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2005 13: 307Journal of Career Assessment Madonna G. Constantine, Barbara C. Wallace and Mai M. Kindaichi

Adolescents Examining Contextual Factors in the Career Decision Status of African American

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Examining Contextual Factors in the Career Decision Status of African American Adolescents

Madonna G. Constantine Barbara C. Wallace Mai M. Kindaichi Teachers College, Columbia University

This study examined the extent to which perceived occupational barriers and perceived parental support predicted career certainty and career indecision in a sample of African American adolescents. Perceived occupational barriers were positively predictive of career indecision, and perceived parental support was positively associated with career certainty. The results provided support for the importance of considering contextual variables, such as perceived occupational barriers and perceived parental support, in the career decision-making processes of African American adolescents. The results also highlighted the salience of social cognitive career theory in conceptualizing career-related issues in African American high school students. Future research directions are discussed.

Keywords: African American adolescents, career decision making, career indecision, occupational barriers, parental support

Over the past couple of decades, there have been increased writings discussing the application of various career counseling theories, models, and interventions to African Americans (e.g., Brown, 1995; Cheatham, 1990; Constantine, Erickson, Banks, & Timberlake, 1998; Gainor & Lent, 1998; Hackett & Byars, 1996). Exploring career-related issues in this population is vital to understanding how the career development process might occur in the context of perceived occupational facilitators and barriers and salient cultural factors (Luzzo, 1992; Luzzo & McWhirter, 2001; McCollum, 1998). In particular, the career devel- opment of African American adolescents has been of major concern in light of literature delineating numerous challenges that affect their personal, education- al, and career development (Cheatham, 1990; Constantine et al., 1998).

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Madonna G. Constantine, Department of Counseling and Clinical Psychology, Teachers College, Columbia University, 525 W. 120th St., Box 92, New York, NY 10027; e-mail: [email protected].

JOURNAL OF CAREER ASSESSMENT, Vol. 13 No. 3, August 2005 307–319 DOI: 10.1177/1069072705274960 © 2005 Sage Publications

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Because individuals’ cognitive and intellectual development have been thought to occur alongside their psychosocial and identity development (Blustein, Prezioso, & Palladino Schultheiss, 1995; Cheatham, Slaney, & Coleman, 1990), the field of vocational psychology has been encouraged to explore more fully how contextual and individual factors affect the career devel- opment processes of African American youth (Gainor & Lent, 1998; Hackett & Byars, 1996). Few studies to date, however, have addressed the relationship of perceived career barriers and parental influences in career decision-making out- comes related to African American adolescents (Ladany, Melincoff, Constantine, & Love, 1997; Otto, 2000). It may be informative to pair research concerning the perception of stymied career options with helpful factors (i.e., perceived parental support) that could promote optimal career development processes in the popu- lation. As such, the present study examined the degree to which African American adolescents’ perceptions of career barriers and parental support pre- dicted their career certainty and career indecision. In our investigation, social cognitive career theory (SCCT; Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994, 2000) framed the discussion of contextual factors (i.e., perceived career barriers and perceived parental support) in relation to African American adolescents’ career decision processes.

Social Cognitive Career Theory and Perceived Career Barriers

SCCT (Lent et al., 1994, 2000) maintains that career development is a com- bination of personal, contextual, and cognitive factors that influence career inter- est formation, goal development, and performance. This theory emphasizes three social-cognitive processes that are believed to operate with regard to career behaviors: self-efficacy beliefs (i.e., the degree to which individuals feel confident about their abilities to perform tasks as informed by personal and vicarious expe- riences and exposure); outcome expectations (i.e., the expected consequences of actions); and career goals or intentions. SCCT discusses how these components are shaped by factors such as race, gender, social support, and perceived and sys- temic career barriers. Personal and vicarious learning experiences, which include demographic, psychosocial, and performance feedback mechanisms, enhance or detract from career self-efficacy and outcome expectations. Through career- related activity participation, modeling experiences, and feedback from impor- tant others (e.g., parents, teachers, and peers), children and adolescents develop skills, mastery, and expectations about the outcomes of their performance. Self- efficacy and outcome expectations contribute to the development of career inter- ests, which, in turn, cultivate career choices, actions based on career choices, and performance. Such performance then influences self-appraisals and self-efficacy beliefs. Thus, career development is conceptualized in SCCT as a confluence of

