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

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obtaining the work. Involving students with a mentorship program, such as

meeting for one-on-one guidance with an adult or slightly advanced peer in a

certain career or education area, may foster a student’s belief in his or her

own abilities to achieve a similar goal. Mentors who have characteristics or ex-

periences similar to the student (i.e., similar gender or cultural background,

similar barriers) may be the most effective for increasing self-efficacy (Lent

et al., 1999).

The goal of work-based interventions is to expose youth to the work environ-

ment, preferably with sufficient depth and duration of experience. This exposure

can help students prepare themselves for an environment that is substantially

different from the school environment from which they are emerging (Savickas,

1999, 2003). In fact, Savickas (2003) has identified 11 characteristics on which

schools and work differ: membership, status, interpersonal relationships, moral-

ity, goals, success, means to advance, supervisory authority, punishment, move-

ment, and schedule. While work-based interventions will not necessarily prepare

students for all of these changes, opportunities to become even a bit more famil-

iar with the work environment will contribute to a “quicker and better adapta-

tion” (Savickas, 2003, p. 3).

Curriculum-Based Interventions The interventions in this category are long-term

activities that serve as school-based complements to the work-based interven-

tions. Defined as “the class of interventions designed to promote career and aca-

demic knowledge and skills through means and content relevant to the world of

work” (Dykeman et al., 2001, p. 18), sample activities include career/technical

education courses, career skills and information infused into the curriculum, ca-

reer academy and career magnet schools, school-based enterprise programs, stu-

dent clubs, and tech prep or 2 + 2 curriculum. Several formal STW models are

included in this category of interventions, but interventions that can be infused

into the curriculum, and perhaps developed and delivered by both teachers and

counselors, are also of importance.

The infusion of career education into the school curriculum is particularly im-

portant when thinking about the numerous transitions students must make

throughout their school career. Several authors, representing developmental (Sav-

ickas, 1999, 2003), social cognitive (Lent et al., 1999), and person-environment fit

(Swanson & Fouad, 1999) theories of career development, have pointed out that

the STW transition is a process, rather than a single event. Although emphasis is

often placed on the actual point of moving from school to work at an individual’s

first job, the transition itself begins much earlier and extends well past attain-

ment of an initial position. Career development professionals can use the knowl-

edge of developmental issues and adjustment to ease key transition points. The

transition from school to work is one obvious point for work-bound youth. It may,

in fact, be a critical period of identity transformation for some (Cohen-Scali,

2003). Another is the transition from middle school to high school (Castellano

et al., 2002). Many students begin to disengage from the school experience during

the middle school years, and the precursors for high school achievement appear

during middle school as well. Career interventions beginning at the high school

level may simply be too late (Castellano et al., 2002; Worthington & Juntunen,

1997). Instead, career and school counselors need to seek opportunities to make

career exploration and other activities a key aspect of middle school at the very

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Broadening Our Understanding of Work-Bound Youth: A Challenge 587

latest. Ideally, a consistent offering of career development activities throughout

elementary, middle, and high school would be available for all students.

The integration of career exploration activities into the curriculum may be

challenging in many settings, perhaps, at least partially, because of negative per-

ceptions that counselors and career education advocates appear to have of one

another. For example, within much of the career and technical education litera-

ture reviewed in this chapter, the emphasis for delivering services to youth is

placed on vocational instructors, with counselors not even included as essential

members of the CTE effort in high schools (Lewis, 2001; Rojewski, 2002). In fact,

participants in Lewis’s (2001) analysis of the needs for career and technical edu-

cation tended to view counselors as a barrier to program success or at least to a

positive image of CTE.

Nonetheless, counselors must address this challenge and work with other

school professionals to integrate career exploration into coursework. Savickas

(1999) suggested that role rehearsal, through the use of problem-based classroom

instructional techniques, can be one valuable strategy for helping students pre-

pare for the problem-solving required in work situations. Identifying interests

and skills can begin in early elementary school, by linking basic skills such as

spelling, reading, mathematics, and developing interpersonal skills (including

multicultural awareness) to work-related content. Numerous individual interven-

tions can be included here, and many examples for curriculum-based learning are

available in the CTE literature. Perhaps the key issue is that counselors and other

school personnel need to work together as a team to effectively implement such

interventions. One framework for attaining that goal is provided by the compre-

hensive guidance program model (Gysbers & Henderson, 2000), which constructs

essential counselor roles around critical student outcomes (American School

Counselors Association, 1997). Proponents argue that this model offers results-

based accountability for the effectiveness of school counseling to meet the needs

of all youth (Lapan, 2001).

