Ginzberg's theory of occupational choice: A reanalysis of increasing realism

Children and Youth Services Review

Tilbury

Buys

et al. 2011

We surveyed 202 adolescents who were in out-of-home care, and compared them with 202 adolescents not in care (matched for age, gender and school achievement) on career-related aspirations (occupational aspirations, educational aspirations, life barriers) and career action behaviours (career exploration, career planning). The outof-home care adolescents reported lower occupational aspirations, less career planning, more career barriers, lower educational aspirations for themselves, lower parental aspirations, and more school engagement. Further, career exploration was lower for out-of-home care children who had higher aspirations, lower self-efficacy, parents who communicated higher aspirations, and low aspiring friends. Results are discussed in the context of providing career development and supports for out-ofhome care adolescents so that their career aspirations and behaviours can mirror more normative levels.

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The career aspirations and action behaviours of Australian adolescents in out-of-home-care

Children and Youth Services Review

Tilbury

Buys

et al. 2011

“…Career barriers. Students completed a modified Perceived Barriers Scale originally devised by Howell, Frese, and Sollie (1977). They were asked, "How much effect do you think each of the following things will have in keeping you from getting the job you desire?"…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Relationship Between Career Variables and Occupational Aspirations and Expectations for Australian High School Adolescents

Patton

Journal of Career Development

2007

This study surveyed 925 Australian high school students enrolled in grades 8 through 12 on measures of occupational aspirations, occupational expectations, career status aspirations, and career status expectations; it tested the association between these variables and career maturity, career indecision, career decisionmaking self-efficacy, and career barriers. Adolescents generally aspired to or expected to work within a small range of RIASEC (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, or Conventional) occupational categories. One third of students reported occupational aspiration and expectation discrepancies. These differed across gender and across age for female students but not for male students. Students who demonstrated both occupational and status aspiration and expectation discrepancies reported more career indecision, were less confident about making a career-related decision, and were less career mature. Students generally held higher occupational status aspirations than expectations, and male students were more likely to choose professional occupations than were female students. Age differences were found for status expectations but not for status aspirations.A dolescents' occupational aspirations and expectations have been viewed as significant determinants of both short-term educational and long-term

“…Barriers: The study used a modified 9-item version of the Perceived Barriers Scale (Howell, Frese, & Sollie, 1977), which asks students to indicate how much effect a range of barriers (e.g., parental interest, available courses) will have on them getting the job they desire. The scale was modified to make it suitable for use with Australian students (e.g., "technical school and college" was replaced with "college and university").…”

Section: Scales At T1mentioning

confidence: 99%

Antecedents and consequences of career decisional states in adolescence

Journal of Vocational Behavior

Prideaux

Patton

2005

128

This longitudinal study tested students in Grade 8 and again in Grade 10 on career (maturity, barriers, indecision, decision-making self-efficacy), well-being (self-esteem, life satisfaction, coping) and social (school achievement, paid work experience) variables. Students were allocated to decided or undecided conditions at T1, T2 and across T1-T2, based on self-reported global decidedness ratings. As predicted, the undecided students had poorer career, well-being and social outcomes than the decided students at T1 and T2. The undecided group was also less likely to report having paid work-experience at T1, and to be overrepresented by females at T2. Students who were undecided at T1 and T2 (i.e., continuously undecided) fared poorer than students who were decided at T1 and T2 (continuously decided) and students who changed decision status from T1 to T2 (i.e., developmentally undecided). Females were more likely to be continuously undecided, although continuously undecided males were more complacent and more likely to use maladaptive strategies than females. Implications of being temperamentally versus developmentally undecided are discussed.The present study adds to the literature by seeking to clarify whether adolescents who report persistent career indecision is associated with more negative intra-individual effects, compared to adolescents who report being decided across time or who report a decision status that reflects a developmental indecision. Chronic indecision has been linked with negative intra-individual variables in a variety of studies (e.g., Kelly & Lee, 2002), although these studies have typically examined the characteristics of different types of career decision makers using cross-sectional designs. A relatively severe type of indecision, in comparison to the other groups identified, has invariably emerged from this body of evidence, although the majority of these studies to date have used young adult student samples. The present study seeks to report on important career-related and intra-individual variables associated with groups of school aged decision makers formed on the basis of measures of career indecision taken across time. We present a brief review of the career indecision typology research to provide the context for the design and predictions of the present study.It does appear that there are different types of career indecision and that those who suffer from chronic indecision may be worse off than others. Larson, Heppner, Ham and Dugan (1988), for instance, found a more negative pattern of career planning deficits and more deleterious problem