Time is on my side: Time, general mental ability, human capital, and extrinsic career success.

The present study linked general mental ability (GMA) to extrinsic career success using a multilevel framework that included time and 3 possible time-based mediators of the GMA–career success relationship. Results, based on a large national sample, revealed that over a 28-year period, GMA affected growth in 2 indicators of extrinsic career success (income and occupational prestige), such that the careers of high-GMA individuals ascended more steeply over time than those of low-GMA individuals. Part of the reason high-GMA individuals had steeper growth in extrinsic success over time was because they attained more education, completed more job training, and gravitated toward more complex jobs. GMA also moderated the degree to which within-individual variation in the mediating variables affected within-individual variation in extrinsic career success over time: Education, training, and job complexity were much more likely to translate into career success for more intelligent individuals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A multiple-groups analysis of predictors of higher level career aspirations among women in mathematics, science, and engineering majors.

This study investigated a model of predictors of higher level career aspirations among 2 groups of women: students in mathematics, physical science, and engineering majors and students in biological science majors. On the basis of social-cognitive theory, it was hypothesized that ability, self-efficacy, positivity of role model influence, and role conflict would influence the higher level career aspirations of these women. Data obtained from a mail survey of 546 students revealed that the hypothesized model provided a good overall fit to the data. In contrast to the women in math, physical science, and engineering majors, the relationships between ability and self-efficacy and between positivity of role-model influence and self-efficacy were significantly lower in magnitude for women in the biological sciences group. These findings suggest ideas for interventions designed to increase the number of women aspiring to top positions within nontraditional careers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Men and women in optometry. II. Attitudes toward career and family

BACKGROUND: Optometry has experienced a dramatic upward shift in the percentage of women entering the profession during the past 20 years. Our survey assessed the mechanisms for sustaining balance in professional and personal roles used by women optometrists and how these mechanisms may differ from those of their male colleagues. METHODS: A survey questionnaire was mailed to a large nationwide random sample of optometrists, composed of equal numbers of men and women. RESULTS: Data were analyzed from 353 men and 358 women; margin of error was +4%. Most of the respondents indicated they derived personal satisfaction from their career. A majority of both groups did not indicate that lack of time for their career was a source of frustration. However, significantly more women than men indicated some frustration in pursuing those activities that lead to career advancement. There were significant differences in response patterns of men and women about the effect of family, child care, and household work on their careers. CONCLUSIONS: Both men and women optometrists are satisfied with their careers and neither group feels compelled to choose between career and family. Optometrists do not fit into one pattern, but instead make individualized career choices on the basis of needs.     

Succeeding against the odds: An examination of familial influences on the career development of professional African American women.

In spite of racism, African American women have pursued career goals, entered the workplace, and maintained successful careers. This persistence by African American women can be connected theoretically to several phenomena—the most notable being the family experience. The purpose of this study was to describe how 14 African American women in the midpoint of their careers perceived their family's influence on their career development. Consensual qualitative research (C. E. Hill, B. J. Thompson, and E. Nutt-Williams, 1997) was used to analyze the interview responses of these women. The most salient variables related to career development included family emphasis on education, relationships with family members, and family's social and economic resources. Other variables that shaped the career development of this sample included family gender role socialization and values toward work. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relation of family responsibilities and gender to the productivity and career satisfaction of medical faculty

BACKGROUND: Studies have found that female faculty publish less, have slower career progress, and generally have a more difficult time in academic careers than male faculty. The relation of family (dependent) responsibilities to gender and academic productivity is unclear. OBJECTIVE: To describe dependent responsibilities by gender and to identify their relation to the aspirations, goals, rate of progress, academic productivity, and career satisfaction of male and female medical school faculty. DESIGN: 177-item survey questionnaire. SETTING: 24 randomly selected medical schools in the contiguous United States. PARTICIPANTS: 1979 respondents from a probability sample of full-time academic medical school faculty. MEASUREMENTS: The main end point for measuring academic productivity was the total number of publications in refereed journals. Perceived career progress and career satisfaction were assessed by using Likert scales. RESULTS: For both male and female faculty, more than 90% of time devoted to family responsibilities was spent on child care. Among faculty with children, women had greater obstacles to academic careers and less institutional support, including research funding from their institutions (46% compared with 57%; P < 0.001) and secretarial support (0.68 full-time equivalents compared with 0.83 full-time equivalents; P = 0.003), than men. Compared with men with children, women with children had fewer publications (18.3 compared with 29.3; P < 0.001), slower self-perceived career progress (2.6 compared with 3.1; P < 0.001), and lower career satisfaction (5.9 compared with 6.6; P < 0.001). However, no significant differences between the sexes were seen for faculty without children. CONCLUSIONS: Compared with female faculty without children and compared with men, female faculty with children face major obstacles in academic careers. Some of these obstacles can be easily modified (for example, by eliminating after-hours meetings and creating part-time career tracks). Medical schools should address these obstacles and provide support for faculty with children.     

Was it a phase? Young women's relinquishment of lesbian/bisexual identities over a 5-year period.