ONCLUDING

OMMENTS ON THE

CHOOL

-W

ORK

RANSITION

Extensive efforts in educational reform, legislative activity, program design, and

evaluation research have contributed valuable knowledge and understanding

about the transition of work-bound youth from school to the workplace. The

good news is that innovative programs are being developed, and work-bound

youth in some school districts have improved access to integrated activities that

help them understand and make a successful transition from school to work. Yet

these ef

forts lack the comprehensive focus necessary to assist work-bound youth

throughout the nation. The diverse concerns of parties involved in both educa-

tional reform and vocational education, the changing funding priorities of federal

and state governments, and the challenges of conducting thorough evaluation re-

search all contribute to a system that remains fractured and allows too many

work-bound youth to fall between the cracks.

Career development professionals do, however, have numerous resources that

can be used to “catch” those youth and facilitate a successful transition. Culturally

relevant interventions that are consistent with and have been developed through

career development theory can be applied to the transition needs of work-bound

youth with thoughtful modification. Further, the growing voca

tional psychology

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research on the school-to-work transition is providing alternative views of the

transition process, along with calls to consider whether new theory development

might be necessary (Blustein, 1999; Phillips et al., 2002). These developments will

continue to increase both an understanding of the complexity of the school-to-

work transition and the ability of career development professionals to effectively

support work-bound youth.

THE TRANSITION FROM NONSCHOOL SITUATIONS TO WORK

As disjointed as services for the school-to-work transition can be, youth who are

work-bound but not in school have access to even fewer resources. For youth who do

not complete high school, employment and income opportunities are particularly

bleak. To provide some context, the U.S. Bureau of the Census (2002) reported that

the mean annual income of workers over 18 years of age who have completed a col-

lege degree or higher is $56,376 (median = $41,648). The mean annual income of

high school graduates (including GED completers) 18 years and older is $24,885

(me

dian = $19,900). In contrast, workers 18 years and older who did not complete

high school have mean annual earnings of $16,234 (median = $11,864), or approxi-

mately 65% of the income earned by high school graduates. A closer look at this

group shows, not surprisingly, significant disparities across sex and race, with

women (across all ages) earning less than men, and African American non-Hispanic

workers earning less than White or Hispanic workers.

In this section, we discuss some of the issues encountered by youth in three

nonschool situations: criminal justice settings, social assistance (welfare) pro-

grams, and domestic violence counseling. Although out-of-school youth may be

involved in situations beyond these three, the various issues encountered by

these examples highlight the diversity of experiences and concerns for which a

counselor must be prepared when working with nonstudent work-bound youth.

RIMINAL

USTICE

ETTINGS

There exists substantial evidence that employment has an inverse relationship

with criminal activity among youth. In a series of qualitative interviews with

homeless youth, Baron (2001) shed some light on the experience of criminal be-

havior among youth. The youths’ own reports reflected that negative work expe-

riences left them vulnerable to criminal behavior: As they failed to find better

employment and as even poor employment became inaccessible, they became fur-

ther estranged from the labor market. This estrangement, in turn, contributed to

a belief that negative circumstances would not change, and the youth subse-

quently moved toward illegal resources for survival. Further, on a seemingly

more pragmatic, yet poignant note, these youth reported that crime simply added

structure to the day. In a way, it may have helped them cope with the depression

and listlessness of having nothing to do.

Working with a large diverse sample (N = 8,127) of participants 18 years of age

and older from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth data, Crutchfield and

Pitchford (1997) determined that the stability of good work, as much or more than

income, serves to inhibit criminal activity. Marginal employment and time out of

the labor force, as well as unemployment, stimulate greater criminality. Bellair and

Roscigno (2000) found unemployment to be a significant contributor to both fight

ing

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Broadening Our Understanding of Work-Bound Youth: A Challenge 589

behavior and drug use, even after controlling for family well-being and attachment.

