Brown S.D., Lent R. (Editors). Career development and counseling: putting theory and research to work

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to be identi

fied in the career literature with existing career assessments, includ-

ing, but not limited to:

•A lack of appropriate norms for specific racial-ethnic groups for many of the

most widely used instruments.

•The influence of English language proficiency and the need for appropriate

translations of tests into different languages.

•The potential conflicts that may arise when using tests for purposes that

may be culturally incongruent for people of color.

•The need for multicultural counseling training to promote appropriate test

use and interpretation with people of color.

AREER

EVELOPMENT OF

EOPLE OF

OLOR

In this section, we highlight empirical studies that address the career develop-

ment processes of people of color in the United States. We pay particular attention

to those studies conducted since 1994. For earlier reviews of the literature, see

Table 10.1

A Nonexhaustive List of Effective Coping Strategies for

Multicultural Career Assessment

• Understand your own limitations as a competent test user and as a culturally encapsu-

lated individual.

•

Obtain formal training in multicultural counseling and career development (Leung, 1996).

• Understand the cultural contexts within which career and vocational problems emerge

(e.g., families, workplaces, communities; Leong & Hartung, 1997).

•Recognize and assess the potential influences of culture on perceptions toward as-

sessment and on testing processes and outcomes (Leong & Hartung, 1997).

• Understand the potential for misassessment due to cultural biases in theoretical mod-

els or personal training that might lead to culturally inappropriate interventions (Leong

& Hartung, 1997).

• Engage in assessment of the cultural background and characteristics of each client

(Leung, 1996).

•Select career assessment instruments that are specific to the needs of the client and

appropriate for use with members of the client’s racial-ethnic, cultural, or linguistic

groups (Leung, 1996).

•Actively seek alternative interpretations of the results and interpret their meaning from

the cultural context of the test taker (Leong & Hartung, 1997).

•

Consider alternatives to testing when cultural factors may impede attainment of the

desired outcome (e.g., qualitative assessments, foregoing testing altogether; Subich,

1996).

• Understand and address the potential cultural dynamics that can occur during the

communication of test results (Leung, 1996; Leong & Hartung, 1997).

• Use assessment to increase (rather than decrease) clients’ perceptions of available op-

tions and recognize the potential individual and social consequences involved in using

tests to make important, potentially life-altering decisions (Leung, 1996).

•

Know when to engage in consultation with, or make a referral to, someone who has com-

petencies to address a given situation more effectively than you can (Marsella & Leong,

1995).

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Career Development in Context: Research with People of Color 237

Byars and McCubbin (2001), Leong (1995), and Leung (1995). We organize our re-

view into sections pertaining to the major concepts arising from the literature on

career development theory and practice with people of color.

Racial-Ethnic Identity and Acculturation Helms and Piper (1994) have cogently ar-

gued that race, as a nominal variable in research, is an inappropriate target of

study in investigations of career development. They note that studies relying on

nominal racial classifications and comparisons (e.g., Whites versus African Amer-

icans) are likely to yield inconsistent results and potentially contribute to negative

stereotypes about the career behavior and development of people of color. Instead,

Helms and Piper recommended that racial identity theory serve as a sociopolitical

conceptualization of race within studies of career development and provided a set

of hypotheses about how racial identity (1) interacts with the processes and out-

comes of career development and (2) influences satisfaction and satisfactoriness in

the work environment. Specifically, they proposed the idea that racial salience (de-

fined as the extent to which a person believes, correctly or incorrectly, that race

significantly defines his or her options in the world of work) will play a moderat-

ing role in the career development of people of color. Racial salience is assumed to

affect perceptions of access to the opportunity structure and, in turn, educational

and career aspirations. In addition, they suggested that African American work-

ers’ satisfaction within organizations will likely be a function of racial salience

and that satisfactoriness of African American workers within organizations will

also be a function of racial attitudes.

Similarly, Leong and Chou (1994) provided an integrative review of the career

literature with respect to the role of ethnic identity and acculturation in the vo-

cational behavior of Asian Americans. They hypothesized that ethnic identity

and acculturation among Asian Americans are likely to be related to occupational

stereotyping and segregation, occupational discrimination, work attitudes, occu-

pational choices and interests, occupational aspirations/expectations, career ma-

turity, and occupational prestige and mobility.

