Vocational Anticipatory Socialization

Abstract

Framed by social cognitive career theory, this study identified college students’ perceptions of the most influential sources and content of encouraging/discouraging career messages (vocational anticipatory socialization [VAS]). A survey of 873 university students found that mothers, followed by teachers/professors, friends, and fathers, were perceived to be the most influential encouraging VAS sources. However, first-generation college students were more likely to identify teachers/professors as their most influential VAS source. Friends were identified as most influential source of discouraging messages. The most frequently identified VAS messages gave career details. Mothers were most often described as conveying messages telling their children to pursue a passion for their career, while teachers/professors were frequently reported as providing career detail messages. Based on the VAS messages reported, we speculate that some VAS messages help students overcome perceived barriers by boosting self-efficacy and outcome expectations, confirming students’ individual skills and helping students envision themselves in particular career settings.

Exploring Late Adolescents’ Experiences with Career-Related Messages on Entertainment TV and in Social Media in Belgium: A Focus Group Study

“…During VAS, individuals may receive multiple messages and learn about various career aspects (Jahn & Myers, 2014). This study focused on the socialization of three career aspects-work tasks and skills, work values, and work ethics- (Powers & Myers, 2016), which are key components of VAS messages (Hoffner et al, 2008;Jahn & Myers, 2014) and are vital for the development of a healthy vocational identity and, thus, to choosing careers that lead to positive outcomes (Hoff et al, 2020).…”

“…More precisely, content skills (e.g., mathematics) and process skills (e.g., learning) are basic skills; cross-functional skills include problem-solving skills (e.g., information organization), social skills, technical skills (e.g., programming), systems skills (e.g., analyzing systems) and resource management skills (e.g., time management) (Mumford et al, 1999). During VAS, individuals learn about which tasks and skills are required in careers (Powers & Myers, 2016), which enables them to determine if the tasks and skills that interest them match with those of the careers they consider (Jablin, 1985(Jablin, , 2001. The person-environment fit theory (Holland, 1985) emphasizes the need for a woker's personality and work environment to match, which can predict job satisfaction.…”

The Role of Problem-Solving Skills in Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy and Vocational Outcome Expectations

“…Though VOE is a variable that has been dealt with in recent years, there is no study encountered in the literature researching the correlation between VOE and problem-solving skills. However, there are studies researching the correlations between VOE and career development (Anderson et al, 2016), encouragement in terms of vocational life (Powers & Myers, 2016), and socioeconomic income levels (Luginbuhl et al, 2016). Lent et al (1994) determined the correlations between the concept of VOE and vocational values like help, gains, and autonomy.…”

Using the U-Cube for Career Counselling with Adolescents to Develop Career Conversations

“…Engaging young clients in career services is a complex issue (Sampson, McClain, Musch, & Reardon, 2013), and young people who are in need of career counselling are not necessarily going to first engage in a dialogue with a school or campus career practitioner (Fouad et al, 2006); instead, those early influential conversations may be with a parent (Powers & Myers, 2016;Young et al, 2008). Therefore, it is incumbent upon practitioners of career counselling to ask, "How can we support youth to learn about themselves so as to actively participate in conversations that about the design of their careers?"…”