School attachment, however, did reduce fighting and limited the negative effects of

low family income and nonsupportive family structure. Hartnagel (1998) suggested

that education and school involvement may mediate the relationship between un-

employment and crime. In particular, he noted that unemployment and job insta-

bility during the school-to-work transition of high school graduates did not

contribute to increased criminal behavior. In contrast, Baron and Hartnagel (1997)

demonstrated that among street youth and high school dropouts, employment in-

stability was related to increased criminal behavior.

Three important conclusions about the development of adolescent delinquency

and criminal behavior were drawn by Bellair et al. (2003). First, relying on a large

sample from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (N > 14,000),

they stated that “low-wage service sector concentration has a persistent effect on

adolescent violence” (p. 25), even after controlling for prior violence and other

factors. They suggested that adolescents realize that when employment prospects

appear bleak, they cannot rely on legitimate employment, placing them at greater

risk for delinquency. Second, they concluded that in-school processes might con-

tribute to delinquency. Specifically, they asserted that disparate assignment of

lower SES adolescents to non-college preparatory classes not only depresses their

achievement but also supports rebellion against traditional control structures.

Their third conclusion was that the roots of adult offending behaviors take hold

during adolescence, and delinquency has a long-term negative effect on educa-

tion and employment opportunities. This conclusion is supported by a longitu-

dinal follow-up of National Longitudinal Survey of Youth data (Tanner, Davies,

& O’Grady, 1999), which found that adolescent delinquency “yielded a negative

divi

dend and reduces educational and occupational attainment in young adult-

hood” (p. 269), particularly for males.

What Counselors Can Do Despite the obvious connections between successful

employment and crime and the possible preventive effects of educational attain-

ment and attachment, very little work in career counseling or vocational psychol-

ogy has addressed the needs of youth who are involved in the criminal justice

system. One exception is INTUIT: Work and Career (Shivy, 2002), which is tai-

lored to prepare offenders for integration back into the workplace using several

career development activities and vocational interventions. This is a new pro-

gram, with limited evaluation data. However, it builds on a program called Proj-

ect PROVE (Chartrand & Rose, 1996), which was supported for six years by the

Virginia Department of Correctional Education. Participants in Project PROVE

demonstrated increased self-efficacy for work and life skills and career decision

making. Participants also experienced an increase in career-related anxiety,

which program administrators felt increased the motivational aspects of their

participation in career development.

Both INTUIT and PROVE are based on Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT;

Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994). Chartrand and Rose argued that SCCT is particu-

larly helpful for at-risk populations because it takes into account both limitations

in environmental resources and opportunities, as well as individual perceptions

(or beliefs) about those same resources and opportunities. INTUIT was specifi-

cally created to be more culturally sensitive than its predecessor. Shivy (2002)

discussed six specific components that make up INTUIT:

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1. A reflective (written) exercise that outlines relevant life and/or job experi-

ences, which may take the form of a timeline task.

2. Individualized test interpretations of the Self-Directed Search (Holland,

1994) and the NEO Five Factor Inventory (Costa & McCrae, 1992).

3. A component composed of teaching prisoners how to access up-to-date in-

formation on the world of work (e.g., O*NET Online).

4. The opportunity to interact with individuals who are INTUIT program suc-

cess stories (i.e., successful models).

5. Focused attention on evaluating and building support networks that facili-

tate the transition from prisoner to being a successful (and crime-free)

worker.

6. As part of its group format, a hypothetical case of a prisoner engaged in a

prison-to-work transition, with the goal of facilitating discussion about the

decision points in that prisoner’s life.

Alternative sentencing programs can also play a role in the transition to work.

Alternative sentencing refers to a process of placing nonviolent offenders in non-

prison programs, such as treatment or an employment program, or combining

daytime out-of-prison activities with nighttime incarceration. If the offender suc-

cessfully completes this program, he or she will not serve a regular prison sen-

tence. Evaluation data for such programs are not currently available, but this is a

promising area for future work. There is also a need for programs that can pro-

vide more academic and career education programs for juvenile offenders: Pre-

liminary data indicate that youth in juvenile justice education programs are, on

average, a full two to three academic years behind their same-age peers (Major,

Chester, McEntier, Waldo, & Blomberg, 2002).

