Influential factors in career orientation and career aspiration of early adolescent girls.

Two models of the career development of early adolescent girls were investigated. For each model, endogenous variables were adolescents' gender role attitudes and the mother–daughter relationship (psychological separation and attachment); exogenous variables were adolescents' grade point averages, agentic characteristics, and a latent variable, maternal characteristics. Career orientation (Model 1) and career aspirations (Model 2) were the final outcome variables. A sample of 276 girls drawn from 7th and 8th graders in the rural area of a southeastern state and their mothers participated. In both models, adolescents' agentic characteristics and maternal variables contributed significantly to adolescents' gender role attitudes. In addition, in Model 2, adolescents' agentic characteristics and the mother–daughter relationship contributed to the girls' career aspirations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-concepts and role concepts in the career orientation of college women.

Examined the relationship of 97 college women's self-concepts and role concepts to 9 career orientation variables. Ss were senior class women representing a variety of majors. Data were collected by mailed questionnaires which included a self- and role concept instrument, Eyde's Desire to Work Scale, and other locally devised career orientation measures. It was expected that (a) women with similar self- and career concepts would be career oriented and (b) women with similar self- and homemaker concepts would not be career oriented. Results support the 2nd expectation but not the 1st. The relationship between self- and career concepts and the 2 most valid career orientation variables was somewhat stronger for women with high levels of self-esteem and women with a high level of role differentiation. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of counselor gender and gender-role orientation on client career choice traditionality.

The purpose of this study was to test common assumptions about the effects of counselors' gender and gender-role orientation on clients' career choice traditionality. A sample of 240 career counseling clients (120 women and 120 men) were counseled by a male or female counselor, who were further classified as possessing a masculine, feminine, or androgynous gender-role orientation as determined by the Bem Sex-Role Inventory. The clients' career choice traditionality was measured on three occasions: during the counseling sessions, at the conclusion of counseling, and with respect to clients' actual career choices 6 months after completion of the counseling process. Results showed that counselor gender and gender-role orientation had no effects on any of the three measures of client career choice traditionality. Client gender emerged as the only significant determinant of client career choice traditionality. We discuss the implications of these findings for counseling research and practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A causal model of the educational plans and career expectations of Mexican American high school girls.

A structural model predicting the educational and career expectations of 282 Mexican American high school girls was developed and then tested on samples of 247 Mexican American boys and 228 European American girls. Predictors included socioeconomic status, acculturation, academic achievement, instrumentality, expressiveness, gender role attitudes, parental and teacher support, family and career commitment, and perceptions of barriers. Results indicated that the initial model was plausible in the sample of Mexican American girls. Findings from the multiple-groups analyses provided evidence supporting the primacy of cultural influences over gender in predicting the educational and career expectations of Mexican American girls. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social class privilege and adolescent women’s perceived career options.

This qualitative study examined the perceived career options of 10 White adolescent young women who experienced social class privilege in their families of origin. The model of contextual privilege and career selection for adolescent White women emerged from the data, and it describes how social class privilege, gender, achievement expectations, experiences, and verbal messages may influence perceived occupational possibilities. The model includes 4 categorical groups: (a) Social Class Identity and Perceptions, (b) Shared Perceptions of Achievement and Expectations, (c) Exposure, and (d) Evaluating Career Options. The findings suggest that social class privilege contributes to the perception of numerous career options. Yet it also contributes to a process wherein participants unintentionally limit their career aspirations to a very narrow range of options. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of sexual orientation among adolescent and young adult women

Although some research suggests that sexual orientation is a stable, early appearing trait, interviews with 89 young sexual-minority women revealed that a majority of women failed to report at least one of the following: childhood indicators of sexual orientation, stability in same-sex attractions, or awareness of same-sex attractions prior to the conscious process of sexual questioning. Lesbians were not more likely to report these experiences than bisexuals, although they reported significantly greater same-sex attractions. Consistent with studies on older cohorts, few young women reported exclusive same-sex attractions. These findings suggest that recollected consistency among prior and current behavior, ideation, and attractions are not systematically associated with sexual orientation among contemporary young women.     

Influences on the career choice of psychotherapists.

