school, identified with either masculine or androgynous trait dispositions, had more liberal attitudes toward women, and were from higher socioeconomic backgrounds aspired to higher levels of education, were more highly committed to a career, and aspired to more highly prestigious occupations. The second relationship showed that older girls from a lower socioeconomic background with high commitment to marriage and a family have high career commitment and certainty about their careers, yet lower educational and occupational aspirations. The study highlights the importance of (a) examining career and family commitment independently, (b) studying the impact of psychological variables on career motivation, and (c) combining a number of factors to represent career motivation.     

Differences among medical,business, and engineering students in the intensity and direction of their affective responses to occupational concepts

A semantic differential was used to measure the affective responses of vocationally committed male students in medicine, business, and engineering to occupational concepts representing the fields of medicine, business, engineering, the clergy, and law enforcement. A factor analysis of the data indicated that the students responded to the concepts with the Evaluative, Activity, and Potency dimensions of affective meaning. It was found that the groups differed significantly in the intensity and direction of their affective responses to the occupational concepts on the Evaluative and Activity dimensions. An examination of the nature of the group differences indicated that they held different affective meanings for their respective vocational choices, and for other occupational concepts as well. The medical students responded to medicine as good, potent, and active; the business students to business as bad, potent, and active, and the engineering students to engineering as good, weak, and active. The possible relationship of affective meaning to vocational behavior was discussed.     

Decision making styles and progress in occupational decision making

This study provides a reexamination of the role of different decisional strategies in facilitating progress in occupational decision making. Although the assumptions that a rational decision making style is the preferred mode of vocational functioning has been endorsed in a variety of career theories and interventions, there has been conflicting evidence about the validity of this assumption. To examine the role of different decisional approaches in the progress of making an occupational decision, the rational, intuitive, and dependent decision making style scores of 71 undergraduate students were used to predict progress in occupational decision making. The results of the regression analyses failed to provide support for the assumption that a rational style is the most effective in accomplishing this careerrelated task, but indicated strong support for the conclusion that the use of dependent decisional strategies is damaging, particularly in early stages of the decisional process.     

Homemaking as an occupational plan: Evidence from a national longitudinal study

While several guidelines for avoiding sexist language in career materials have been published, little empirical evidence exists to support the assumption that sexist language in career information has deleterious effects on clients. The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of sex-biased language in occupational information on subject interest and attitudes regarding gender appropriateness of occupations. Eighth-grade students read occupational briefs on two occupations presented in either neutral, female-biased, or male-biased language. Results showed a nonsignificant language effect and a significant sex difference in interest in the occupations. A significant three-way interaction (language by subject sex by occupation) was found for gender-appropriateness ratings. The findings, together with previous research, suggest that language may have little impact on specific occupational interests, but may affect other career attitudes related to interests.     

Career decision status as a predictor of resignation behavior five years later

This paper extends earlier research exploring the relationship between career decision status and work outcomes by examining resignation behavior in a group of new graduates five years after initial appointment. On appointment various measures were collected including career decision status variables. Earlier research identified a significant relationship between a number of important work outcomes and career decision status. In the current study two variables–career decidedness and career choice importance–predicted resignation behavior. Those people who on appointment scored higher on career decidedness or lower on career choice importance were significantly more likely to stay in the organization than others. The implications of this finding for individuals and organizations are discussed.     

Adaptation of career goals to self and opportunities in early adolescence

Development of career goals that are adapted to self and opportunities is a central component of adolescent career preparation. The present longitudinal study (conducted throughout the eighth grade with three assessment points) investigated how 330 Swiss adolescents simultaneously adapt career goals to interests, scholastic achievement and environmental opportunities. Results demonstrated that students increasingly adapt their goals to the environment. Mean adaptation to environment related positively to degree of adaption to interests and achievement. Increased adaptation to environment over time related to increased adaptation to achievement but to decreased adaptation to interests. Gender, attended school type and nationality moderated adaptation processes. Structurally disadvantaged students (girls, lower requirements school track, immigrant students) reported more conflict in aligning adaptation to environment with adaptation to interests.     

Development of occupational aspiration prestige: A piecewise latent growth model of selected influences

Using the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88) data sets, the complex phenomenon of intra-individual and inter-individual differences in and the potential predictors of those differences on career aspirations development over a 12-year period was analyzed. Results indicated that 73.1% of the total growth (change) in adolescents’ occupational aspiration prestige scores were achieved between grades 8-10, while 26.9% of growth was achieved between grades 10 and 12. One-third of the total growth in the occupational aspiration scores of these individuals as young adults was observed between high school graduation and 2 years after graduation, while 67.4% of the total growth was obtained during the period between 2 and 8 years after high school graduation. Individuals with higher initial aspiration scores experienced slower growth in aspirations than those with lower initial aspirations. A negative association between career aspiration prestige scores in grade 12 and 8 years post-graduation existed.     

Stability and change in interests: A longitudinal examination of grades 7 through college

The joint issue of stability and change of interests in adolescence and early adulthood was investigated longitudinally over three years in three different grade cohorts. The patterns of structural stability, mean stability, rank order stability, and profile stability as well as how these patterns were moderated by gender were examined based on three cohorts of grades 7 and 8 (n = 3191), grades 9 and 10 (n = 6818), and grades 11 and 12 (n = 1078) using the Personal Globe Inventory-Short (Tracey, 2010). Results indicated that adherence to the RIASEC circular model was high and stable; there was a lack of appreciable change in interest means; interests were stable; interest crystallization, profile, and pattern were stable. While the results supported late adolescence and early adulthood being a stable period for interests in general, more changes were found among male and younger students. The implication of the current study was discussed along with its limitations and suggestions for future research.     

employment or economic success: the experience of individuals with disabilities in transition from school to work

This research explores the mediating effects of severity of disability on the employment outcomes of participants with disabilities, taking into account their perception of interest‐job match. Participants were 115 high school students with disabilities who took part in an intensive school‐to‐work transition program that explored occupational interests in relation‐to‐work opportunities. Results of a 1‐way analysis of covariance indicated that severity of disability had a significant effect on the employment outcomes of participants despite interest‐job matching. Although participants experienced positive employment outcomes in terms of job entry, these outcomes may not necessarily translate into higher earnings.     

At-Risk Urban High School Students' Commitment to Career Choices

The purpose of this study was to examine the commitment to career choices process for at-risk urban high school students. Data from 189 at-risk urban high school students were sampled. Results indicated that students' level of commitment to their career choices was related to their vocational identity, their need for occupational information, their perceived barriers to occupational goals, and the number of occupations they considered. The tendency to foreclose was related to the adherence to career myths. Implications and limitations for career theory, research, and practice are addressed.     

Effectiveness of the career interest profile

This study examined the effectiveness of group‐based career counseling using the Career Interest Profile (CIP). The study used an experimental design involving 2 groups of Italian university students: an experimental group (42 participants) who received narrative career counseling and a control group (47 participants) who did not. Results indicated more specific life and occupational goals after the intervention among members of the experimental group in addition to a decrease in career decision‐making difficulties and an increase in career decision‐making self‐efficacy, thus suggesting the value of group‐based career counseling on the basis of the principles embodied in the CIP.