To develop viable interventions, career counselors and psychologists will need

to become familiar with the literature, customs, and processes of the criminal jus-

tice system. This is a daunting task, likely to be much more difficult than creating

partnerships with schools, challenging as that has been. Nonetheless, taking on

this task can provide numerous opportunities for innovative program develop-

ment, new approaches to evaluation, and improved service to a seriously under-

resourced and neglected population.

ORK

-B

OUND

OUTH

ECEIVING

OCIAL

SSISTANCE

Welfare reform was enacted by the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportu-

nity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA; U.S. Congress, 1996). The primary changes to

welfare after 1996 include time limits on assistance (a switch from permanent Aid

to Families with Dependent Children [AFDC] to Tempora ry Assistance for Needy

Families [TANF]), an emphasis on marriage and parenthood, work requirements

to receive aid, and special requirements for teen parents.

Poverty indicators in the United States were bleak before welfare reform. In a

study of eight industrialized nations (Rainwater & Smeeding, 1995), the United

States ranked last in the percentage of working families living at or below the

poverty level. Initial indicators suggested that PRWORA was indeed successful at

moving people off the welfare roles. In fact, the caseloads for welfare recipients

nationally dropped by almost 50% by the year 2000 (Loprest, 2001). However,

follow-up studies suggested that the picture was not quite as bright as it first

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Broadening Our Understanding of Work-Bound Youth: A Challenge 591

peared. Specifically, 40% of families were moving from welfare to poverty, and

more than 20% returned to welfare (Loprest, 2001).

Youth are an identified special emphasis group within the government’s wel-

fare appropriations. Provisions of PRWORA related to youth include prevention

of teen pregnancy, funding for abstinence education, a requirement that minor

teen parents live in adult-supervised settings to receive TANF benefits, required

education participation for minor teen parents to receive TANF benefits, 60-

month lifetime time limit for receipt of TANF for teen parents, the option for

states to terminate Medicaid to teen parents who are head of household, and

bonuses to states that demonstrate decreased rates of “illegitimacy” and abortion

(Center for Law and Social Policy, 2001).

Certainly, parenthood and pregnancy are key issues for youth receiving wel-

fare. Maynard (1995) reported that teen parents consume a disproportionate

share of welfare funding, and teen parenthood contributes to the transfer of

poverty across generations. For individual teen parents, the transition to work (or

education) involves planning for the best interest of dependents and obtaining

good child care, in addition to the already stressful developmental transition to

work. Given that some are forced to stay in nonsupportive home environments

(by the adult supervision requirement of the PRWORA), the stressors quickly

multiply for teens dealing with these complex concerns.

But parenthood is not the only issue of concern when working with youth in

the social welfare system. One overarching concern is that there are weak links

between youth services and the adult service system (Lehman, Clark, Bullis,

Rinkin, & Castellanos, 2002), in which TANF and other welfare services are

firmly entrenched. Even with mandated youth programs built into legislation,

the service centers and service providers tend to be adult-oriented. A case man-

ager approaching a 17-year-old parent receiving TANF with the same expecta-

tions as he or she would approach a 30-year-old parent is likely to be unprepared

to address salient developmental concerns. Lack of preparation for those develop-

mental differences can lead to a breakdown in service and a youth who feels lost

in the bureaucracy of social services. To address this, some employment pro-

grams are trying to implement youth-oriented One Stop Service Centers, where

all activities and staff are specifically oriented toward youth issues (GAO, 2002),

but that is too costly for many states and communities.

Youth in the welfare system also encounter the dilemmas that are common

across welfare-to-work populations: lack of transportation, low self-efficacy for

work skills, less-than-optimal housing situations, limited opportunities for ca-

reer development, and the need to develop interpersonal communication and

problem-solving skills (Juntunen, 2002). All of these must be addressed to facili-

tate the transition to work, a potentially overwhelming task.

What Counselors Can Do Creating partnerships with multiple service providers

can help to meet the multiple needs of youth (Juntunen, Cavett, Clow, Olson, &

Reed, 2001). For example, in one youth employment program in North Dakota,

the local Jobs Service, Housing and Urban Development, and Parks District of-

fices, as well as a university-based welfare-to-work career preparation program

called Project HOPE (Juntunen, 2002), have joined to provide multiple services to

youth in a relatively comprehensive fashion. Among the four agencies, youth par-

ticipants are involved in a work experience, job search skills, life skills planning,

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and career development activities. Initial analyses suggested that the program

contributes to decreased depression, increased vocational identity, and increased

employment outcomes (e.g., enrollment in educational programs, job attainment,

and work for higher wages; Juntunen, 2002).