There have been many anecdotal accounts of individuals who self-identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual only to relinquish these identities later. The current study examines this phenomenon among a sample of young nonheterosexual women who underwent 3 interviews over a 5-year period. Over a quarter of the women relinquished their lesbian/bisexual identities during this period: half reclaimed heterosexual identities and half gave up all identity labels. These women did not differ from those who maintained lesbian/bisexual identities regarding the age at which they underwent sexual identity milestones, the factors that precipitated their sexual questioning, or their recollection of childhood "indicators" same-sex sexuality. Women who relinquished their identities for heterosexual identities had small ratios of same-sex to other-sex attractions across the 5-year assessment period, but their attractions did not significantly change. Only 1 woman described her previous same-sex identification as a phase; the rest emphasized changes in how they interpreted or acted on their attractions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Choosing a norm group for counseling: Legislation, regulation, and nontraditional careers.

In the past 30 years, the number of women employed in the U.S. economy has grown dramatically. Unfortunately, occupational segregation by gender has continued, and women's earnings are still much smaller on the average than are men's earnings. This article examines the role of vocational counseling in the career exploration process of young people. It is argued that providing information to young people about their abilities and interests via same-sex and opposite-sex norms conveys more information than the use of norms based on an overall group and facilitates exploration of nontraditional careers. The use of separate-gender norms raises legal concerns; federal law and regulations related to the choice of a norm group for career counseling are reviewed. The experiences of one organization whose use of separate-gender norms was reviewed for compliance with federal statutes are summarized. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Research on a workshop to reduce the effects of sexism and sex role socialization on women's career planning.

Assessed the effects of a 4-wk workshop designed to enhance the awareness of 60 college women about sex role and career factors and to expand their sex role attitudes and self-concepts. During the workshop, portions of a 28-min videotape were presented to Ss and discussed each wk in small groups. The videotape presentation is a direct application of a model depicting factors affecting both sex role socialization and career decision-making processes. Treatment effects were assessed by means of 5 career and sex-role instruments in a pretest/posttest control-group design. Results indicate that treatment Ss spent more time thinking about their career planning, described themselves as being more "masculine," and reported investigative, social, and enterprising careers as being more appropriate career choices than control Ss. The workshop appears to have expanded Ss' "masculine" sex role self-concepts and changed their attitudes about the appropriateness of 2 stereotypic masculine career areas (investigative and enterprising). (59 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Family dysfunction, parental attachment, and career search self-efficacy among community college students.

The relationship between family dysfunction, parental attachment, and career search self-efficacy was examined using a sample of 220 community college students. For the total sample, attachment to mother and father, and degree of family dysfunction combined to account for 14% of the variance in career search self-efficacy. Data were analyzed separately for men and women, which yielded results consistent with the literature. For women, attachment to mother and degree of family dysfunction combined to account for 17% of the variance in career search self-efficacy. For men, attachment to mother was the only significant predictor and accounted for 9% of the variance in career search self-efficacy. Implications for research and practice are described. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Women's career choices: Focus on science, math, and technology careers.

This study was part of a longitudinal study of factors related to persistence in a science-related career. Participants (N?=?173; 97 women and 76 men) were a subsample of matched participants from the 1980 and 1990 phases of data collection in the midwestem United States who in 1980, while in high school, aspired to a science, math, or technology career. By 1990, 36% of women and 46% of men had persisted in a science-related career. Structural equation model testing indicated that for women persistence was related to the number of elective high school science courses taken and that women who had higher career commitment were more likely to have switched aspirations to another career field. For men, persistence was related to their 1980 and 1990 career aspiration level and needing and obtaining financial support for college. For men these relationships also incorporated the largely indirect effects of high school science grade point average. Implications for counseling include encouraging interested adolescent girls to take elective science courses and nurturing aspiration level in adolescent boys who have science ability and are interested in a science career. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Locus of control and college women's role expectations.

Hypothesized that college women's locus of control orientations would be related to their role expectations, with women with an external locus of control having lower aspirations, more conservative sex-role ideologies, and less involvement in career planning than women with an internal locus of control. 116 female college juniors and seniors completed a career expectation scale, the Adult Nowicki-Strickland Internal-External Control Scale (ANSIE), and an index of sympathy for women's liberation ideology. Regression analyses using ANSIE scores as the predictor variable supported the hypotheses. Compared to Ss with internal orientations, Ss with external orientations expected to have less commitment to their careers, to work for a smaller portion of their lives, and to feel more discomfort due to violating sex-role stereotypes. In addition, Ss with a more external orientation reported less career planning activity, less positive feelings about their future careers, and more conservative views on women's liberation ideology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Work preferences, life values, and personal views of top math/science graduate students and the profoundly gifted: Developmental changes and gender differences during emerging adulthood and parenthood.