Motivations and experiences relevant to the career choices of 56 clinical psychologists practicing psychotherapy were assessed and compared with those from a sample of 53 social psychologists. Clinical psychologists were more likely than social psychologists to have been influenced in their career selections by (a) experiences of psychological distress in themselves and in their families of origin, (b) desires to resolve personal problems, and (c) a wish to pursue opportunities for vocational achievement and professional advancement. However, most respondents did not view problematic histories as central to their choice of career, and the magnitude of difference between the two groups of professionals was small. Results illuminate reasons why individuals choose careers as psychotherapists. Implications for the training of therapists are also discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A canonical analysis of career choice crystallization and vocational maturity.

Whereas career development theory has proposed that the crystallization of career choices occurs as individuals resolve relevant career development tasks, the supporting empirical evidence has been inconclusive. To develop a clearer understanding of the nature of the career decision-making process, this study assessed the degree to which career choice crystallization is associated with vocationally mature attitudes, behavior, and knowledge. Measures of vocational maturity and career choice crystallization (which was defined by measures of career decidedness and commitment to career choice) were administered to 158 community college students (mean age?=?21.35). A canonical analysis was employed to identify the relationships between age, gender, career choice crystallization, and vocational maturity. The analysis yielded one significant canonical root, which indicated that most of the shared variance between these two sets of variables was contributed by the relationship between the career planning component of vocational maturity and the two career choice crystallization scales. These findings were related to theory, research, and practice in career development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A probabilistic contrast model of causal induction.

Deviations from the predictions of covariational models of causal attribution have often been reported in the literature. These include a bias against using a consensus information, a bias toward attributing effects to a person, and a tendency to make a variety of unpredicted conjunctive attributions. It is contended that these deviations, rather than representing irrational biases, could be due to (a) unspecified information over which causal inferences are computed and (b) the questionable normativeness of the models against which these deviations have been measured. A probabilistic extension of Kelley's analysis-of-variance analogy is proposed. An experiment was performed to assess the above biases and evaluate the proposed model against competing ones. The results indicate that the inference process is unbiased. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A longitudinal study into the interplay between problem orientation and adolescent well-being.

Past research has documented a link between negative problem orientation (NPO) and poor emotional well-being, but little of this research has focused on adolescence or has collected multiple waves of data. The authors conducted a 3-wave longitudinal survey of 841 adolescents in Grades 8, 9, and 10 (428 boys, 411 girls, 2 unidentified). The survey included measures of NPO, sadness, fear, hostility, and joviality. Structural equation modeling (AMOS 7.0; J. L. Arbuckle, 2006) revealed that adolescents high in NPO experienced increases in fear, sadness, and hostility, and decreases in joviality compared with adolescents low in NPO with the same baseline levels of affect. The evidence that affect predicted future levels of problem orientation was less consistent. We discuss the implications of these findings for problem-solving interventions and for the early identification of at-risk adolescents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Contextual supports and barriers to career choice: A social cognitive analysis.

Social cognitive career theory (SCCT; R. W. Lent, S. D. Brown, & G. Hackett, 1994) emphasizes cognitive-person variables that enable people to influence their own career development, as well as extra-person (e.g., contextual) variables that enhance or constrain personal agency. Although the theory has yielded a steady stream of inquiry and practical applications, relatively little of this work has examined SCCT's contextual variables or hypotheses. In this article, several avenues for stimulating study of the contextual aspects of career behavior are considered. In particular, the authors (a) examine "career barriers," a conceptually relevant construct, from the perspective of SCCT; (b) advocate study of contextual supports as well as barriers; and (c) propose additional context-focused research and practice directions derived from SCCT. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Another career choice for BA psychology students.

Comments on R. B. Pinkus and J. H. Korn's (see record 1974-21796-001) career suggestions for BA degree holders in psychology and suggests another direction: the engineering psychology/human factors/ergonomics area. A master's degree in industrial engineering can profitably be combined with undergraduate emphasis in applied experimental psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Are causal attributions causal? A path analysis of the cognitive model of achievement motivation.