A number of studies have addressed the connections of racial-ethnic identity

to various aspects of career development for people of color, which have produced

mixed findings generally supporting a relationship. For example, Gloria and

Hird (1999) found that college students of color differed from White college stu-

dents in ethnic identity, trait anxiety, and career decision-making self-efficacy,

suggesting that ethnic identity variables are more important for students of color

than for Whites. They also found that ethnic identity variables and trait anxiety

predicted career decision-making self-efficacy for students of color. However,

Carter and Constantine (2000) found that racial identity predicted different as-

pects of career development based on racial group membership. Specifically, they

found significant relationships between African American racial identity atti-

tudes and life role salience but not to career maturity, whereas for Asian Ameri-

cans, they found significant relationships of racial identity attitudes to career

maturity but not to life role salience. C. C. Jackson and Neville (1998) also found

mixed results by gender supporting the hypothesis that racial identity is related to

vocational identity and confidence in setting goals among African American col-

lege students. Racial identity predicted both vocational identity and confidence in

setting goals for women, but it only predicted confidence in setting goals for men.

Conversely, Evans and Herr (1994) found that racial identity and percep

tions of

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discrimination did not predict the racial traditionality of career aspirations of

African American college students.

One explanation of the mixed results concerning the relationships of racial and

ethnic identity development to career development may be due to problems iden-

tified in the measurement of racial identity development. However, the majority

of the findings indicate that racial-ethnic identity is an important variable related

to the career development of people of color.

Educational and Career Barriers and Supports As the field of career psychology ex-

pands the scope of inquiry into the experiences and concerns of people of color,

there has been increasing attention to understanding and investigating experi-

ences of real and perceived barriers and their influence on career development

processes and outcomes. For example, Luzzo (1993) reported that African Ameri-

cans, Asian Americans, Hispanics, and Filipino Americans were more likely to

perceive their racial status as a barrier to career development than were European

Americans. Similarly, McWhirter (1997) compared Mexican American and Euro-

pean American high school juniors and seniors with respect to perceived barriers

in the formulation and pursuit of educational and career goals. She found that the

Mexican American students anticipated more future barriers than Whites did in

their pursuit of educational and career goals. Girls also perceived more barriers

than did boys. Luzzo and McWhirter (2001) examined perceived educational and

career-related barriers and coping self-efficacy. Women and students of color an-

ticipated significantly more career-related barriers, while students of color also

exhibited more perceived educational barriers and lower self-efficacy for coping

with perceived career-related barriers relative to their European American coun-

terparts. Burlew and Johnson (1992) suggested that barriers to success may be

more prominent for people of color in nontraditional careers (e.g., law, engineer-

ing, medicine) than for those in more traditional careers.

Given increasing concerns with overcoming barriers to the success of students

of color in math and science careers, Catsambis (1994) examined gender differ-

ences in learning opportunities, achievement, and choice in mathematics among

gender-balanced samples of White, African American, and Latino/a junior high

and high school students. Overall, female and male students had similar test

scores and grades, but female students tended to have less interest in math and

less confidence in their math abilities. Gender differences were the largest among

Latino/as and the smallest among African Americans. The major barriers to math

achievement for students of color of both sexes were limited learning opportuni-

ties and consequent low levels of achievement.

Shifting from a focus solely on barriers to consideration of sources of sup-

port, a number of investigators have sought to increase our understanding of

how people of color overcome social, institutional, and economic obstacles dur-

ing the course of career development. For example, Kenny, Blustein, Chaves,

Grossman, and Gallagher (2003) investigated the relationship between per-

ceived resources and barriers in two samples of inner-city ninth-grade youth

(mostly students of color). Results indicated that perceived general support and

kinship support were related to behavioral and attitudinal indexes of school en-

gagement, career aspirations, expectations for attaining career success, and im-

portance of work in the future. Similarly, Chung, Baskin, and Case (1999)

attempted to understand the possible effects of fathers, role models, SES, social

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Career Development in Context: Research with People of Color 239

support, and career intervention programs on the career development of

African American men. They used unstructured interviews with African

American men of various demographic backgrounds and career paths. Several

major themes were evident from these interviews, including:

•The importance of financial support and role-modeling effects of a father.

