This study explores the occupational aspirations of high school students planning to attend college by drawing on a multilayered model of college enrollment, social cognitive career theory, and multiple descriptive case studies of 15 high schools. Students' occupational aspirations and their understanding of the education required to achieve these…

A review of the 2009 career counseling and development literature indicates that the field remains vital, vibrant, valid, and viable precisely 100 years after its founding. Using the field's 4 fundamental traditions of person-environment fit, life-span development, social cognition, and constructivism-social constructionism as lenses for…

Gifted individuals face many concerns when contemplating their futures. Often hindered by career indecision; perfectionism; and multiple personal, familial, and societal pressures, some gifted young people flounder when they have the ability to flourish. Many counselors and educators trust that a wealth of talents will propel these adolescents to…

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of career barriers in social cognitive career theory (R. W. Lent, S. D. Brown, & G. Hackett, 1994). The participants were 584 high school students in Taiwan, Republic of China. The gender differences in perceived career barriers and career self-efficacy were significant. Results of hierarchical…

This study explored the potential relationship between the social cognitive variables of career decision making self-efficacy and perceptions of barriers and the outcome variables of vocational identity and career exploration behaviors in a sample of 128 urban Latino/a high school students. The results indicated that higher levels of career…

The authors focus on career counseling from a cultural perspective, using the proxy construct of race/ethnicity. They briefly describe traditional career counseling and critique the degree to which the myriad cultural contexts that shape clients' career development are incorporated into vocational theories and practice. They conducted a…

This study investigated cultural dimensions of career decision-making difficulties using the Career Decision-Making Difficulties Questionnaire. Career decision-making difficulties were compared among White, African, Hispanic, and Asian American high school and university students at U.S. schools. Results indicated Asian American students perceived…