Career Development Attitudes and Identity Formation

Research suggests that individual differences in identity formation during late adolescent years are related to patterns of vocational behavior. Studies have demonstrated that people who have achieved a stable identity tend to use rational and systematic decision strategies. In contrast,

those with foreclosed identity status tend to rely on dependent strategies (Schultheiss, 2000). Self-concept and identity variables have also been related to career certainty, career planning and career indecision. These studies have shown that people who have progressed further in identity formation are likely to be more decided on c areer choices and more purposeful in career planning (Schultheiss, 2000). T wo of the more prominent career development theories most directly related to college students are the 1) theory of vocational personalities and work environments, which was originated by John Holland and 2) the life span-life space approach developed by Donald Super (Hartung & Niles, 2000). In the early twentieth century, the focus of career assessment and research was on matching individuals with job characteristics. In the 1940s some of the focus began to shift to the development of self-understanding (Ward & Bingham, 2001).

John Holland’s theory of vocational personalities and work environments is based on four basic assumptions. The first assumption is that people can be categorized into six categories, which include: realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising or conventional. Each personality type has unique characteristics (Hartung & Niles, 2000). People who are described as

realistic prefer activities that involve the manipulation of objects, tools, machines or animals.

They prefer college majors such as physical education, engineering or technology. People who align with the investigative type prefer activities where they can systematically explore and develop knowledge of the world. Their preference of a college major is chemistry, biology or sociology. They prefer to work alone with data and ideas rather than collaborating in group settings (Hartung & Niles, 2000).

Artistic types prefer activities that encourage creativity in art or products. They typically

involve training, developing or informing are considered social types. They prefer to work with people rather than things. People who fit into this cluster favor social work, education and nursing as college majors (Hartung & Niles, 2000). If someone is interested in activities that manipulate people to attain organizational, personal and economic gains, they are considered

enterprising types. They prefer business-oriented, economic activities that also offer an

opportunity to lead other people. They favor business administration, marketing or law as college majors. Lastly, there are the conventional types, who value accuracy, stability and efficiency. They have a preference for college majors such as economics or accounting (Hartung & Niles, 2000).

The other assumptions of Holland’s theory are that 1) environments can be categorized among the same six types (realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, or conventional). A particular type of person dominates each environment. 2) People seek environments that allow them to use their skills and abilities. In addition, they seek environments that allow them to express their values and take on roles that fit them. 3) If the environment resembles the person’s personality type, it will reinforce and satisfy the person (Hartung & Niles, 2000).

In contrast to Holland’s theory of vocational personalities and work environments, Super’s developmental approach to career choice and development focuses on the life span-life space approach to careers. The theory describes how career choice is a fluid process that evolves throughout the life course, which entails decisions, adjustment and adaptation (Hartung & Niles, 2000). Specifically, this perspective characterizes career development as an attempt to implement a person’s self-concept in educational and occupational decisions. In addition to self- concept, life span and life space represent the other main constructs of the theory (Hartung & Niles, 2000).

Life span is characterized by five stages, which include growth, exploration,

establishment, maintenance, and disengagement (Hartung & Niles, 2000). Each stage is

associated with developmental tasks that a person must complete. The growth stage describes children from age 4 to 14. This stage is associated with children forming an initial and realistic self-concept. They form an initial impression of their values, abilities, strengths and limitations. During this stage, children learn about their self-concept by identifying with significant others. The child begins to learn about their specific interests and capacities related to the world of work. The developmental tasks that are associated with this stage include cultivating a concern for the future, establishing direction in their lives, developing a sense of purpose in school, and attaining appropriate work-related attitudes and competencies. Career growth also involves developing an outlook for the future, which involves envisioning oneself in different roles and understanding the salience of those roles (Hartung & Niles, 2000).

The exploration stage describes adolescents and young adults in the age range of 15 to 24. Three tasks are associated with this stage including crystalizing a career preference, specifying an occupational choice, and implementing that choice (Hartung & Niles, 2000). Crystalizing involves the person developing a clear self-concept and vocational identity that are aligned with a preferred occupational field. The career preference should also be aligned with the person’s educational ability level. During the exploration stage people develop readiness to make educational and vocational decisions by making plans for career development. Cultivating curiosity and willingness to explore the world of work develops career maturity. Activities such as part-time work, discussions with family members and significant others, and clarifying one’s values, skills and interests help clarify knowledge about opportunities in the environment (Hartung & Niles, 2000). The concept of embeddedness describes how people in the exploration

stage enhance their understanding of self and identity as it relates career development attitudes when taking cultural and relational influences into consideration (Schultheiss, 2000).

The establishment stage is associated with adults ages 25 to 44. People in this stage are concerned with achieving permanence in their chosen fields of work. This is a period of stabilizing the self-concept and developing a secure place in their career field. The maintenance stage is associated with adults ages 45 to 65. They confront the choice of deciding whether to stay in their current position or establish a new one. Recently, theorists have replaced the maintenance stage in Super’s vocational development theory with the management stage. Dissimilar from past eras, many people are not maintaining the same position over long periods of time during the ages of 45 to 65. Instead the economic climate has called for individuals to recycle through the exploration and establishment stages (Savickas, 2002). Since this study is concerned with individuals traditionally in the exploration stage, detailed description about changes in the maintenance stage are not offered in this chapter. Lastly, the disengagement stage is associated with people nearing the age of 60. D uring this stage people start to seriously contemplate retirement. They anticipate how they will adjust to life after work (Hartung & Niles, 2000).

The theory of vocational development was updated and expanded by Savickas (2002), who developed career construction theory. An important update to this theory is the switch to a contextualist worldview. This view is driven predominately by conceptualizing development as it relates to the social environment. The theory highlights how individuals develop based on adaptation to the social environment to help construct careers. Context includes variables such as the physical environment, culture, racial and ethnic groups, family, school, community and

historical era. Social institutions such as family, school and religious institutions and the media send messages to children within in a certain culture about how life should be lived. In addition to introducing the contexualism variable, which interacts with the self to produce careers, there was theoretical shift to constructivism (Savickas, 2002). Career construction theory focuses on the individual, the development of self and the dynamics of societal expectations. The individual and environment are reciprocally influenced.

Contextualism highlights societal factors that influence development. In the model of developmental contextualism, an individual’s own organization and reasoning interact with contextual opportunities and restraints which produce development (Savickas, 2002). A key dimension of the context in which careers are developed is social roles. Social roles can be considered the duties and rewards a culture assigns to its members based on categories, such as sex and race. People identify with multiple social roles. The arrangement of these roles is considered life structure, while the collection of these roles is considered life space. Life space and structure organizes the person’s engagement in society. Usually two or three core roles are more significant than peripheral roles. Individuals make decisions about occupational choice and organizational commitment within the circumstances imposed by their social roles (Savickas, 2002).

Where contextualism describes societal factors, vocational self-concepts describe factors that are related to the development of self. The self-concept described in career construction theory is an image of the self in some role, situation, performing a set of functions or in a web of relationships. This theory describes people as having multiple self-concepts. The totality of self- concepts is considered the self-concept system. Parents, primary care givers and role models are

significant in shaping an individual’s self-concept system. The distinct self-concepts are activated in different roles and remain stable in particular situations. In particular career construction theory focuses on t he development of a vocational self-concept. Vocational self- concepts are self-perceived characteristics that a person considers relevant to work. As a part of the socialization process of children, social networks prescribe messages about gender, race, ethnicity, and class that condition the development vocational self-concepts (Savickas, 2002).