Graham B. Stead

The career development of black and white South African university students

This study investigates the possible influence of gender and culture on the career maturity and study and work role salience of South African students. Responses to the Life Role Inventory and Career Development Questionnaire of 260 first-year university students (137 white, 123 black) were analyzed. Culture was found to have a significant effect on both career maturity and study and work role salience while gender had no significant effect. Results are related to previous findings from international and South African literature. Implications for counselling are discussed.

Career Psychology in South Africa: Moral Perspectives on Present and Future Directions:

This article provides a framework for a moral consideration of career research and practice in South Africa. The status quo of South African career research and practice is overviewed and some initial questions are suggested in terms of the present and future direction of career psychology in South Africa.

How Similar are the Factor Structures of the Career Decision Scale, the Career Decision Profile, and the Career Factors Inventory?

A sample of 332 undergraduate psychology students completed the Career Decision Scale (CDS), the Career Factors Inventory (CFI), and the Career Decision Profile (CDP). Factor analyses were conducted and four stable factors emerged, namely: Indecision, Need for Self/Career Information, Career Choice Anxiety, and Indecisiveness. The CDP and the CFI both measured Need for Self/Career Information and Indecisiveness. The CDP overlapped in part with the CDS to form the Indecision factor, whereas certain CFI items formed the Career Choice Anxiety factor. The Career Decision Profile and the Career Factors Inventory appeared to be more multidimensional than the Career Decision Scale which was found to be unidimensional.

The Appropriateness of Super's Career Theory among Black South Africans

The appropriateness of Supers career theory among black South Africans is discussed in terms of developmental stages, the self-concept, career maturity, and career decision-making. Suggestions are provided as to how these constructs may need to be re-evaluated and thus become more meaningful to career counsellors and researchers.

Childhood Career Development Scale: Scale Construction and Psychometric Properties.

The purpose of this investigation was to construct a theoretically driven and psychometrically sound childhood career development scale to measure career progress in fourth- through sixth-grade children. Super’s nine dimensions (i.e., curiosity, exploration, information, key figures, interests, locus of control, time perspective, self-concept, and planfulness) served as the conceptual basis for the construction of this instrument. Principal components analyses indicated the presence of eight empirically derived components with adequate internal consistency. The component structure was largely supported by coefficients of congruence between component loadings from two samples. Gender and grade main and interaction effects for the subscales were analyzed. Implications for theory and research are offered.

OCCUPATIONAL ASPIRATIONS OF BLACK SOUTH AFRICAN ADOLESCENTS

The present study provides a description of the occupational aspirations of 216 black high school students in a special program by the amount of training required (status) and Hollands 1973 typology as well as by gender, age, socioeconomic status, knowledge of self, and occupational knowledge. Analysis indicates that most adolescents aspire to Social and Investigative occupations, and occupations with a high status. Most of this select sample displayed low self- and occupational knowledge. Aspirations appear unrealistic in terms of trends within the labor market, but might be more realistic with effective and relevant guidance programs in schools

Self in career theory and counselling: a discourse analysis perspective

ABSTRACT A rapidly changing postmodern working world demands revised conceptualisations of the self. Recent scholarship in discourse analysis invites an investigation into how selves are constructed and fabricated within a complex matrix of social discourses, and how this may impact on the field of career counselling and development. This paper examines the self in career counselling and development from a Foucauldian discourse analysis perspective in terms of the selfs situatedness in history, narrative and power. In addition, counselling implications within a discourse analysis perspective are provided.

Five-Factor Model and Difficulties in Career Decision Making A Meta-Analysis

Meta-analysis was employed to investigate the relationship between personality constructs of the five-factor model (FFM) and difficulties in career decision making (DCDM). Twenty studies with one to five quantitative FFM constructs were selected for review. The present study found evidence that the traits of the FFM of personality can predict DCDM. There was a statistically significant positive relationship between Neuroticism and DCDM, and statistically significant negative relationships between Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, and Openness. Mean effect sizes were small (<.30) with Neuroticism being the highest, closely followed by Conscientiousness, and with Agreeableness being the lowest. Both age and nationality of sample were found to be significant moderators of FFM constructs and DCDM. The discussion includes implications for research and practice.

The Transformation of Psychology in a Post-Apartheid South Africa: An Overview

Certain issues that are being debated in psychology in a post-apartheid South Africa are discussed, namely the development of professional organizations, indigenous healing and psychology, the psychometric movement, and forms of methodological inquiry. It is argued that South African psychology is striving to become more appropriate to the majority of its peoples, whether it be on the professional or research fronts. There is a desire to develop indigenous epistemologies and not to become excessively reliant on Euro-American epistemological traditions. Psychology is struggling to make mental health resources available to all South Africans.

Construction and psychometric properties of the Childhood Career Development Scale

The aim of this study was to construct and psychometrically validate a measure of childhood career development for Grade 4 to Grade 7 children. Supers (1990) nine dimensions of career development (i.e. curiosity, exploration, information, key figures, locus of control, interests, time perspective, self-concept, and planfulness) formed the conceptual basis of the instrument. Eight of Supers constructs were supported by means of principal components analysis, with seven being replicated with a second sample. The relationships between grade, gender and the Childhood Career Development Scales sub-scale scores are reported, and implications for theory and research are provided.