Work preferences, life values, and personal views of top math/science graduate students (275 men, 255 women) were assessed at ages 25 and 35 years. In Study 1, analyses of work preferences revealed developmental changes and gender differences in priorities: Some gender differences increased over time and increased more among parents than among childless participants, seemingly because the mothers’ priorities changed. In Study 2, gender differences in the graduate students’ life values and personal views at age 35 were compared with those of profoundly gifted participants (top 1 in 10,000, identified by age 13 and tracked for 20 years: 265 men, 84 women). Again, gender differences were larger among parents. Across both cohorts, men appeared to assume a more agentic, career-focused perspective than women did, placing more importance on creating high-impact products, receiving compensation, taking risks, and gaining recognition as the best in their fields. Women appeared to favor a more communal, holistic perspective, emphasizing community, family, friendships, and less time devoted to career. Gender differences in life priorities, which intensify during parenthood, anticipated differential male-female representation in high-level and time-intensive careers, even among talented men and women with similar profiles of abilities, vocational interests, and educational experiences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Career self-efficacy expectations and perceived range of career options in community college students.

The first purpose of the present study was to explore the relation of socioeconomic status (SES), race, gender, career self-efficacy, career interests, and sex role orientation to career-choice range in female–male, and non-gender-dominated careers. The second purpose was to determine the relation of SES, race, sex role orientation, gender, and career interests to career self-efficacy. Results indicated that career interest and career self-efficacy expectations significantly predicted range of perceived career options above and beyond the contributions of the other dependent variables. Similarly, career interest and sex role orientation predicted self-efficacy expectations. Recommendations for future investigations of the career self-efficacy model of occupational choice as well as some possible applications of the findings to career counseling are made. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Need for power and women's careers over 14 years: Structural power, job satisfaction, and motive change.

Previous findings by D. G. Winter (see record 1988-16912-001) relating the need for Power to choice and attainment of power-relevant careers (teaching, including college; psychotherapy; journalism; and business management) were successfully replicated among 118 female college seniors, 69 of whom returned mailed questionnaires 14 yrs later. High n Power women reported both more power-relevant job satisfaction and dissatisfaction; n Power predicted career progression only for women in power-relevant careers. Those women holding relational power jobs and those in structural power roles who reported higher overall job satisfaction increased in n Power over 14 yrs. Power-motivated women in different structural power roles reported contrasting satisfactions and career progression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adherence to RIASEC structure as a key career decision construct.

The present study examined the relation between individual cognitive structure and several key career decision variables. Specifically, in a sample of college students enrolled in a career development class, the usage of the RIASEC (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional) circumplex (adherence) was examined as it varied across individuals and with career certainty, career decision-making self-efficacy, and interest-occupation congruence. Individual adherence to the RIASEC circumplex as a cognitive structure was related to better career decision outcomes. Changes in adherence as a function of taking a career class were found to be associated with changes in career certainty, career decision-making self-efficacy, and interest-occupation congruence. The results support the importance of thinking about careers in a manner similar to the RIASEC circumplex and the potential value of direct instruction of this model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Intrapersonal, familial, and cultural factors in the commitment to a career choice of Mexican American and non-Hispanic White college women.

These 2 studies assessed intrapersonal, familial, and cultural factors in the process of committing to a career choice of 91 and 71 Mexican American (MA) and 52 and 76 non-Hispanic White (NHW) college women. Factors different from what previous theory and research have suggested may propel the commitment to a career choice in these 2 groups. MA women's commitment to a career choice was influenced more by their instrumentality and less by their expressiveness or their parents: NHW's com7itment was influenced by familial factors rather than by intrapersonal factors in Study 1 and by instrumentality in Study 2. These findings underscore the need to investigate intrapersonal, contextual factors and culture in women's processes of committing to a career choice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Family dysfunction, parental attachment, and career search self-efficacy among community college students": Correction.

Reports an error in the original article by N. E. Ryan et al (Journal of Counseling Psychology, 1996, Vol 43[1], 84–89). In Table 2 on page 87, the scale labels for the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment Father subscale and the Family Structure Survey were inadvertently reversed in the 2nd and 3rd sections of the table. A corrected version of the table is provided. (The following abstract of this article originally appeared in record 1996-00407-009.) The relationship between family dysfunction, parental attachment, and career search self-efficacy was examined using a sample of 220 community college students. For the total sample, attachment to mother and father, and career search self-efficacy. Data were analyzed separately for men and women, which yielded results consistent with the literature. For women, attachment to mother and degree of family dysfunction combined to account for 17% of the variance in career search self-efficacy. For men, attachment to mother was the only significant predictor and accounted for 9% of the variance in career search self-efficacy. Implications for research and practice are described. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Does parenting differ based on social class?: African American women's perceived socialization for achievement

Research has provided some evidence of ethnic group, gender, and class differences in the socialization for achievement. However, there is little research on African American women with the exception of the studies of low-income, single mothers. To understand the similarities and differences in socialization for achievement based on social class, middle-class African American women from working- and middle-class backgrounds were studied using qualitative and quantitative methods to compare them on issues related to achievement socialization. Women from middle-class backgrounds reported that their parents had higher expectations for them and were more involved in their education than did women from working-class backgrounds. More middle-class parents expected their daughters to be successful in careers than did working-class parents. Women from working-class families did receive support from their parents but they did not have as much support as did the women from middle-class backgrounds. Women from working-class families perhaps made use of other sources to support their desire to succeed. There were no differences in perceived race-related socialization based on social class. Implications of these findings for future research are discussed.