Career Orientation in Chinese Adolescents: The Roles of Career-related versus Generic Parent Support and Social Strain

• In Event: 534 - Section on Children and Youth Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 10. Parental Effects and Socialization

Abstract

Career orientation of adolescents during the high school years is increasingly recognized in sociology because of its consequences for school-to-work transition. This study investigated the relationships between career-related parent support, generic parent support, social strain, and career orientation (in terms of vocational exploration and commitment and career decision self-efficacy) among Chinese adolescents. Participants were 1,841 Chinese students in the eleventh grade in Hong Kong who completed a school-based survey in spring 2013. Career-related parent support directly enhanced vocational exploration and commitment and career decision self-efficacy in adolescents. However, generic parent support attenuated adolescent career orientation, suggesting the possible specificity of Chinese culture in generic parental influence. Social strain was more strongly related to poor vocational exploration and commitment than to weak career decision self-efficacy. Adolescents who encountered such forms of social strain as academic strain, career strain, and generic strain tended to have suboptimal vocational exploration and commitment. Career-related parent support was more useful in buffering the unfavorable effect of social strain on career orientation, whereas the strain moderation function of generic parent support was less pronounced. A broader implication of these findings is that family socioeconomic status (in terms of parents’ educational attainment in this study) does not solely determine adolescent career orientation, and that career guidance does not entirely rest on school efforts. Future research should identify ways to nurture career guidance of parents.

Author

• Nicole Wai Ting Cheung, Chinese University of Hong Kong