Constantine et al. / CONTEXTUAL FACTORS 309

dynamic and cyclic interactions of cognitive, psychosocial, and behavioral factors (Lent et al., 1994).

According to SCCT (Lent et al., 1994), perceptions of career barriers influ- ence the relationship between career interests and goals. Perceptions of barriers to educational and career goals represent an interaction between objective envi- ronmental factors and individuals’ active identification of exposure to those fac- tors (Lent et al., 2000; Swanson, Daniels, & Tokar, 1996). The specific outcomes that stem from the influence of certain contextual factors on career choice depend, in part, on individuals’ personal appraisals of and responses to these fac- tors (Albert & Luzzo, 1999; Swanson & Woitke, 1997). Many African American youths encounter myriad environmental challenges that could affect their career decision-making process and overall career development (Constantine et al., 1998). For example, some African American adolescents may have few opportu- nities to develop self-efficacy for careers that require long-term education, are financially rewarding, and have high status (Speight, Rosenthal, Jones, & Gastenveld, 1995). External barriers that may affect some African American ado- lescents’ opportunities to develop a sense of mastery in various careers include a lack of employment opportunities, limited exposure to vocational options and information, limited job skills, low economic resources, and employment and educational discrimination (Luzzo, 1992; Luzzo & McWhirter, 2001; McCollum, 1998; Swanson et al., 1996). Additionally, African Americans often are overrepresented in non-college-bound vocational education tracks, thereby stymieing their opportunities to explore careers that entail postsecondary educa- tion (Constantine et al., 1998).

Several studies have examined perceptions of career barriers with respect to the career-related attitudes and behaviors of African American adolescents. In a predominantly African American sample of at-risk high school students in an urban environment, Ladany and his colleagues (1997) found that greater per- ceived career barriers were related to lower vocational exploration and commit- ment to career choices. Additionally, the aforementioned study reported that at- risk urban high school students who had fewer intentions to pursue college were less likely to exhibit commitment to career choices and more likely to perceive career barriers. Evans and Herr (1994), however, found that perceptions of dis- crimination against African Americans or women (i.e., potential perceived career barriers to some African Americans and/or women) were not significantly related to the career aspirations of African American college males or females. Furthermore, Rollins (2001) reported that African American adolescents who perceived greater racial discrimination toward African Americans also indicated greater self-efficacy for various career decision-making tasks. Thus, it appears that even in the face of perceived barriers to occupational achievement, some African American adolescents still possess high career goals and feel confident in their ability to attend to career decision tasks. Such an orientation could translate

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directly into occupational achievement and could be influenced by the degree of support for their vocational choices as expressed by their parents.

Perceived Parental Support and Career Decision-Making Processes

Early adolescence can be a critical time in which parental and familial influ- ences shape adolescents’ career development (Blustein et al., 1995; Middleton & Loughead, 1993; Otto, 2000; Rush, 2002; Turner & Lapan, 2002). Some researchers have speculated that parental influences on African American youths’ career development may be stronger than those of their white counter- parts (Dillard & Campbell, 1981; Lee, 1984). In line with cultural values that emphasize familialism and communalism, African American adolescents who are in the process of making career decisions might place greater priority on familial goals and community needs (e.g., staying close to their family to provide or obtain emotional or financial support) over individual goals (e.g., moving far away from home to attend college to establish “emotional autonomy” from par- ents; Cheatham, 1990; McWhirter, 1997). Moreover, consistent with the Africentric values of affiliation, interdependence, and respect for elders (Cheatham, 1990), African American adolescents may rely strongly on parental influences and support throughout their career development. Such connected- ness with familial support may run counter to career development models that derive from a Eurocentric framework (e.g., Middleton & Loughead, 1993) and emphasize autonomy and individuation from parents (Hardin, Leong, & Osipow, 2001).

