Ellen Hawley McWhirter

A causal model of the educational plans and career expectations of Mexican American High School Girls

A structural model predicting the educational and career expectations of 282 Mexican American high school girls was developed and then tested on samples of 247 Mexican American boys and 228 European American girls. Predictors included socioeconomic status, acculturation, academic achievement, instrumentality, expressiveness, gender role attitudes, parental and teacher support, family and career commitment, and perceptions of barriers. Results indicated that the initial model was plausible in the sample of Mexican American girls. Findings from the multiple-groups analyses provided evidence supporting the primacy of cultural influences over gender in predicting the educational and career expectations of Mexican American girls.

The effects of high school career education on social-cognitive variables

The authors investigated the influence of a 9-week career education class on career decision-making self-efficacy, vocational skills self-efficacy, perceived educational barriers, outcome expectations, educational plans, and career expectations among a sample of 166 high school sophomores. Using a nonrandomized, within-subjects crossover design, the authors collected pretest, posttest, and follow-up data with a health education class as the control condition. Post- and follow-up testing suggest that the class resulted in increased career decision-making self-efficacy, vocational skills self-efficacy, and short-term gains in outcome expectations but did not influence perceived educational barriers. Participants enrolled in the career education class in the first quarter were more likely to change career plans than were those in the control condition. Implications for practice and future research are presented.

An Emancipatory Communitarian Approach to Vocational Development Theory, Research, and Practice

Building on recent calls for a more explicit and intentional endorsement of social justice goals within counseling psychology and vocational psychology, this article proposes Prilleltensky’s (1997) emancipatory communitarian approach to psychological practice as a useful framework for vocational theory, practice, and research. Such a framework emphasizes the distinction between the concepts of work and career and illuminates the extent to which traditional vocational psychology has attended to the needs of the people who experience little, if any, volition in their choices of career or line of work. We present a rationale for integrating an emancipatory communitarian approach into vocational psychology theory and the implications of this approach for future research and practice.

Self-Efficacy and Vocational Outcome Expectations for Adolescents of Lower Socioeconomic Status: A Pilot Study

Relationships between contextual support, perceived educational barriers, and vocational/educational self-efficacy and outcome expectations were examined for a group of 114 ninth graders from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. Results of this exploratory pilot study indicated that sibling and peer support accounted for a significant amount of variance in vocational/educational self-efficacy beliefs. Vocational/educational self-efficacy beliefs also significantly predicted vocational outcome expectations, and contextual supports and barriers did not account for any unique variance associated with vocational outcome expectations. Results are discussed in relation to social cognitive career theory. Implications for counseling and future research are presented.

An Experimental Examination of Two Career Interventions for Battered Women

The authors tested the effectiveness of 2 group career interventions for 73 battered women who were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 treatment conditions or a wait-list control group. Both interventions included the 5 most effective career intervention components identified by S. D. Brown and N. E. Krane (2000), and 1 of the interventions also was designed to enhance critical consciousness (i.e., empowerment for

Rural Appalachian Youth’s Vocational/Educational Postsecondary Aspirations Applying Social Cognitive Career Theory

This study investigates the relationship between postsecondary aspirations and vocational/educational self-efficacy beliefs, outcome expectations, perceived educational barriers, and sources of support among a sample of rural Appalachian high school students. Using Social Cognitive Career Theory as the theoretical framework, vocational/educational aspirations are examined in terms of four specific postsecondary pathways common to rural Appalachian students (work, vocational technical, bachelor’s only, and professional). Results indicated vocational/educational self-efficacy beliefs, college outcome expectations, likelihood of encountering barriers to postsecondary education, and socioeconomic status contribute significantly to the discriminant function predicting the post-secondary pathways. This research extends previous work in this area by examining an understudied group, rural Appalachian adolescents. Implications of the results and suggestions for future research are provided.

Perceived Barriers and Postsecondary Plans in Mexican American and White Adolescents

The authors examined perceived internal and external barriers to postsecondary educational plans among 140 Mexican American and 296 White high school students, attending to sex, socioeconomic, ethnic differences. Parent education was associated with educational plans. Girls anticipated encountering more barriers associated with financing postsecondary education than their male counterparts. Mexican American students anticipated encountering more postsecondary education barriers associated with ability, preparation, motivation, support, and separation, and expected those barriers to be more difficult to overcome, than their White counterparts. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Measuring Perceived Teacher Support and Its Influence on Adolescent Career Development

This article examines available measures of perceived teacher support and presents findings from two studies exploring the psychometric properties of the Teacher Support Scale (TSS). In Study 1, an exploratory factor analysis suggested a hierarchical structure with four first-order factors (Invested, Positive Regard, Expectations, and Accessible subscales) loading onto a single, higher order factor, excellent reliability, and concurrent validity. Perceived teacher support was significantly correlated with career decision-making self-efficacy and vocational outcome expectations. In Study 2, a confirmatory factor analysis did not provide replication of the initial model in a separate sample. However, the four, first-order factors explained a statistically significant amount of the variance in question items, and support was provided for their strong relationship to a single, higher order construct of teacher support. Recommendations for future practice and research on the role of teacher support in adolescent career development and suggestions for modifications to the measure are provided.

Contributions of Social Status and Family Support to College Students’ Career Decision Self-Efficacy and Outcome Expectations

The purpose of this study was to better understand the roles of social status and family support in the career decision making of young adults in college. We tested a path model predicting career decision self-efficacy and career-related outcome expectations in a sample of 270 male and female undergraduate students. Predictor variables included family of origin socioeconomic status, perceived social status, perceived family support, and intentional family career-related interactions. The sample was randomly split into a calibration sample and a validation sample. Based on a path analysis with the calibration sample, the hypothesized model was modified, and a multiple group analysis was used to test for model invariance for the revised model. The results of this study suggest that both family status and family support are associated with social cognitive career development outcomes. Implications for both research and practice are discussed.

Ethnic Differences in Career Supports and Barriers for Battered Women: a Pilot Study

Little empirical attention has been given to the career development needs of battered women. Using social cognitive career theory, the authors examined the relationships among abuse experiences, perceived career barriers, and contextual supports to the career-related self-efficacy and outcome expectations of 74 European American and ethnic minority battered women. The authors hypothesized that women of color would anticipate greater difficulty overcoming barriers, anticipate needing more future support, and have lower career-related self-efficacy and outcome expectations than European American women. Results showed no statistically significant ethnic group differences in participants’ perceptions of difficulty overcoming barriers, anticipated future support needed, and career-related self-efficacy and outcome expectations. Results did show ethnic group differences in the relationships between contextual supports and career-related self-efficacy and outcome expectations. The authors discuss implications for research and practice.