The authors provide a reaction to the Major Contribution by Richardson in this issue of "The Counseling Psychologist" on the counseling for work and relationships perspective. The authors examine the trajectory of Richardson's work, beginning with her seminal article in 1993, which set the stage for a new paradigm for vocational psychology.…

To understand the career experiences of adult transsexual women, we conducted a qualitative study on a sample of 9 predominately White male-to-female (MTF) transsexuals who were mostly middle-aged (M = 33.8, SD = 15.4) and had been on hormone therapy for an average of 20.7 months (SD = 22.5). Results of the interview data highlighted participants'…

Counseling for work and relationship is a social constructionist perspective, informed by feminist and social justice values, and responsive to radical changes in contemporary lives, that fosters a shift in vocational psychology from helping people develop careers to helping people construct lives through work and relationship. The first and major…

This study extended the literature on potential antecedents and outcomes of perceived social status, or differential status identity (DSI). Fouad and Brown's DSI was used as a conceptual lens for examining the relation of supports and barriers to an individual's perceived social status and subsequent career indecisiveness and career decision…

The study examined interrelationships between attachment, social self-efficacy, career decision-making self-efficacy, and life satisfaction. Social cognitive career theory and attachment theory were integrated to provide a framework for this study. A conceptual model was proposed and tested to determine if social self-efficacy and career decision…

The present study sought to develop and validate an instrument to measure work volition, defined as the perceived capacity to make occupational choices despite constraints, among college students. In Study 1, an exploratory factor analysis was conducted with a large and diverse sample of college students, finding a reliable scale with two factors,…

The present study compared gender differences in directly reported and indirectly derived career preferences and tested the hypothesis that individuals' implicit preferences would show less gender-biased occupational choices than their directly elicited ones. Two hundred sixty-six visitors to a career-related Internet site were asked to (a) list 5…

The purpose of this article is to initiate an effort to establish the constructs calling and vocation within counseling psychology. First, updated definitions of calling and vocation, developed with an eye toward stimulating research and providing useful practice applications, are proposed. Next, the authors explain how the constructs apply to the…

A growing body of work in relational theory and career decision making explores how relational processes, not just people's relationships but more broadly their connections to self, others, and society, inform career development and counseling. This article presents the results of a qualitative research study of midlife women in career transition…

Counseling psychology doctoral students (N = 284) from 53 training programs throughout the United States anonymously completed online measures of burnout, career choice satisfaction, global stress, role conflict, social support (from family/friends, advisors, other students) and psychological sense of community (SOC) in the doctoral program. Two…

Presents Helen Astin's article on women's career choices and work behavior, and includes several responses to her essay. Discusses Astin's need-based work model, involving motivation, expectations, sex-role socialization, and structure of opportunity. Critiques of Astin's work center mainly on the structure of opportunity segment of the model. (BH)

An examination of vocational development theory and research as it applies to women. (Author)

In response to the article "An Emancipatory Communitarian Approach to Vocational Development Theory, Research, and Practice" by David Blustein, Ellen Hawley McWhirter, and Justin Perry, this author discusses the moral imperative of a social justice approach to vocational psychology. Planning for and directly addressing the inevitable and necessary…

Reviews research on relationship between cognitive schemas and vocational behavior following from Kelly's (1955) personal construct psychology. Focuses particular attention on traditional study of vocational differentiation and integration as well as more recent efforts to combine these two variables into a structural model of vocational…

Reviews survey articles about vocational assessment that have appeared from 1935 through 1991. Identifies nine points that summarize what surveys have told about the teaching and practice of vocational assessment. Notes that Strong Interest Inventory dominates field as most frequently used and recommended vocational assessment procedure.…