Perceived supports and support systems are considered to be facilitative envi- ronmental variables for African American adolescents (Lent et al., 2000). Previous studies have reported that perceived parental support positively predict- ed learning experiences, career self-esteem, and outcome expectations among adolescents and college students (Ferry, Fouad, & Smith, 2000; Lapan, Hinkelman, Adams, & Turner, 1999; Turner & Lapan, 2002). These findings may suggest that the absence of such support could negatively affect some African American adolescents’ career decision-making processes, resulting in career-related challenges such as uncertainty and indecision (McWhirter, 1997). In particular, career indecision has been defined as the inability to select and devote oneself to a career choice (Tokar, Withrow, Hall, & Moradi, 2003). Career indecision has been conceptualized to consist of various interrelated components, including lacking career-related information, needing more career- related information, trait indecision (i.e., a chronic and pervasive difficulty in making decisions), disagreement with others about career decisions, identity dif- fusion (i.e., a struggle to crystallize a consistent sense of self), and choice anxiety (i.e., difficulty in processing and acting on career-related information; Kelly & Lee, 2002). It is possible that some African American adolescents’ experiences of career indecision reflect their ambivalence about pursuing careers that are per- ceived to be fraught with systemic barriers or are otherwise unattainable.

Constantine et al. / CONTEXTUAL FACTORS 311

Because perceiving internal and external barriers to career decision-making has been shown to be a component of career indecision (Shimizu, Vondracek, Schulenberg, & Hostetler, 1988), and because perceiving parental support might facilitate career certainty (McWhirter, 1997), the present study explored the extent to which perceived occupational barriers and perceived parental support were predictive of both career certainty and career indecision in a sample of African American adolescents. We hypothesized that perceived occupational bar- riers would be negatively predictive of career certainty and positively predictive of career indecision. We also hypothesized that perceived parental support would be positively predictive of career certainty and negatively predictive of career indecision.

METHOD

Participants and Procedures

The participants were 151 African American upper level high school students (88 girls and 63 boys) who were matriculating in a large urban high school in the northeastern region of the United States. The mean age of the respondents was 16.67 years (SD = .62), and participants ranged in age from 15 to 18 years. By grade level, 59 (39.1%) of the participants were juniors and 92 (60.9%) were sen- iors. All of the respondents indicated that they had been born and reared in the United States.

These students were asked to participate in an anonymous study examining their attitudes and perceptions about various career-related issues by completing a questionnaire packet consisting of (a) a brief demographic questionnaire, (b) the Perceptions of Barriers Scale (POBS; McWhirter, 1997), (c) the Career Support Scale (CSS; Binen, Franda, & Thye, 1995), and (d) the Career Decision Scale (CDS; Osipow, Carney, Winer, Yanico, & Koschier, 1976). Trained research assistants distributed and collected these surveys during specified class times. Appropriate informed consent procedures (i.e., obtaining both parents’ and students’ permission to participate in the study) were followed in collecting data. The respondents did not receive any compensation for participating in the study.

Instruments

Demographic questionnaire. A short demographic questionnaire was adminis- tered to participants requesting information such as their age, race or ethnicity, gender, and educational level.

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POBS. The POBS (McWhirter, 1997) is a 24-item scale that measures indi- viduals’ perceptions of potential ethnic- and gender-related educational and career barriers. Using a 5-point, Likert-type scale ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5), respondents endorse each item based on how accurate- ly it applies to them. Higher scores are related to higher anticipated gender or ethnic discrimination in the workplace.