•Social support, especially parental support, influences the educational and

vocational decisions of some individuals.

•

School programs that help ethnic minority students to explore various career

opportunities seem influential to the development of career aspirations.

•

Experiences with racism continue to be a career obstacle for African

Americans.

Furthermore, Fisher and Padmawidjaja (1999) examined parental factors that in-

fluence career development among African American and Mexican American col-

lege students. Their findings indicated that parents influenced their children

through encouragement, educational expectations, critical life events, vicarious

learning, and work identity. Conversely, Juntunen et al. (2001) found that a lack of

support from parents, school personnel, or significant others (particularly for

women) were significant career obstacles in their study of a small sample of Amer-

ican Indian adults.

M. A. Jackson and Nutini (2002) conducted a qualitative analysis of interviews

with a mixed group of middle school students from low-income families. On the

basis of their data, they presented a tentative conceptual model for assessing con-

textual barriers and resources and psychological barriers and resources. Contextual barri-

ers included living in a community and attending school in an unsafe environment,

discrimination, low income, and negative peer pressure. Psychological barriers in-

cluded low self-efficacy for academics and perceptions of unequal opportunities

for education. Contextual resources included family support, positive role models,

cultural support, and school community support. Psychological resources included

high coping efficacy for discrimination, bicultural competence, beliefs that racial-

ethnic discrimination could be overcome, and coping strategies for managing peer

conflict, stress, and pressure.

These findings indicate that educational and career barriers and supports may

come from some obvious and some less obvious sources, mostly outside the direct

control or influence of individuals. Interventions designed to reduce barriers and

establish supports need to be congruent with the cultural backgrounds and ex-

pectations of the individuals involved.

Educational Expectations and Persistence Historical oppression is thought to have

subtle, long-lasting influences on many dimensions of the career development of

people of color (Gainor, 2001). Studies indicate that there are a number of impor-

tant variables associated with academic expectations and persistence. Contextual

barriers arising from conditions of poverty (e.g., discrimination, community vio-

lence, limited learning opportunities, lower parental education) have been shown

to be associated with poor educational outcomes for students of color (Catsambis,

1994; Trusty, 2002; Trusty, Ng, & Plata, 2000); and Mau (2003) found that Latino/a

students were less likely to persist than White students in science and engineering

career aspirations, all other factors being equal. However, of particular impor

tance,

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various forms of social support were among the most frequently identified fac-

tors contributing to high levels of persistence and success (Gloria & Ho, 2003;

Gloria & Robinson Kurpius, 2001; Gloria, Robinson Kurpius, Hamilton, &

Willson, 1999). Social support from family, peers, and school-community mentor-

ship have been found to be associated with a wide variety of outcomes, including

school engagement, aspirations, work role salience, expectations of educational

and career success, and academic persistence (Kenny et al., 2003).

There have been mixed findings related to the relative influence of gender and

culture on the educational and career expectations of different racial-ethnic

groups. For example, Trusty (2002) found that involvement in school, SES, parents’

expectations, parental school involvement, and high school behavior differentially

predicted African American adolescents’ educational expectations among males

and females. Specifically, academic reading scores were directly related to African

American adolescent women’s educational expectations, while math scores and

parental involvement contributed to African American adolescent men’s educa-

tional expectations. Alternatively, McWhirter, Hackett, and Bandalos (1998) pro-

vided evidence of the primacy of culture over gender in predicting educational

and career expectations of Mexican American girls. Specifically, they found more

differences between Mexican American and European American high school girls

than they did between boys and girls of Mexican American ancestry.

