After they had learned exploration skills, 132 undergraduate helping skills students were taught to use the insight skill of immediacy. After training, students increased in self-efficacy for using immediacy, and catharsis and cohesion increased among lab group members. Students who completed training first (nondelay) had higher self-efficacy post-training than those in a delay condition before they had training. Self-efficacy for immediacy increased after lecture, modeling, and large-group discussion; decreased between lecture and lab; and increased after lab practice. Qualitative results indicated that practice was the most helpful component. Students with the highest initial self-efficacy and prior helping experience (PHE) had the highest post-training self-efficacy, whereas those with the lowest self-efficacy or the highest PHEs had the greatest self-efficacy increases. In addition, cultural background played a role in learning and using immediacy.

After they learned exploration skills, 103 undergraduate helping skills students were taught to use challenges. Prior to training, students' selfefficacy for using challenges did not change, although the quality of written challenges and reflections of feelings did. After training, students rated themselves as having more self-efficacy for using challenges and were judged as providing better written challenges, although there were no further changes in quality of written reflections of feelings. Students maintained self-efficacy for using challenges at a 5-week follow-up. Self-efficacy for using challenges increased after lecture, modeling, written practice, and lab group practice, but students indicated that practice was the most helpful training component. Natural helping ability predicted higher final levels of self-efficacy for using challenges. Qualitative results indicated that cultural background played a role in learning and using challenges.

An instrument was developed to measure the extent to which people consider future children and romantic partners when planning for a career (i.e., the PLAN scale). Two independent factor-analytic studies of a total of 726 college women were conducted to assess the factor structure and psychometric properties of this measure. Results suggested that the PLAN represents a general Considering Future Family When Making Career Plans factor and 2 domain-specific factors: Considering Children and Prioritizing and Compromising for Partner. Suggestions for future research and practice using the PLAN scale are provided.

Our research revealed differences in work-family constructs for employed mothers in 3 countries, Israel (N = 105), Korea (N = 298), and the United States (N = 305). Although levels of work-family conflict were comparable, the Korean women had the lowest levels of work-family enrichment compared with the Israeli and American mothers. Moreover, Korean women reported the most depression and the least support from both spouses and employers. Spousal support mediated the relationship between work-family conflict and depression for employed mothers in Israel, Korea, and the United States. As hypothesized by conservation of resources theory (Hobfoll, 1989, 1998, 2001), threat of resource loss (operationalized as work-family conflict) was related to depression more strongly than was resource gain (i.e., work-family enrichment).

Career Construction Theory (CCT) posits that an individual’s vocational development occurs as a product of their readiness, resources, and responses to the environment in which they are situated. Thus, an individual’s ability to adapt to environmental demands is predicated on a number of complex and interwoven inter- and intrapersonal factors. This is particularly relevant to the community college student population who, relative to their 4-year university counterparts, experience disparate rates of educational barriers. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to use CCT as a theoretical framework for investigating the relations among agentic characteristics (personal growth initiative and grit), barriers (perceptions of academic and educational barriers and coping with barriers), and career adaptability in a sample of diverse community college students. Data from a sample of 309 community college students indicated that perceptions of barriers significantly predicted career adaptability through coping with barriers, grit, and personal growth initiative. Serial mediation was supported for the effect of perceptions of barriers on career adaptability through personal growth initiative and coping with barriers. Results also indicated that the proposed model accounted for 55% of the variance in career adaptability. Implications of these findings for research and practice are discussed.