In this investigation, only eight POBS items that measure respondents’ per- ceived job-related barriers were used. A sample POBS item includes, “In my future job, I will probably have a harder time getting hired than people of other racial and ethnic backgrounds.” Flores and O’Brien (2002) also used the eight- item modified version of the POBS in their investigation, and they noted an internal consistency coefficient of .91 for the scale. In the current investigation, we computed a Cronbach’s alpha of .81 for the eight-item POBS.

CSS. The CSS (Binen et al., 1995) is a 40-item scale developed to assess the amount of perceived support and encouragement that individuals receive from their parents with regard to career goals or pursuits. It consists of both a Mother and a Father support subscale. In our study, we adapted and shortened the CSS to assess support from both parents concomitantly, rather than individually, and by including only 10 items that were cross-listed on both the Mother and Father subscales. Respondents endorse each item using a 5-point (1 = almost never to 5 = almost always) Likert-type scale, and higher scores are associated with greater levels of perceived parental support.

Sample items from the modified version of the CSS include, “My parents agree with my career goals” and “My parents and I often discuss my career plans.” A similar adaptation of the CSS was used in Flores and O’Brien’s (2002) study, and these researchers reported an internal consistency coefficient of .76 for their investigation. In this study, we calculated a Cronbach’s alpha of .78.

CDS. The CDS (Osipow et al., 1976) is a 19-item, two-factor instrument designed to assess individuals’ certainty and indecision regarding their career choice. The first subscale, Certainty, consists of 2 items and measures the degree of individuals’ comfort and certainty regarding their career choice. The second subscale, Indecision, contains 16 items and assesses individuals’ inability to decide on a career. Eighteen of the CDS items are presented as a 4-point (1= not at all like me to 4 = exactly like me) Likert-type scale, and the final item is an open-ended one asking respondents to describe their career situation if it is not addressed by the prior 18 items. Higher scores on the Certainty and Indecision subscales correspond to greater amounts of these variables.

In validation studies for the CDS, internal consistency reliabilities in the mid .80s and test-retest reliabilities ranging from .70 to .90 have been reported (Hartman, Fuqua, & Hartman, 1983; Osipow, 1987). Furthermore, internal con- sistency reliability coefficients of .89 and .73 have been reported for the

Constantine et al. / CONTEXTUAL FACTORS 313

Indecision and Certainty subscales, respectively (Patton & Creed, 2001). Evidence of concurrent, construct, and predictive validity of the CDS also has been illustrated in numerous previous studies (e.g., Hartman, Fuqua, Blum, & Hartman, 1985; Hartman et al., 1983; Osipow, 1987). In the present study, we computed Cronbach’s alphas of .80 and .76 for the Certainty and Indecision sub- scales, respectively.

RESULTS

The means, standard deviations, and intercorrelations of the variables are dis- played in Table 1. To examine the study’s hypotheses, we conducted a multivari- ate multiple regression analysis. A multivariate multiple regression analysis can accommodate multiple predictor and criterion variables, from which follow-up tests can determine the unique contribution of each predictor variable on each criterion variable (Lutz & Eckert, 1994). In our study, the predictor variables were perceived career barriers and perceived parental support. The criterion vari- ables were the two subscales of the CDS (i.e., Certainty and Indecision).

Results of the multivariate multiple regression analysis revealed that the over- all proportion of the variance in career certainty and indecision accounted for by the two predictor variables was significant, Pillai’s Trace = .21, F(4, 296) = 8.78, p < .001, η2

m = .11, where η2

m is the multivariate effect size. Because multivari-

ate significance was reached at the .05 level, follow-up univariate analyses were conducted to determine the unique relationships between each of the predictor and criterion variables. Results of these analyses revealed that perceived career barriers were significantly positively predictive of African American adolescents’ career indecision, F(1, 148) = 12.68, p < .001, η2 = .08, where η2 is the univari- ate effect size, but were not significantly related to career certainty, F(1, 148) = 3.12, p > .05, η2 = .02. In addition, perceived parental support was significantly positively predictive of African American adolescents’ career certainty, F(1, 148) =