Academic and career expectations are likely to influence academic and career

persistence for people of color, which has been an area of increasing attention in

the career literature. Gloria and colleagues (Gloria & Ho, 2003; Gloria & Robinson

Kurpius, 2001; Gloria et al., 1999) conducted a series of studies to examine the rela-

tion of social support, university comfort, and self-beliefs (i.e., self-esteem and

col

lege-related self-efficacy) to the academic persistence decisions of three differ-

ent racial ethnic groups: African American, Asian American, and American Indian

university students. Social support (perceived social support from family and

friends; mentoring within the academic setting) was the strongest predictor of aca-

demic persistence for all three groups, and positive perceptions of the university

environment were particularly important for African Americans and American In-

dians. Also, differences were found among Asian American subgroups as to the

importance of social support, university comfort, and self-beliefs in predicting aca-

demic persistence (Gloria & Ho, 2003). In a similar study, Tomlinson-Clarke (1994)

followed a group of African American (60%), Hispanic (18%), and White (18%)

college students over a three-year period to examine the relationships among aca-

demic comfort, occupational orientation, and academic persistence. Tomlinson-

Clarke found that relationships between academic comfort and occupational

orientation differed by racial group but did not find a relationship between aca-

demic comfort and persistence for African American, Hispanic, or White students.

Although there have been some mixed findings in the research concerning

academic expectations and persistence, it is clear that factors related to gender,

culture, social class, social support, academic environment, self-esteem, and self-

efficacy are important. The likely connections between academic expectations

and persistence, and the outcomes of both, will continue to be fruitful areas of in-

vestigation for years to come as institutions continue to work toward increasing

the diversity of students at the upper levels of academic achievement. (See Ar-

bona, Chapter 22, this volume, for a more complete discussion of issues related to

educational achievement.)

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Career Development in Context: Research with People of Color 241

Educational and Career Aspirations Career aspirations have often been hypothe-

sized to be important influences on future career choices and behavior, yet they

are not always directly tied to career choice outcomes. For example, research has

shown that Latino/a and African American youth often have career aspirations

that are more prestigious and desirable than the occupations that they actually

enter (Arbona, 1990; Arbona & Novy, 1990). Similarly, Qian and Blair (1999)

found that (a) while individual educational performance is important for all

racial-ethnic groups, human and financial capital have stronger influences on ed-

ucational aspirations for Whites than for racial-ethnic minority group members,

and that (b) parental involvement in school activities has a strong impact on edu-

cational aspirations for African Americans and Hispanics. Thus, despite wide-

spread conditions of poverty and discrimination during the career development

of people of color, racial-ethnic minority youth tend to develop aspirations that

are as high or higher than their White counterparts. Recent research has sought

to assist in our understanding of this counterintuitive set of conditions.

King and Multon (1996) found that the career aspirations of African American

junior high students were greatly influenced by television role models, particularly

those of African American descent. They observed that these students exhibited

higher levels of interests in specific careers after viewing television characters’ sat-

isfaction with such careers. Given the propensity for stereotypes in popular mass

media outlets, the role of television and the types of role models children of color

observe (e.g., athletes and rappers) cannot be discounted with respect to their de-

veloping educational and career aspirations. Similarly, Tan et al. (2000) found that

frequent viewing of American television and positive parental communication led

to higher educational aspirations among Hispanic children.

Chung, Loeb, and Gonzo (1996) investigated the factors influencing the educa-

tional and career aspirations of African American college freshman on a predom-

inately White university campus. Chung et al. found that African American men

had lower educational aspirations than their female counterparts. However, gen-

der differences in educational aspirations did not translate into gender differ-

ences in career aspiration. Instead, the most important predictor of higher

occupational aspirations was father’s occupation, in which higher status fathers

tended to be associated with higher aspirations among students. Similarly, Plun-

kett and Bamaca-Gomez (2003) found that parental educational level, language

spoken at home, and gender were predictive of the educational aspirations among

a sample of adolescents from Mexican-origin immigrant families. In another

study, Reyes, Kobus, and Gillock (1999) found that compared to females aspiring

to highly female-dominated careers, females aspiring to highly male-dominated

careers were more acculturated, earned higher grade point averages (GPAs),

higher achievement scores in science and social studies, and held higher educa-

tional aspirations and expectations; a greater number of this group also evi-

denced a clear understanding of the steps needed to achieve career goals. Finally,

Kim, Rendon, and Valadez (1998) found that there were significant differences in

the level of educational aspirations among six different groups of Asian American

10th graders (i.e., South Asian, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, and South-

east Asian), highlighting the importance of within-group differences in the ex-

pression of educational and career aspirations.