Individual interventions, such as those described earlier in the work-based

and student-based interventions within the school-to-work transition, can cer-

tainly help youth who are making the transition from welfare to work. However,

greater emphasis needs to be placed on comprehensive services that attempt to

address the multiple concerns of this population. In addition, increasing pressure

must be applied to improve access to the labor force for youth who are often moti-

vated to work and get out of the welfare system, yet find satisfactory employment

unattainable.

ORK

-B

OUND

OUTH AND

OMESTIC

IOLENCE

While many issues (substance abuse, child care, mental health) impact the career

development of work-bound youth, one issue that is frequently ignored is domes-

tic violence. Women ages 16 to 24 report more experience with intimate violence

than any other category of women, with an estimated 20 per 1,000 women experi-

encing domestic violence (Department of Justice, 2000). Prevalence of domestic

violence among female welfare recipients is consistently found to be approxi-

mately 14% (Lloyd & Taluc, 1999; Tolman & Rosen, 2001). Despite these estimates,

little work has been done to investigate the impact of domestic violence on young

men’s and women’s working lives, and even less work has been done to identify

interventions that are effective in overcoming that impact.

Extant research suggests that domestic violence may impact a woman’s ability

to remain employed over time (Browne, Salomon, & Bassuk, 1999), but not her

ability to be employed (Tolman & Rosen, 2001). However, Lloyd and Taluc (1999)

found that low-income women experiencing intimate partner violence had not

only more job turnover but also more periods of unemployment and lower income.

The process by which domestic violence impacts employment is only begin-

ning to be addressed. In a reanalysis of data from women in a low-income area of

Chicago, Lloyd (1997) reported that 8% of women indicated that a partner had

prevented them from going to school, and 16% indicated that a partner controlled

their finances (e.g., took their money, withheld common money). Women in this

sample who reported domestic violence were also more likely to experience men-

tal and physical health concerns that impacted their employability or their job

performance.

Three studies done with women in shelter from intimate partner violence also

addressed the impact of domestic violence on the employment of work-bound

youth. In one study, Riger, Ahrens, and Blickenstaff (2000) found that 46% of

women who worked while in an abusive relationship were forbidden by their abu-

sive partner to get a job, 85% reported missing work due to the actual abuse, and

52% reported losing a job due to the abuse. Similar to Riger et al., Wettersten

et al.’s (2002) qualitative analysis indicated that women who worked while in do-

mestically violent relationships reported job loss, job absenteeism, and lost work

opportunities. Wettersten et al. additionally found that women generally re-

ported concentration difficulties at work, mixed messages about the appropriate-

ness of their working, harassment (at work) by their intimate partners, intimate

partner jealousy over their (alleged) work relationships, and loss of economic

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Broadening Our Understanding of Work-Bound Youth: A Challenge 593

control. On the positive side, a large percentage of women in their study also indi-

cated that work was a safe place to escape from their abusive partners. Finally,

Brown, Reedy, Fountain, Johnson, and Dichiser (2000) reported that women in

shelter identified the main barriers to their career goals as discrimination, insuf-

ficient career preparation, and lack of career satisfaction.

What Counselors Can Do Counselors encounter work-bound youth who are also

survivors of domestic violence in a variety of situations, including crisis cen-

ters, community mental health centers, job service/TANF programs, hospitals,

schools, and other counseling agencies. Several authors have made recommenda-

tions for working with survivors of domestic violence, and many of those recom-

mendations involve a stage model approach, often based in self-efficacy theory

(Bandura, 1977; Betz, 1992) and Social Cognitive Career Theory (Lent et al., 1994;

see, e.g., Chronister & McWhirter, 2003). Ibrahim and Herr (1987) recommended

taking a developmental approach to working with women who experience do-

mestic violence (and we would argue for its use with male survivors as well).

