Attachment, separation, and women's vocational development: A longitudinal analysis.

Abstract

This study tested a proposed model investigating the relations among attachment to and separation from parents, career self-efficacy, and career aspiration over a 5-year period with a sample of 207 young women. Results suggested that being attached to parents may lead to the development of confidence in pursuing career-related tasks, which in turn influences career aspiration. Separation from parents did not have direct effects on career self-efficacy. Results also indicated that women's career plans changed over a 5-year period with young women selecting more traditional and less prestigious careers than those to which they aspired in their senior year of high school. In addition, these women chose careers that underutilized their abilities. Finally, this sample of young women intended to have both careers and families, and the majority of these women ranked family as more important than career.

Self-Authorship and Women's Career Decision Making

“…There is empirical support that an array of factors influence women's career choices that that have considerably less predictive power for men, including self-efficacy, consideration of the needs of others (Betz, 1994), and attachment to parents (O'Brien, Friedman, Tipton, & Linn, 2000). The literature suggests that support from a range of sources, including teachers and advisors, is particularly instrumental in women's choice of nontraditional majors in STEM fields.…”

“…Young women are more likely than young men to consult others about career decisions and are more influenced by the opinions of others (Seymour & Hewitt, 1997) and often consider the needs of others when making career decisions (Betz, 1994;Cook, 1993;O'Brien et al, 2000). The…”

“…Multiple studies have shown parental support for technical education and careers to be very influential for girls (Manitoba Department of Education and Training, 2000;O'Brien et al, 2000;Paa & McWhirter, 2000;Shashaani, 1997). Mother and father's support of career choice has been shown to be higher for women who choose STEM fields as opposed to more traditional career fields.…”

STEM Aspiration: The Influence of Social Capital and Chilly Climate on Female Community College Students

“…In one study that supported this line of reasoning, less than 1% of the 207 young women studied indicated that career pursuits were more important than family pursuits (O'Brien, Friedman, Tipton and Linn, 2000). Furthermore, there is still the perception that parenting is a female role and directly affects a woman's choice to become a professor (Van Anders 2004).…”

High school students’ career decision-making pattern across parenting styles and parental attachment levels

“…There is a rich and diverse literature to find alternative answers to this question. Within the career literature, researchers have studied the family influence on career development (Young, Friesen, & Pearson, 1988), career selection (Bratcher, 1982), career exploration (Blustein, 1997), development of vocational interests (Turner & Lapan, 2002), development of vocational values (Lapan, Hinkelman, Adams, & Turner, 1999), career expectations (Paa & McWhirter, 2000), career orientation (O'Brien, Friedman, Tipton, & Linn, 2000). To some extent, all of these issues are related with career decision-making process.…”