These findings make it apparent that (1) racial-ethnic stereotypes might lead

some to ignore within-group differences as to aspirations, (2) familial and social

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role models play an important role in the development of educational and career

aspirations, and (3) television and other popular media outlets are likely to play a

critical role in shaping the educational and career aspirations of youth.

Career Maturity Super’s (1953) concept of career maturity has been the source

of some controversy in the career literature with people of color. For example, a

number of studies have contrasted African Americans or Hispanics with Whites

on measures of career maturity and most often found that Whites tend to

be more career mature than their African American or Hispanic counterparts

(Fouad & Keeley, 1992; Lundberg, Osborne, & Miner, 1997; Rojewski, 1994;

Westbrook & Sanford, 1991). Rojewski’s study found that career-immature stu-

dents were more likely to be African American, educationally disadvantaged,

male, and indecisive about their career choice. M. T. Brown (1995) has suggested

that research showing lower career maturity of African Americans relative to

Whites has often been confounded by SES because lower SES African Ameri-

cans are often compared to Whites of higher SES. As a result, Leong and Ser-

afica (1995) and M. T. Brown both questioned the applicability of the career

maturity concept for people of color because of the unique contextual factors

that might be the cause of the differences found in the studies described previ-

ously. In addition, Leung (1996) and Brown (1995) have both suggested that

there is insufficient evidence to support the use of the Career Maturity Inven-

tory (the most commonly used instrument in research on this topic) with people

of color. There is a need for new research in this area with people of color.

Career Values Many career counselors believe that congruence between career

values and career choices is critical for optimal career decision making and satis-

faction (Yost & Corbishley, 1987). The values important to an individual’s culture,

career values within groups, and the divergence of career values between groups

have been targets of inquiry for career researchers. Vacha-Haase et al. (1994) ex-

amined differences in five intrinsic and extrinsic career values with a predomi-

nately African American and Hispanic sample of college students. Their findings

showed that racial-ethnic minority men tended to place more importance on cre-

ativity, aesthetics, altruism, social relations, and lifestyle within their potential

careers than did their female counterparts. Given that the instrument used to as-

sess participants’ career values was normed with predominately Caucasian

women and men, Vacha-Haase and her colleagues suggested that separate gender

norms are needed on career values assessments, especially when such instru-

ments are used with people of color.

G. C. Jackson and Healy (1996) surveyed a sample of African American and

Latino college freshman as to the relationship among their role salience, career

maturity, and socioeconomic status. Despite the fact that African Americans in

the sample had higher SES than their Latino/a counterparts, there were no dif-

ferences by ethnicity or SES, but women were found to place a higher value on

their role in the home and family than did men overall. Similarly, Luzzo (1994)

investigated differences in students’ commitment to work by gender and ethnic-

ity with a large, diverse sample of undergraduate students. Controlling for SES,

Luzzo found that women exhibited greater levels of commitment to work than

did men, but no significant differences in commitment to work by ethnicity were

uncovered.

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Career Development in Context: Research with People of Color 243

Although the research in this area continues to be sparse, racial-ethnic differ-

ences in career values have not been found. However, gender differences between

men and women with respect to role salience appear to be stable across racial-

ethnic groups. This continues to be an important area for future study.

Career-Related Self-Efficacy Hackett and Betz (1981) were the first to describe and

investigate the role of self-efficacy, a social cognitive variable, in the career develop-

ment process. Since its application to vocational psychology, self-efficacy has been

the focus of numerous studies investigating the career development of persons of

color. A number of studies have found that self-efficacy beliefs are important pre-

dictors of educational and vocational outcomes for persons of color (e.g., Bores-

Rangel, Church, Szendre, & Reeves, 1990; Gainor & Lent, 1998; Post-Kammer &

Smith, 1986; Solberg, O’Brien, Villareal, Kennel, & Davis, 1993). Other researchers

have reported that occupational self-efficacy predicted career interests (Post, Stew-

art, & Smith, 1991) and that students of color may be less likely to develop strong

self-efficacy beliefs than other students (Hackett, Betz, Casas, & Rocha-Singh,

1992; Lauver & Jones, 1991).

