Donald E. Super

A Life-Span, Life-Space Approach to Career Development

Abstract A career is defined as the combination and sequence of roles played by a person during the course of a lifetime. These roles include those of child, pupil or student, leisurite, citizen, worker, spouse, homemaker, parent, and pensioner, positions with associated expectations that are occupied at some time by most people, and other less common roles such as those of criminal, reformer, and lover. A Life-Career Rainbow is presented as a means of helping conceptualize multidimensional careers, the temporal involvement in, and the emotional commitment to, each role. Self-actualization in various roles, role conflicts, and the determinants of role selection and of role performance are discussed. The use of the Rainbow in career education and in counseling is briefly considered.

The Psychology of Careers.

Activities Assistant, Montchanin Assisting Living Facility, Wilmington, DE Adolescent & Adult Therapist, American Day Treatment Centers, Cherry Hill, NJ Case Manager, Rejoice! Inc. Foster Care and Adoption, Allentown, PA Case Manager, Child Guidance Resource Center, Coatesville, PA Caseworker, Berks County Children and Youth, Reading, PA Certified School Psychologist, Central Bucks School District, Doylestown, PA Child Care Counselor, KidsPeace, Orefield, PA Child Care Specialist, Mars Home for Youth, Mars, PA Children’s Advocate, Berks Women in Crisis, Reading, PA Clinical Case Manager, Association for the Advancement of Mental Health, Princeton NJ Clinical Neuropsychologist, Hartford Hospital, Hartford, CT Clinical Supervisor, Fairview Counseling & Play Therapy Center, Allentown, PA Clinical Supervisor, Kindred House, West Chester, PA Counselor, The Renfrew Center, Philadelphia, PA Crisis Counselor, Access, Pottsville, PA Developmental Therapist, NJ Center for Autism Resources& Education, Brielle, NJ Family Resource Specialist, Justice Works, Reading, PA Member Advocate, Cigna Behavioral Health, Eden Prairie, MN Mental Health Technician, Brooke Glen Behavioral Hospital, Fort Washington, PA Mental Health Therapist, Hampton Hospital, Lakewood, NJ Program Assessor, Benjamin Rush Community Mental Health Center, Philadelphia, PA Program Assistant, Child and Youth Services, Fort Meade, MD Program Specialist, Confront Treatment Center, Allentown, PA Psychiatric Assistant, Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, PA Psychiatric Assistant, Philhaven Hospital, Mt. Gretna, PA Psychologist, Children’s Home of Reading, Reading, PA Psychotherapist, Regional Behavioral Health Corporation, St. Clair, PA Rehabilitative Residential Adviser, Creative Health Services, INC, Pottstown, PA Residential Advisor, Foundation Behavioral Health, Doylestown, PA Residential Counselor, The Pathway School, Norristown, PA School Psychologist, Avon Grove School District, West Grove, PA School Psychologist, Brandywine Heights School District, Topton, PA School Psychologist, Woodbridge Township School District, Colonia, NJ Support Services Manager, North Country Transitional Living Services, Watertown, NY Supervising Counselor, Bay Area Addiction Center, Richmond, CA Therapeutic Staff Counselor, Northwestern Human Services, Sunbury, PA Therapist, Delaware County Psychological Services, Broomall, PA Therapist, Holcomb Behavioral Health Systems, Reading, PA Vocational Evaluator, Handi-crafters, Thorndale, PA

A Theory of Vocational Development

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses a theory of vocational development, a theory inherent in and emergent from the research and philosophy of psychologists and counselors. Occupational choice is a developmental process, which takes place over a period of some 10 years. The process is irreversible. The process of occupational choice ends in a compromise between interests, capacities, values, and opportunities. There are three periods of occupational choice. A theory of vocational choice and adjustment would synthesize the results of research because they lend themselves to synthesis; it would take into account the continuity of the development of preferences and of the differences in the stages, choices, entry, and adjustment; it would explain the process through which interest, capacities. Values and opportunities are compromised. The chapter discusses the elements of the theory of vocational development. The term “development” is used rather than “choice,” because it comprehends the concepts of preference, choice, entry, and adjustment. There are many elements to a theory of vocational development.

