The My Children’s Future Scale: Construct validity, measurement invariance, and reliability in a Turkish sample

The My Children’s Future Scale (MCFS) measures the support provided by parents for their children’s careers. The aim of this study was to adapt the MCFS to Turkish and examine its psychometric characteristics in a study conducted in the Turkish context. Participants consisted of 280 parents (190 mothers and 90 fathers). The factor structure of the MCFS and measurement invariance across parent gender were examined. The unidimensional factor structure was confirmed and the scale was invariant across parent gender. In addition, the reliability of the MCFS was assessed for internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Cronbach’s alpha and McDonald’s omega coefficients were calculated as .87, and test-retest reliability coefficient as .83. Our findings suggested that the Turkish form of the MCFS can be considered a valid and reliable data collection tool for use in Turkey to measure the support provided by parents for their children’s careers.

Science Education for Sustainability: Strengthening Children’s Science Engagement through Climate Change Learning and Action

Scientists and sustainability scholars continue to make urgent calls for rapid societal transformation to sustainability. Science education is a key venue for this transformation. In this manuscript, we argue that by positioning children as critical actors for sustainability in science education contexts, they may begin to reimagine what science means to them and to society. This multi-site, mixed-methods study examined how children’s climate change learning and action influenced their science engagement along cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions. For fifteen weeks, ten- to twelve-year-olds participated in an after-school program that combined on-site interactive educational activities (e.g., greenhouse gas tag) with off-site digital photography (i.e., photovoice process), and culminated in youth-led climate action in family and community settings. Participants were 55 children (M = 11.1 years), the majority from groups underrepresented in science (52.7% girls; 43.6% youth of color; 61.8% low-income). Combined survey and focus group analyses showed that, after the program, science became more relevant to children’s lives, and their attitudes towards science (i.e., in school, careers, and in society) improved significantly. Children explained that understanding the scientific and social dimensions of climate change expanded their views of science: Who does it, how, and why—that it is more than scientists inside laboratories. Perhaps most notably, the urgency of climate change solutions made science more interesting and important to children, and many reported greater confidence, participation, and achievement in school science. The vast majority of the children (88.5%) reported that the program helped them to like science more, and following the program, more than half (52.7%) aspired to a STEM career. Lastly, more than a third (37%) reported improved grades in school science, which many attributed to their program participation. Towards strengthening children’s science engagement, the importance of climate change learning and action—particularly place-based, participatory, and action-focused pedagogies—are discussed.

SES, Gender, and STEM Career Interests, Goals, and Actions: A Test of SCCT

Using social cognitive career theory (SCCT), this study examined the role of socioeconomic status (SES) in an SCCT science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) model, with gender controlled for across the model. Results showed that higher SES covaried with lower perceived career barriers, and with greater mother, father, and peer support. In turn, higher SES also predicted greater outcome expectations but not self-efficacy. Efficacy predicted STEM career interests, choice goals, and choice actions (defined as intentions to take advanced math and science courses). Outcome expectations predicted interests but not goals or actions. Barriers, as well as, father and peer support, predicted efficacy, while mother support predicted outcome expectations. Results are discussed in light of the STEM career development among higher and lower SES adolescents.

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

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 decision-making 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.

The Measurement of Career Interests among At-Risk Inner-City and Middle-Class Suburban Adolescents

This article examines the factor structure and underlying dimensions of Holland's occupational themes with inner-city, at-risk middle school adolescents and middle-class, suburban middle school adolescents. Both groups constructed the occupational world across the Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, and Social Holland themes similarly. However, there were differences in their construals of the relationships between occupations in the Enterprising and Social Themes. Subsequent means analyses indicated significant ethnic differences in medical science careers and within-group ethnic differences in working with hands, working outdoors, professional and fashion arts, social service, and medical service careers.

Native American Adolescent Career Development

Within the framework of Social Cognitive Career (SCCT; Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994, 2000), this study examined the associations among career interests, career efficacy expectations, gender, and perceived parent support among Native American and Caucasian middle school adolescents. Consistent with previous research, results indicated that Native American young people had greater interests in Realistic and Conventional occupations, and in occupations that typically require a high-school diploma, a trade school certificate, or 2 years of post high-school education. However, contrary to previous findings, they had as great a range of interests in and self-efficacy expectations for Investigative, Artistic, Social, and Enterprising occupations as Caucasian adolescents, and similarly high levels of interests, efficacy, and perceived parent support for careers typically requiring 4 or more years of post-high school education.