Table 1 Means, Standard Deviations, and Intercorrelations of the Study’s Variables

Variable M SD 2 3 4

1. POBS 21.37 6.75 .08 –.11 .28* 2. CSS 43.80 4.94 — .33* .04 3. CDS-Certainty subscale 5.28 1.64 — –.31* 4. CDS-Indecision subscale 37.60 7.29 —

Note. POBS = Perception of Barriers Scale (McWhirter, 1997); CSS = Career Support Scale (Binen et al., 1995); CDS = Career Decision Scale (Osipow et al., 1976). *p < .001.

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19.29, p < .001, η2 = .12, but was not significantly related to career indecision, F(1, 148) = .07, p > .05, η2 = .00.

DISCUSSION

Our study investigated the degree to which perceived career barriers and per- ceived parental support predicted both career certainty and career indecision in a sample of African American high school students. We found somewhat impres- sive effect sizes that illustrated the strength of the relationships between some of the predictor variables and criterion variables examined in this study. As such, our results provided support for the importance of considering contextual vari- ables, such as perceived occupational barriers and perceived parental support, in the career decision-making processes of African American adolescents. The find- ings also underscored the relevance of SCCT (Lent et al., 1994, 2000) in con- ceptualizing career-related issues in African American high school students.

Findings revealed that African American adolescents who perceived greater career barriers tended to report higher degrees of career indecision. This finding, however, seems somewhat inconsistent with results indicated by some previous researchers. For example, Rollins (2001) reported that African American adoles- cents perceiving higher degrees of racism reported greater self-efficacy for career decision-making tasks. Furthermore, Paul (1998) indicated that perceived edu- cational and career barriers were significant positive predictors of educational aspirations in African American college students. It appears that perceiving career barriers among some African American adolescents might have a some- what dampening effect on their career decision process, whereas it could have a more facilitating effect for others. For the latter group of individuals, it is possible that they are able to display greater resilience in the context of challenging career-related issues because they anticipate and are prepared to deal with poten- tial racial discrimination. Many African American parents believe that their chil- dren are at a disadvantage in many arenas (e.g., educational, social, and voca- tional) because of racism, and such parents often attempt to buffer their children from internalizing the undue effects of racism by teaching them the importance of affirming or having pride in themselves and their racial or cultural group in the face of discrimination. Thus, variables such as positive racial socialization practices or even possessing cultural self-esteem might serve as moderators in the relationship between perceived career barriers and negative career-related con- sequences (e.g., career indecision or premature foreclosure on career options) in some African American youth.

We also found that perceived parental support was positively predictive of career certainty in this population of students. Similarly, Rush (2002) noted that having a supportive family environment was associated with the successful nego-

Constantine et al. / CONTEXTUAL FACTORS 315

tiation of career development in his sample of African American college stu- dents. Parental attitudes and support have been reported to play a significant role in the occupational behaviors of adolescents and young adults (e.g., Dillard & Campbell, 1981; Fisher & Griggs, 1995; Fisher & Padmawidjaja, 1999; McMahon, Carroll, & Gillies, 2001; Otto, 2000; Paa & McWhirter, 2000). Sibling support also has been found to be important to the career development process of many late adolescents (Palladino Schultheiss, Palma, Predragovich, & Glasscock, 2002). Thus, the importance of receiving familial support could assist many African American adolescents in making decisions about their education- al and vocational future. As such, career counselors could further facilitate the career decision process in African American adolescents by reinforcing positive aspects related to these students’ receipt of parental and sibling support for the career decision process (Young, Friesen, & Borycki, 1994; Young, Friesen, & Dillabough, 1991).

