1-198 - Family as a Context for Children and Adolescents’ Career Development

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Work attitudes and behaviors begin to develop in childhood (Hartung, Porfeli, & Vondracek, 2005). Although career development has been a relatively neglected topic by developmental scientists, research shows that this process begins in childhood and parents play critical role (Whiston & Keller, 2004). This symposium addresses the role of parents in the career development of youth across diverse cultural backgrounds.

Papers in this symposium examine how parents’ work experiences influence youth’s work orientations across US and Portugal contexts. The first paper investigates how youth view their parents work and family experiences, and how youth translate these perceptions into personal attitudes toward work and their educational aspirations and school grades. Adolescents seem to understand adults’ life roles as interdependent. Youth who exhibit positive attitudes toward future work tend to have higher educational aspirations and better grades. The second paper examines how children’s career aspirations are linked with their parents’ occupations. Using a sample of Portuguese fifth-graders, the investigators found that the tightest links emerged for fathers’ occupations and daughters’ occupational aspirations. The third paper focused on parents’ and youths’ work ethic in African American families. Fathers’, but not mothers’ work ethic was linked to their children’s work ethic, which in turn was associated with more positive youth adjustment.

Together, these papers demonstrate that parents play a significant role in their children’s developing work orientations thereby shaping the next generation of the workforce. Discussion will focus on how these findings inform work and family theories and interventions.

Sub Unit

• Family Context & Processes

Chair

• Bora Lee, Pennsylvania State University

Discussant

• Susan Whiston, Indiana University

Individual Presentations

• The Influence of Parents’ Work on Youths’ Work Valence and Academic Success - Presenting Author: Erik J Porfeli, Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine; Bora Lee, Pennsylvania State University

• Parental Occupations and Children’s Realistic Aspirations: A Study Focused on the RIASEC Structure - Presenting Author: Íris M Oliveira, School of Psychology, University of Minho, Portugal; Erik J Porfeli, Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine; Maria do Céu Taveira, School of Psychology, University of Minho, Portugal

• African American Adolescents’ Work Ethic and its Links to Their Psychosocial Adjustment - Presenting Author: Bora Lee, Pennsylvania State University; Susan McHale, Pennsylvania State University