Tested the causal assumptions of B. Weiner's (1972, 1974, 1977) cognitive reinterpretation of the traditional theory of achievement motivation. Ss were 206 college students varying in resultant achievement motivation who experienced feelings of failure in a course test and chose to take the exam a second time under a mastery learning system. After feedback on first test performance, Ss made attributions for their initial failure, indicated degree of shame, and rated their expectancy for success on the second test opportunity. Treatment of this system of nonmanipulated variables by path analysis techniques provided little support for the contention that variations in expectancy and retest performance depend on attributions made for a previous failure. Affect depends in part on internal attributions, but in a direction opposite to predictions. An alternative interpretation of the role of cognitive attributions in the achievement process is explored. (63 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An ecologically differentiated, multifactor model of adolescent network orientation

The paper presents a test of an ecologically differentiated model of social network orientation for adolescents that distinguished between different social network reference groups (family, peers, and nonfamily adults). The model was tested in two consecutive studies. Study 1 describes initial model development (N = 120). Study 2 presents a confirmatory factor analysis with a second sample (N = 430) to replicate the factor structure developed in Study 1. Results supported a three-factor model of network orientation that differentiated between network reference groups. Analyses of concurrent and predictive validity indicated that orientation to network reference groups was differentially related to the perceived quality and frequency of support from members of respective social network groups. Group differences (gender, race) regarding network orientation to different network reference groups were consistent with studies of other social network processes. Implications for the study of the network orientation and the study of social networks more generally are discussed.     

A comparison of two latent variable causal models for adolescent drug use.

Compared the competing simplex (involvement) and common factor models for youthful drug use using causal modeling with latent variables methods with 1,634 students in Grades 7–9. Latent variables of alcohol, marihuana, and other illicit drug use were confirmed and causally interconnected in a set of states. The confirmatory factor and the simplex stage models were found to be acceptable representations of the observed data according to both statistical and psychometric criteria. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for theories of emerging life-styles including drug use, methodology, and policy about psychoactive substances. (44 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Employment and career status of women psychologists.

Examined the employment status of doctoral recipients in psychology from 1960-1970. Data collected by the Office of Scientific Personnel of the National Academy of Sciences, provided the information for these analyses. The career status of academic female psychologists as compared to male psychologists is examined and discussed utilizing national data on faculty collected by the Carnegie Commission of Higher Education and the American Council on Education. This investigation of the career status of academic psychologists clearly documents the relatively low status of academic women in psychology in comparison to their male colleagues. Although it could be argued that the female psychologist's lower rank, lower salary, and lack of tenure are a consequence of merit consideration (e.g., degree held, publications), these analyses suggest strongly that such is not the case. Among new PhDs women have always had a somewhat harder time locating employment than have men, and these sex differences have been increasing in the recently tightening job market. Compared to sex differences in academic rank, salary, and tenure, however, the relative difficulty that the new woman PhD finds in securing initial employment appears to be minor. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relation of career indecision to career exploration with reentry women: A treatment and follow-up study.

61 career-decided and 60 career-undecided 30–68 yr old women reentering the job market were randomly assigned to a vocational card sort (VCS) treatment group, a VCS-plus-videotape treatment group, or a no-treatment control group to examine the relationship between career indecision and career exploration for reentry women. Career decidedness was measured by the My Vocational Situation scale. One-year follow-up questionnaires were collected from 102 Ss, and a variety of outcome measures were used, including a vocational needs questionnaire, a satisfaction opinionnaire, a satisfaction with career scale, and an occupational alternatives question. The percentage of Ss who were employed in their chosen occupations was examined. Results indicate that there were minimal treatment effects, supporting the salience of career indecision and its stability over time. Findings are discussed in terms of their implications for career counseling. (56 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A transactional model of adolescent self-esteem.

Adolescents (51 boys, 53 girls), 11 to 15 years old, and their mothers participated in a study to test a transactional model of self-esteem (TMS). The TMS proposes that self-esteem results from complex transactions among individual characteristics, cognitions, and behaviors of adolescents and parents. Structural equation models were used to examine direct and indirect effects of mothers' depressive symptoms and adolescent behavior problems on perceptions of each other, behaviors toward each other, and adolescent self-esteem. Measures included self-reports and ratings by teachers and observers. As hypothesized, there were direct paths to global self-esteem from adolescents' specific self-perceptions and mothers' positive communications, whereas paths from maternal depressive symptoms and adolescent behavior problems to self-esteem were indirect, mediated by mothers' perceptions and behaviors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Becoming a therapist: Family dynamics and career choice.

In intensive psychodynamic analysis, 7 male and 7 female psychotherapists' (mean age 36.1 yrs) recalled experiences in their families of origin through the use of the intensive interview methodology developed by W. E. Henry et al (1971, 1973). Ss reported physical and behavioral conditions in their families of origin that suggest helpless rage and conflict over the expression and acceptance of intimacy. Their current professional functioning reflected these early experiences, including sensitivity to interpersonal stress and the need to control interpersonal relations. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)