In light of the aforementioned issues, it is important that career counselors first identify the extent to which some African American adolescents perceive certain occupational barriers and then process with these students the potential consequences of harboring these barriers in terms of their current and future educational and career development. In particular, when working with African American adolescents who are struggling with career indecision, career coun- selors should be skilled in identifying whether such struggles are developmental- ly appropriate or are a function of perceived barriers, a lack of information, or a combination of multiple psychological and environmental variables (Ladany et al., 1997). Counselors then could encourage African American adolescents to discuss barriers they anticipate in their desired career paths, explore possible cop- ing strategies relative to these barriers, and identify and access support systems in their families and communities that can foster their career development (Constantine et al., 1998; Lent et al., 2000). It also may be imperative that career counselors attend to coping self-efficacy issues with African American adoles- cents in response to potential racial and gender discrimination with regard to their career development processes (Hackett & Byars, 1996).

Career counselors and guidance programs in school systems could play a unique role in facilitating African American adolescents’ educational and voca- tional decisions by providing culturally relevant career resources to promote competence in career exploration and decision making (Turner & Lapan, 2002). For example, counselors who work in middle school and high school settings could implement specific interventions using Africentric principles to encourage optimal career development in African American adolescents. For example, host- ing collaborative seminars with parents and other important others in African American adolescents’ families and communities that focus on how to foster and reinforce adaptive coping strategies in the face of racial and/or gender discrimi- nation in educational and vocational settings could be especially useful.

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Limitations

The study must be tempered in light of several potential limitations. First, gen- eralizability of the findings is cautioned because the study’s participants may dif- fer somehow from other African American adolescents residing in a large urban city in the northeastern United States. Thus, researchers should replicate this study with African American adolescents living in other parts of the United States and who may represent a broader range of ages. Another possible limitation of this study is that because the scales we used were self-report in nature, the par- ticipants may not have reported their actual attitudes or behaviors because of social desirability or self-enhancement motives. It also is possible that some respondents were aware of the research intent and, consequently, answered some of the questions tapped by the measures based on their presumed knowledge about what was being assessed.

Future Research Directions

Additional research is needed concerning the career development experiences of African American adolescents. For example, research on the intersections of race, gender, and racial and gender identity in the context of various career devel- opment tasks might help to identify and address African American adolescents’ perceived career barriers, particularly with regard to stereotypes they might pos- sess about perceived options available to them based on their race and/or gender (Gainor & Lent, 1998; Swanson et al., 1996; Swanson & Woitke, 1997). Additionally, studies that explore differences in career decision-making processes by social class and socioeconomic status among African American adolescents might address intragroup diversity with regard to the career development process. Furthermore, qualitative research related to African American adolescents’ career development experiences could provide insight into potential differences in career self-efficacy and other career decision-making issues as a function of variables such as age and gender.

Future research also should examine variations in perceived support from one parent or both parents and their potential differential influences on career inde- cision and certainty (Flores & O’Brien, 2002). For example, Tokar and his col- leagues (2003) suggested that greater psychological connection to fathers could provide the groundwork for important modeling functions in career develop- ment, wherein adolescents might develop a sense of self as a working individual and identify a desired career trajectory. On the other hand, Otto (2000) reported that African American adolescents were more likely to discuss career concerns with their mothers rather than their fathers. Considering structural issues in some African American families (e.g., single-parent and multigenerational families), it would be informative to explore how the source and nature of perceived support from various family members could shape African American adolescents’ career

Constantine et al. / CONTEXTUAL FACTORS 317

decision-making processes. In addition, African American adolescents’ relation- ships with family members might provide critical learning experiences with regard to coping with anticipated or perceived career barriers. Also, continued research that goes beyond intrapsychic issues and addresses the intersecting expe- riences of African American families in U.S. society, labor market forces, and the construction of the meanings of work among African Americans will be vital to expanding the current understanding of African American adolescents’ career development (Cheatham, 1990).

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