A Test of Gottfredson's Theory Using a Ten-Year Longitudinal Study

Occupational aspirations of a longitudinal sample of students were examined over a ten-year time period, from second to twelfth grade. Hypotheses from Gottfredson's theory of career development (1981, 1996) and from social learning theory (Lent, Brown & Hackett, 1994) were examined. The social value of children's occupational aspirations increased into the early high school years and started to fall by their senior year in high school when internal, unique personal factors were more evident in occupational aspirations as Gottfredson would predict. Through eighth grade, about 40 percent of boys and up to 20 percent of girls held occupational aspirations that could be classified as fantasy. Social learning theory suggests that children would relinquish fantasy occupational aspirations with age because of self-awareness and knowledge of the world of work. This change was evident as a significant shift toward more realistic occupational aspirations occurred during the late high school years.

Are Success Learning Experiences and Self-Efficacy Beliefs Associated With Occupational Interests and Aspirations of At-Risk Urban Youth?

To help increase access to educational and occupational options for a growing yet underrepresented population of low-income, culturally diverse, urban middle school students, we need to increase our understanding of important factors in their career development. The results of this study supported some applications of Krumboltz’s social learning theory to at-risk urban youth and found (a) a significant and positive association between participants’ success learning experiences and their expressed occupational interests, and (b) a positive association between their career self-efficacy beliefs and inventoried occupational interests. However, no association was found between participants’ success learning experiences and their highest or most ideal occupational aspirations. Further research with methods and measures that are reliable and validated with this population is needed to replicate the results of this study. In turn, career counselors might use this understanding to better design effective interventions for at-risk diverse urban youth.

Occupational Aspirations and Expectations of Australian Adolescents

Adolescents across the five years of high school (169 females and 164 males) completed a survey that identified occupational status aspirations and expectations coded into six types—realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, or conventional—according to the RIASEC model (Holland, 1997). As the focus of the study was to explore relationships between these traditional constructs and key career development constructs, measures of career maturity, career indecision, self-esteem, career goals and school achievement were also completed. Discrepancies between occupational aspirations and expectations were reported and the relevance of including career development constructs into these investigations was validated. Occupational status aspirations were associated with school achievement, self-esteem, and career maturity. Students who reported achieving well at school, who were more career mature, who had more career knowledge and who had higher self-esteem were more likely to aspire to professional status occupations. Students who did not report high academic achievement, who had less career knowledge and who had lower self-esteem were more likely to aspire to skilled or semi-professional status occupations.

Personal and Contextual Variables Related to Work Hope Among Undergraduate Students From Underrepresented Backgrounds

This study investigated the relationships among personal and environmental variables (i.e., college student generation status, psychological distress, experiences with racism and classism, and perceived social status [PSS]) and work hope. One hundred and seventy-six undergraduate students attending a predominantly White institution who identified as members of an underrepresented racial/ethnic group completed the study. Consistent with the hypotheses, results demonstrated that increased psychological distress and more experiences with classism, experiences with racism related to lowered levels of work hope and that heightened PSS related positively to work hope. When examined in combination, all variables significantly predicted work hope, but only the βs for psychological distress and PSS were significant. Unexpectedly, first-generation college students did not significantly differ from continuing generation college students in levels of work hope. Limitations, directions for future research, and implications for career counseling are presented.

Work and vocational psychology: theory, research, and applications

Work is integral to human functioning, and all psychologists need to understand the role of work in people's lives. Understanding factors influencing work choices and helping individuals effectively make career decisions is the focus of vocational psychologists. However, external changes, such as shifts in the economy and labor force, as well as initiatives within the field are challenging the assumptions within vocational psychology. This chapter reviews the empirical work since 1995 in four areas: (a) what factors influence career choices, (b) how people make career decisions, (c) how context influences career choices, and (d) effective interventions for help with the first three questions. The review focuses first on vocational psychology's rich tradition of theoretically driven research, and then discusses research in career development that crosses a number of theoretical approaches, and finally identifies the assumptions in the field and questions for future examination.