Three separate studies investigating the career development of African Ameri-

cans, Mexican Americans, and Asian Americans have found support for the rela-

tion between self-efficacy and career choice. Specifically, Gainor and Lent (1998)

explored the relationship of racial identity and social cognitive variables to the

math-related interests and math-related academic choice intentions of African

American college students. Gainor and Lent reported that across levels of racial

identity attitudes, self-efficacy and outcome expectations predicted interests,

and interests predicted choice intentions. In another study, Flores and O’Brien

(2002) examined the relation of several contextual and social cognitive variables

to Mexican American adolescent women’s career choice prestige, career choice

traditionality, and career aspirations. Acculturation and nontraditional career

self-efficacy were the strongest predictors of career choice prestige and career

choice traditionality. Background contextual variables are hypothesized to indi-

rectly predict self-efficacy through their influences on Bandura’s four sources of

self-efficacy beliefs; however, the contextual variables of acculturation level, fem-

inist attitudes, mother’s education, and mother’s career traditionality did not

predict nontraditional career self-efficacy. Finally, Tang, Fouad, and Smith (1999)

reported that level of acculturation, family involvement, and self-efficacy were

important predictors of traditionality of career choices (e.g., Realistic and Inves-

tigative) among Asian American college students. It is interesting that the rela-

tionship between interest and career choice was not significant for this sample of

Asian Americans.

Career decision-making self-efficacy, or an individual’s confidence in his or

her abilities to make decisions about careers, has also drawn interest among vo-

cational researchers. Recent investigations have provided inconsistent results on

career decision-making self-efficacy levels among students of color and their

White counterparts. In one study, Chung (2002) reported that African Americans

scored higher than Whites on career decision-making self-efficacy and career

commitment. On the other hand, Gloria and Hird (1999) found that White stu-

dents had higher career decision-making self-efficacy and lower ethnic identity

and other-group orientation than students of color. These researchers also re-

ported that students who had declared a major tended to also have higher career

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decision-making self-efficacy and lower trait anxiety than undeclared students.

Ethnic identity and other-group orientation were significant predictors of career

decision-making self-efficacy for students of color.

There is evidence to suggest that occupational self-efficacy for careers at various

levels of status and prestige varies as a function of SES (Hackett et al., 1992; Hannah

& Kahn, 1989; Lauver & Jones, 1991), which indicates that racial and ethnic group

differences in career self-efficacy may be confounded by social class differences

(Arbona, 1995). In addition, scholars have hypothesized that self-efficacy may be a

stronger predictor than career interests in the career selection of persons of color.

Overall, the concept of self-efficacy has become a critically important variable

in the study of the career development of people of color. It has been tied to edu-

cational and vocational outcomes, career interests, and career choice. However,

despite findings concerning racial-ethnic differences in self-efficacy in some

studies, there continue to be concerns about how these findings should be inter-

preted given the potential for social class confounds. Nevertheless, career self-

efficacy research has contributed substantially to our understanding of the career

development of people of color, and it will undoubtedly be a rich topic of investi-

gation for many years to come.

Career Interests Investigations of Holland’s typology theory with people of color

have examined endorsement of interest types and the cultural validity of

the model with persons of color, and studies have produced mixed outcomes.

Researchers have reported that there are some differences in interests by Hol-

land types between racial-ethnic groups (Hansen, Scullard, & Haviland, 2000;

Haverkamp, Collins, & Hansen, 1994; Leung, Ivey, & Suzuki, 1994; Park & Harri-

son, 1995; Swanson, 1992), while others have found that the differences are rela-

tively small or virtually nonexistent (Day & Rounds, 1998; Fouad & Spreda, 1995;

Hansen et al., 2000; Haverkamp et al., 1994; Tang, 2002). In a recent study, Arm-

strong, Hubert, and Rounds (2003) stated that their “results suggest that distinc-

tions made between Holland’s types may be less salient for some groups and

that additional work is needed to produce interest measures with improved

structural validity” (p. 297). Career counselors should be careful to avoid as-

suming that individuals from various racial-ethnic groups will exclusively en-

dorse certain career interests. Moreover, career counselors need to note that not

all clients choose careers based on personal interests, as researchers have found

that the congruence between interests and occupational choice may be weaker

for persons of color due to both real and perceived employment barriers (M. T.

