A study of collegians' family activities, roles, and interpersonal relations and their vocational identity, career choice commitment and decision making: An application of the developmental contextual framework
Abstract
The purpose of the present study was to test the empirical validity of the developmental contextual paradigm of Vondracek, Lerner, and Schulenberg (1986) by exploring the relationships between collegians' family activities, roles, relations, and their vocational identity, career choice commitment, and career decision-making behaviors. Four hundred thirty seven undergraduate students were administered the Vocational Identity Scale, Vocational Exploration and Commitment Scale, Career Factors Inventory, the Family Environment Scale, the Parental Attachment Questionnaire, and a modified Life Roles Salience Scale. Canonical correlation analyses were conducted to test four hypotheses and to explore dimensions common to the career and family variables. Single canonical variates (linear combinations of career and family variables) were identified for female students per hypothesis, but not for male students. In general, a low level of achievement orientation; high levels of intellectual-cultural, active-recreational, and moral-religious orientation; a low commitment to the occupational role by father and mother; a high level of cohesion; strong attachment to parents; and a high commitment to encouraging autonomy and independence by parents were associated with a clear and stable vocational identity, greater commitment levels to career choice, low levels of career choice anxiety and indecisiveness, and low need levels for information about self and the world of work for female undergraduates. These results offer some support about the empirical validity of the developmental contextualistic framework and suggest to career counselors that their female clients' contextual factors may contribute to presenting issues.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Kelly, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Academic guidance counseling|Educational psychology|Developmental psychology
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