Collectivism and Perceived Congruence With Parents as Antecedents to Career Aspirations

Cultural orientation and perceived career congruence with parents are potentially important influences on adolescent career development in collectivist contexts, but few studies have integrated these variables in a social cognitive-based model. We surveyed 337 Grade 10 students (53% girls, mean age = 15.9 years) from Central Java, Indonesia, and examined a model that consisted of vertical collectivism (VC) and horizontal collectivism (HC), perceived congruence with parents, self-efficacy, and career aspirations. After controlling for socioeconomic status and school achievement, HC was more strongly associated with perceived congruence with parents than VC, and VC and HC were indirectly associated with aspirations via congruence and self-efficacy. These two patterns of collectivism were directly and indirectly associated with self-efficacy via congruence, and perceived congruence was indirectly associated with aspirations via self-efficacy. This study underlined the effects of VC, HC, and perceived adolescent–parent career congruence on career decision-making self-efficacy and aspirations of adolescents from a collectivistic country.

Family Interaction Patterns and College Student Career Development

We examined whether and how family interaction patterns relate to role salience and vocational identity in a predominantly Anglo-American college student sample (107 women, 65 men). Results indicated significant links between perceived emotional closeness and structural flexibility in the family-of-origin and higher levels of participation in, commitment to, and value expectations for home and family roles. Levels of work-role salience and vocational identity were not significantly related to family-of-origin interaction patterns. Appraising and attending to family-of-origin dynamics may be useful in career assessment and counseling that involves helping clients understand and fit family into their life-careers. Ultimately, determining with more certainty the precise degree of transportability of the family circumplex model to the vocational domain will require continued research in this vein.

Individualism-Collectivism

Individualism-collectivism (IC) constitutes a cultural variable thought to influence a wide variety of variables including career planning and decision making. To examine this possibility, college students (216 women, 106 men, 64% racial-ethnic minorities) responded to measures of IC, occupational plans, and work values. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) results indicated significant main effects for gender and race. Men, more so than women, endorsed vertical individualism (VI)—a cultural pattern characterized by independence and dominance—and intrinsic work values. African Americans expressed more fit of their occupational plans with personal goals and endorsed extrinsic work values more than did European Americans. A hypothesized inverse relationship between collectivism and consistency of occupational plans with personal goals was not supported. Hypothesized positive relationships between collectivism and work values stressing relationship and interdependence were supported, whereas expected inverse relationships between collectivism and work values emphasizing independence and personal gain were not supported. Findings are discussed in terms of acculturation issues, career assessment implications, and future research directions.

A Psychometric Evaluation of Super's Work Values Inventory—Revised

This study describes the psychometric evaluation of Super's Work Values Inventory—Revised (SWVI-R), an instrument comprised of 12 scales measuring the relative importance placed on the following work-related value dimensions: Achievement, Coworkers, Creativity, Income, Independence, Lifestyle, Mental Challenge, Prestige, Security, Supervision, Work Environment, and Variety. These Work Values scales were internally consistent and showed predictable patterns of gender differences and similarities. Racial/ethnic differences in the relative emphasis placed on work values were also explored in this study. The factor analysis yielded four theoretically consistent underlying factors, as follows: Environment, Esteem, Excitement, and Safety. Furthermore, the scales and factors of the SWVI-R were related to the broader cultural value systems of individualism and collectivism. In addition, the Work Values scales demonstrated adequate discriminant validity with two aspects of social desirability. Limitations of this study are discussed, along with further research on and potential uses for this inventory.