Brown, 1995). It is important for career counselors to consider the relation of cul-

tural variables (e.g., acculturation, parental support) to career interests in per-

sons of color.

Examinations of the cultural validity of the hexagonal model have supported the

circular structure of the model across racial-ethnic groups (Day, Rounds, &

Swaney, 1998; Fouad & Dancer, 1992; Fouad, Harmon, & Borgen, 1997; Hansen

et al., 2000; Ryan, Tracey, & Rounds, 1996) but have failed to support the circumplex

model (i.e., equal distances between the Holland types to produce a true hexagon;

Fouad & Dancer, 1992; Fouad et al., 1997; Hansen et al., 2000). Research seems to

consistently indicate that gender differences in measured interests tend to be

larger than racial-ethnic differences (Arbona, 2000), and gender and socioeconomic

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Career Development in Context: Research with People of Color 245

differences in these validity studies highlight the importance of attending to

within-group variability in the career counseling process (Fouad, 2002; Haverkamp

et al., 1994; Leung et al., 1994; Park & Harrison, 1995; Ryan et al., 1996).

Career Choice and Decision Making Decision-making approaches focus on the pro-

cess that people follow to select a career. The notion of choice in career decision

making has been one of the most widely criticized concepts in the career develop-

ment literature when it comes to people of color because the variables that con-

tribute to the decisions people arrive at concerning their career selection are

likely to vary from one culture to another, and the influence of oppression in the

lives of people of color often limits the number of real and perceived choices they

have. For example, some researchers have noted that the decision-making process

may differ for people based on whether they come from collectivistic or individu-

alistic cultural backgrounds (e.g., Leong & Chou, 1994). In the former, decisions

may be made based on what is best for the family or community and with input

from family members. For example, in their study of the career perspectives of

American Indians, Juntunen et al. (2001) found that the concept of career was

often connected to the contribution made to the community. On the other hand,

individuals from individualistic cultures may arrive at their career choice based

on personal interests and values.

Researchers have explored factors that may influence the career and educational

choices across diverse cultural groups. In one study, Trusty et al. (2000) found that

the relationship between educational choice and race/ethnicity was strongest for

men at lower SES levels and weakest for women at higher levels of SES. Another

study found that African American college women valued flexibility in pursuing

career and family concerns as most important when making career decisions

(Weathers, Thompson, Robert, & Rodriguez, 1994). Tang et al. (1999) reported that

acculturation, family involvement, and self-efficacy predicted selection of tradi-

tional careers in a sample of Asian American college students. However, interests

and SES were not significant predictors of career choice for these participants.

These findings support earlier speculations about the sources of career choice tra-

ditionality among Asian Americans. Finally, lack of career information may also

limit the career options of people of color. Martin (1991) warned that limited occu-

pational information might adversely impact the career decision making of Native

Americans who live on reservations because they have limited exposure to appro-

priate role models and adequate sources of quality information.

Job Satisfaction Trait and factor theories posit that job satisfaction, or the fulfill-

ment and happiness individuals experiences in their job, is determined by the cor-

respondence between the work environment and the person. Job satisfaction

remains a relatively understudied construct in career research with persons of

color. Most studies have examined aspects of the work environment that may be re-

lated to job satisfaction among persons of color. A number of these studies have

reported negative experiences of African American professionals in their work set-

ting. In a study with African American professionals working in predominantly

White employment settings, Holder and Vaux (1998) found that race-related stres-

sors accounted for more variance in workers’ job satisfaction than did routine

stressors, personal and social resources, and locus of control. Finally, Ibarra (1995)

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