They argued that women who are victims of intimate partner violence are likely

to have a narrow vocational self-concept, and taking a developmental perspective

allows for the growth of that self-concept. Ibrahim and Herr divided their devel-

opmental approach into eight phases:

1. Inner preparation (dealing with relationship loss and fears).

2. Intensive family involvement (working with remaining family members to

build family life-career goals).

3. Vocational experimentation (using fantasy and role play to imagine new oc-

cupations roles).

4. Vocational planning (self-appraisal and realistic decision making).

5. Vocational implementation (dealing with the fears of moving forward with

the vocational plan).

6. Vocational analysis (reviewing life-career choices and their success).

7. Vocational resynthesis (adjusting and solidifying goals).

8. Vocational development resources (becoming a resource for others).

Gianakos (1999) followed Salomone’s (1988, 1993) five stages of career counseling:

1. Understanding the self: Gianakos expands this stage to include being aware

of safety issues (leaving a relationship is not always the safest option) and pro-

viding information about domestic violence. In this stage, the counselor also

works to identify the negative cognitive distortions that relate to self-concept

and self-efficacy, both generally and career specific. Client autonomy and self-

determination, especially within the counseling relationship, are a primary

concern during this stage.

2. Understanding the world of work and the survivor’s potential within that world:

During this stage, Gianakos indicated the importance of encouraging women to

look closely into a number of different job interests, given that the social isolation

frequently associated with domestic violence often leads to a lack of awareness

about the outside world.

3. Understanding the decision-making process: In this stage, survivors both come

to understand and act on the steps required to make a career decision (such as

Krumboltz & Hamel’s, 1977, DECIDES model), while simultaneously dealing

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with the potential fear of making major decisions that were previously made by

an abusive partner.

4. Implementing educational and vocational decisions: According to Gianakos, this

stage may increase the home-life tension of survivors who are still living with or

are in contact with an abusive partner. Consequently, care must be given to a sur-

vivor’s safety concerns and self-determination, always keeping in mind the sur-

vivor’s well-being in any given decision.

5. Work or school adjustment: In this stage, women work with the counselor to

adjust not only to a new work or school situation but also to the impact that do-

mestic violence (past or present) has on that new situation. The role of the coun-

selor is supportive as survivors navigate a different set of social rules than those

found at home.

In one of the few experimental intervention studies conducted in the

area, Chronister and McWhirter (2004) sought to increase the career search

self-efficacy of women who experience domestic violence. Chronister and

McWhirter found that their SCCT-based intervention raised both career search

self-efficacy and awareness of the impact that domestic violence had in the lives

of the participants.

SUMMARY

Getting involved in services for work-bound youth is not always an easy task for

career counselors. Nonetheless, the needs of work-bound youth present a chal-

lenge that career counselors and psychologists cannot ignore. There is much work

to be done, many avenues to follow in pursuit of that work, and several barriers to

overcome along the way.

First, it is important for career counselors to be aware of biases toward college

attendance that they may hold. It is consistent with counselor training to think of

each person as having the potential to meet whatever goals they set, and our bias

may be to assume that more education is the best goal, particularly given the per-

spective of a person who has completed substantial professional training. That

perspective can result, intentionally or otherwise, in our dismissal of the needs of

work-bound youth or a devaluation of plans that are noncollege in nature.

Counselors also need to become more familiar and involved with vocational

education. We often rely too heavily on the literature of our own discipline and

fail to look at the work being done by others. Combining the knowledge and per-

spectives of vocational education, career counseling, and vocational psychology

will strengthen transition-to-work interventions for work-bound youth and facil-

itate greater communication among professionals.

Both in and outside the school setting, counselors can become involved in, and

even initiate, community partnerships. Partnerships composed of youth, parents,

teachers, employers, service providers, and job placement employees can become

powerful agents of local change, creating awareness about the needs of work-

bound youth and generating resources beyond what an individual provider could

secure.

Finally, one of the largest challenges presented by the needs of work-bound

youth in the United States is the call to change public policy, bringing work-

bound youth and the concerns they regularly encounter to the forefront of

American awareness. Industry and government will need to offer much more

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Broadening Our Understanding of Work-Bound Youth: A Challenge 595

sig

nificant support to make successful work transitions accessible to all youth.

The theoretical and empirical knowledge of career counselors and vocational

psychology can provide program development and evaluation with the goal of

helping work-bound youth find meaningful employment and satisfying lives.

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