Lisa Y. Flores

The Career Development of Mexican American Adolescent Women: A Test of Social Cognitive Career Theory.

This study tested R. W. Lent, S. D. Brown, and G. Hacketts (1994) model of career choice with 364 Mexican American adolescent women. Path analyses were run to determine the influence of contextual and social cognitive variables on career aspiration, career choice prestige, and traditionality. Partial support for the model was evidenced as nontraditional career self-efficacy, parental support, barriers, acculturation, and feminist attitudes predicted career choice prestige. Acculturation, feminist attitudes, and nontraditional career self-efficacy predicted career choice traditionality. Feminist attitudes and parental support predicted career aspiration. The paths between nontraditional career interests and the 3 outcome variables were not supported. Finally, none of the background contextual variables in this study predicted nontraditional career self-efficacy. Implications of the results and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Mexican American Middle School Students' Goal Intentions in Mathematics and Science: A Test of Social Cognitive Career Theory.

This study examined whether sociocontextual and sociocognitive variables explained the math/science goals of 409 Mexican American youth using a modified version of R. W. Lent, S. D. Brown, and G. Hackett’s (1994) social cognitive career theory. Results from structural equation modeling indicated that the hypothesized model explained a significant amount of variance in math/science goals for both Mexican American girls and boys. Findings suggested that gender did not moderate relations among the variables in the hypothesized model. Results also suggested that most of the social cognitive career theory propositions tested were supported. Specifically, social class predicted math/science past performance accomplishments. Math/science past performance accomplishments and perceived parent support predicted math/science self-efficacy. Furthermore, math/science self-efficacy predicted math/science outcome expectations, and together with math/science interests, these sociocognitive variables predicted math/science interests and goals. Contrary to expectations, generation status, Anglo orientation, and Mexican orientation did not predict math/science past performance accomplishments, and past performance accomplishments did not predict math/science outcome expectations. Furthermore, Anglo orientation and perceived social support from parents, teachers, classmates, and a close friend did not predict math/science goals. Suggestions for future research and implications of the results are discussed.

The Relation of Acculturation, Problem-Solving Appraisal, and Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy to Mexican American High School Students' Educational Goals.

This study examined the contributions of acculturation, problem-solving appraisal, and career decisionmaking self-efficacy on 105 Mexican American high school students’ educational goals. A standard regression analysis indicated that Anglo-oriented acculturation and problem-solving appraisal accounted for significant variance in educational goals. Mexican-oriented acculturation and career decision-making self-efficacy did not contribute significant variance to students’ educational goals. The regression model accounted for 19.5% of the variance in educational goals. Results of the structure coefficients for the predictor variables indicated that Anglo-oriented acculturation and career decision-making self-efficacy were the 2 most important predictors, followed by problem-solving appraisal and Mexican-oriented acculturation, respectively. Implications of the findings are discussed, and recommendations for interventions are provided for enhancing the educational and career development among Mexican American adolescents.

Social cognitive predictors of Mexican American college students' academic and life satisfaction.

In this study, we used Lents (2004) social cognitive model of well being to examine the academic and life satisfaction of 457 Mexican American college students attending a Hispanic-Serving Institution. Using structural equation modeling, results indicated that the model provided a good fit to the data. Specifically, we found positive relations from positive affect to enculturation, acculturation, college self-efficacy, academic satisfaction, and life satisfaction; from enculturation to college self-efficacy; from acculturation to college self-efficacy and college outcome expectations; from college self-efficacy to college outcome expectations, academic goal progress, academic satisfaction, and life satisfaction; from college outcome expectations to academic satisfaction; from academic goal progress to academic and life satisfaction; and from academic satisfaction to life satisfaction. Findings indicated the model was invariant across gender groups, and overall, 38% and 14% of the variance in academic satisfaction and life satisfaction, respectively, were explained by the predictor variables. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

The Career Counseling Self-Efficiency Scale: Instrument development and training applications.

This article reports on 4 studies that addressed the development of the Career Counseling Self-Efficacy Scale (CCSES). The instrument evidenced moderate to high internal consistency across the studies and strong test-retest reliability over a 2-week period. Convergent validity was supported by correlations with years of career counseling experience and several scales of an emotional-social counseling self-efficacy measure. Discriminant validity was evidenced through an absence of relations between the CCSES total score and years of emotional-social counseling experience, emotional-social counseling self-efficacy, and research self-efficacy. In addition to the evidence just mentioned, construct validity was supported by increases on the CCSES after a career course and varying levels of efficacy commensurate with status in the field. The use of this instrument for training and evaluating therapists who provide career counseling is discussed.

Multicultural Career Counseling: Ten Essentials for Training.

In the past 20 years, several changes have taken place within the field of counseling and psychology with regard to practice and research with individuals from racial/ethnic groups. At the same time, the United States population has experienced a dramatic shift in its composition. Both have contributed to transformations in graduate training. This article will highlight salient aspects from the multicultural literature regarding culturally competent practice and apply it to the training of vocational counselors.

Culturally Competent Qualitative Research With Latino Immigrants

This article provides recommendations for conducting culturally competent qualitative research with Latino immigrants, a historically exploited group that represents more than half of all U.S. immigrants and is continuously growing. Limited research exists on Latino immigrants despite their large presence in the United States. The authors draw upon their qualitative research experiences to help researchers develop culturally competent awareness, knowledge, and skills in studying Latino immigrants. Recommendations are grounded by integrating Latino cultural values in the research process. Issues related to developing a research team, recruiting participants, using incentives, informed consent procedures, and language issues are addressed. Suggestions for developing interview protocols and conducting culturally competent in-person interviews are provided.

Testing a Model of Nontraditional Career Choice Goals With Mexican American Adolescent Men

This study examined the nontraditional career choice goals of 302 Mexican American adolescent men using an extended version of Lent, Brown, and Hackett’s (1994) career choice model. It was hypothesized that several background contextual variables (e.g., acculturation level, parental support, perceived occupational gender barriers) would predict nontraditional career self-efficacy. Nontraditional career self-efficacy was hypothesized to predict nontraditional career interests, and both nontraditional career self-efficacy and nontraditional career interests would predict nontraditional career choice goals. Results supported a modified path model. Mexican American adolescent men’s nontraditional career self-efficacy was predicted by acculturation level and parental support. Additionally, nontraditional career self-efficacy predicted nontraditional career interests, and expressed choice of nontraditional careers was predicted by nontraditional career interests and father’s career nontraditionality. Implications to career counseling with Mexican American adolescent men are discussed.

Enhancing the Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy of Upward Bound Students

In 1965, the United States Department of Education appropriated funding for Upward Bound, a program that encourages underprepared, economically disadvantaged high school students to maximize their full academic potential, graduate from high school, and enter postsecondary institutions. Today, 601 Upward Bound programs in the United States serve 48,462 students in the 9th through 12th grades annually (U.S. Department of Education, 1998). The focus of these programs has been on developing academic skills to facilitate

Psychological Distress, Perceived Family Conflict, and Career Development Issues in College Students of Color

We tested a hypothesized path model that examined the relationships among psychological distress, perceived family conflict, and various career-related constructs in a sample of 329 African American, Asian American, and Latino/Latina American college students. Across each subsample of participants, we found that greater levels of psychological distress predicted higher levels of career indecision, which in turn was associated with lower career certainty and greater perceived family conflict. Lower levels of perceived family conflict predicted high career aspiration for all three subgroups. Higher career certainty predicted greater career aspiration for Asian American students, but this relationship was not significant for African American and Latino/Latina American students. Implications of the findings for career counseling practice and research are discussed.