Career development in adulthood: Some theoretical problems and a possible solution

Abstract The use of the concept of ‘vocational maturity’ in describing adult career attitudes and competences is considered. Its origins in the study of adolescent career development is described, and its extension to the description of adult workers is discussed. It is argued that the developmental model implied by the term may not be appropriate in an adult context. ‘Career adaptability’ is proposed as an alternative, stressing more appropriately the interplay between the individual and the environment. Some implications for practice are considered.

The career development inventory

Abstract The Career Development Inventory is an American instrument designed to measure the vocational maturity of adolescents. Its scales assess Planning Orientation, Resources for Exploration, and Information and Decision-Making. It can be used in evaluating guidance programmes, services and activities, though there are a number of obstacles to using the instrument effectively in evaluation studies, including the limited impact to be expected of a limited programme, and the relative insensitivity of instruments such as the CDI. The other main use of the instrument is diagnostic, either with groups or in individual counselling. It is now being adapted for use in a number of other countries.

Vocational Maturity in Adulthood: Toward Turning a Model into a Measure.

Abstract It is postulated that adult vocational maturity needs to be assessed because of the changing developmental tasks encountered during the course of a career. Vocational maturity having been found to be multidimensional, existing undimensional inventories of adult vocational maturity are considered of limited although demonstrated validity. Relevant theories of adult vocational development and adjustment are reviewed. Supers proposed adult vocational maturity model is examined for the promise that it offers and for the problems that arise in developing a multidimensional measure of vocational maturity. A way of surmounting these problems is proposed as a basis for work now being undertaken.

Research in Counseling Psychology: Prospects and Recommendations

This report presents a summary of the conclusions and recommendations of the Research Group at the Third National Conference for Counseling Psychology. The report is organized into five topics, as were discussed during the conference. These topics are (a) definition and image, (b) methodological diversity in counseling research, (c) multi- and cross-cultural issues, (d) the connection of research to practice, and (e) research training. Fifteen general recommendations are offered to the specialty regarding research in counseling psychology.

Career development theory

Abstract Supers theory of vocational development, initially formulated in the 1950s, has led to a number of important research programmes, focusing particularly on the concept of vocational maturity. The major findings of these studies are surveyed in this paper. They suggest that vocational maturity is a development characteristic which increases with age, is multidimensional in nature, develops at different rates in different individuals, and can help in the pre-diction of occupational satisfaction, occupational success, and career success.

Leisure: What It Is and Might Be

a Research Professor at the University of Florida. The fiftieth anniversary of the National Vocational Guidance Association, North America’s oldest organization dedicated to educational and vocational guidance, was celebrated by the publication of a multi-authored volume of rich and varied content (Borow, 1964). It proved to be a landmark in more ways than one, for it not only marked the fiftieth milestone in a major educational and social movement, but it signaled the beginning of the end of the use of male-oriented terminology. Its title was Man in a World at Work. It also marked the beginning of the end of NVGA’s seemingly sharp focus on work, for the next decennial volume (Herr, 1974) was called Vocational Guidance and Human Development, and the volume now appearing (Gysbers and Associates, 1984) is entitled Designing Careers: Counseling to Enhance Educators, Work, and Leisure. The focus is on humans rather than (as some would read the 1964 title) on men alone, and it is on life and careers rather than on work or vocations alone. ----

Career Education and Career Guidance for the Life Span and for Life Roles.

has too often been proposed as a panacea. Advocates of vocational education have acutally turned career education into occupational education. That these are really not the same would have been clear to both proponents and to funders had they known either the literature on vocational or career psychology or that on occupational sociology. They would have known that an occupat2on is what a person does to