Cultural Factors, Perceived Barriers, and Asian American Career Development

Abstract

Contextual factors can play an important and influential role in the career development of Asian American students. The purpose of this study was to examine how specific cultural factors, such as ethnic identity, internalization of Asian American stereotypes, Asian values, parental influences, and perceived barriers, predicted Asian American college students' self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and interests in occupations and academic areas in which Asian Americans are highly represented. Two social cognitive career theory models were tested in this study: the first model examined how distal and proximal contextual influences predicted self-efficacy and interests in occupations with high Asian American representation and the second model examined how distal and proximal contextual variables predicted math and science self-efficacy, outcome expectations, goals, and intentions. Three hundred and eighty-one Asian American college students participated in this study. The findings from path analyses found a strong fit for the first model, suggesting that distal and proximal contextual factors predicted self-efficacy and interests in occupations with high Asian American representation. An adequate fit was found for the second model. The findings from this study provide psychologists and counselors with a more nuanced understanding of how career decisions are made for Asian American college students.

Career Exploration and Career Decision Self-Efficacy in Northwest Chinese Pre-service Kindergarten Teachers: The Mediating Role of Work Volition and Career Adaptability

“…There is a high demand for KG teachers on the job market, yet the recognition of KG teachers as a professional career has not been established in the wide community ( Jiang, 2005 ; Wu, 2011 ; Boyd, 2013 ; Taleb, 2013 ). In China, pre-service KG teachers are still confronted with considerable career barriers when making a career decision, such as unsatisfactory salary level, low social status, little recognition of professional status, ambiguous professional identity, limited employment opportunities, and uncertain long-term career development path ( Hu, 2020 ; Li and Li, 2020 ), and these may dampen their confidence in career selection and ultimately influence their career options ( Kantamneni et al, 2018 ; Brown and Lent, 2019 ; Ulas and Yildirim, 2019 ). As a result, the shortage of KG teachers is still a critical problem of ECE in China ( Chen, 2019 ).…”

“…Therefore, as a reserve force, it is very important for pre-service KG teachers (i.e., college students majoring in early ECE) to successfully engage in the profession after graduation. However, the occupation is confronted with a variety of challenges, such as high job stress and low socioeconomic status ( Hu, 2020 ; Li and Li, 2020 ), and these potential barriers may dampen the confidence in career decision-making (i.e., career decision self-efficacy, CDSE) during the school-to-work transition ( Kantamneni et al, 2018 ; Brown and Lent, 2019 ; Ulas and Yildirim, 2019 ). CDSE refers to individual beliefs in the ability to engage tasks associated with the career decision process ( Taylor and Betz, 1983 ; Betz and Luzzo, 1996 ).…”

Self- and group-focused internalized racism, anxiety, and depression symptoms among African American adults: A core self-evaluation mediated pathway

“…Still, while both groups internalize racism, some evidence suggests that IR affects the self-concept of Black/African American and Asian Americans differently. For example, IR predicted increased academic self-efficacy among Asian American college students (Kantamneni et al, 2018) but lower education value among Black/African American college students (Brown et al, 2016). As such, among Black/African Americans, internalizing racism is commonly associated with negative self- and group-appraisals (Kohli et al, 2006).…”

“…On the one hand, while the effect (positive, negative) of IR on the self-concept might depend on the valence of racial/ethnic stereotypes (Brown et al, 2016; Kantamneni et al, 2018), the extent to which IR affects the self-concept (i.e., the strength of the relationship) is likely to be influenced by the conceptualization and measurement of IR. Particularly, in their review of 81 empirical studies, James (2020) identified two broad conceptualizations of IR: (1) self-focused IR, which captures people’s feelings, opinions, attitudes, views of themselves because of their racial/ethnic group membership (e.g., “I go through periods when I am down on myself for being Black”); and (2) group-focused IR, which captures people’s feelings, opinions, attitudes, and views of their racial/ethnic group (e.g., “Whites are superior to African Americans”).…”

The Role and Effectiveness of Coaching in Increasing Self-Efficacy and Employability Efforts of Higher Education Students

“…Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) is derived from Bandura's [4] work and it incorporates factors such as gender, ethnicity and cultural and gender role models and influences into its framework [47]. This approach, relatively new and used mainly in the educational and career context, aims to unify earlier career theories [30] [41]. SCCT provided a conceptual framework for this study, with coaching as a learning tool and employability efforts added to the model in red font (see Figure 1 below).…”