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Running head: Adolescents and Career Development
Adolescents and Career Development
Lauren LaFayette
Ball State University
(Non-education Major)
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Adolescents and Career Development
Career development begins when adolescents start to find their identity. It is related to
identity development in adolescents (Santrock, 2008). From an early age children are asked
what they want to be when they grow up, many children may answer “a fireman”, “a police
man”, a ballerina”, and some answer by listing off multiple jobs. However, as children become
adolescents they begin to logically think of what they would like to do after high school or
college. There are many different theories involving career development including Ginzberg’s
Developmental Theory, Super’s Self-concept Theory, and Holland’s Personality Type theory
(Santrock, 2008). These theories lay down a base for how counselors and parents can approach
and help their adolescents look at different opportunities that they have. These opportunities
can be different for each student because there are many external or social influences that
have a factor in what the adolescent is going to be interested in and also the opportunity the
teen has to be able to enter into a field of study or occupation. Career development and
exploration is a very important time for an adolescent. It should be a time that is overseen and
guided by a parent and/or school counselor. Parents often have a large say in their adolescent’s
choice of occupation and a school counselor can help the student find and research their
options. Career development needs to be a focus in adolescence as it is tied to the self-concept.
Finding a career, in some cases, can be one of the biggest decisions for a person to make.
Without focus and help on future career goals, students can flounder and it could change the
rest of their life.
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Career Development Theories
In the textbook, Adolescence by John W. Santrock; Santrock describes different theories
that are related to the career development field. Eli Ginzburg created a theory called
developmental career choice theory (2008). In this theory Ginzburg believes that children and
adolescents go through three different career choice stages (Santrock, 2008). These stages are
called fantasy, tentative, and realistic (Santrock, 2008). Ginzburg states that until the age of 11,
children are in the fantasy stage (Santrock, 2008). From ages 11 to 17 they are in the tentative
stage (Santrock, 2008). In this stage, adolescents take time to develop a self-concept; they
evaluate their interests, talents, skills, capacities, and finally values (Santrock, 2008). Thinking of
these things helps them to narrow down their career choices. For example, in the fantasy stage,
a boy wants to be a pilot when he grows up, however as this boy reaches the tentative stage,
and as he starts to learn about what he likes and dislikes, he does not enjoy math, which needs
to be learned in order to be a pilot. Or he might find that he does not enjoy traveling. In the
tentative stage, this boy, starts to find career opportunities that fit within his schema and selfconcept of himself. Self-concept is the understanding and perception about oneself. The
development of the self-concept is very important to many theorists. The realistic stage comes
after the tentative stage, and this is often around 17 to 18 years old (Santrock, 2008). This stage
involves extensively researching careers and deciding on an occupation (Santrock, 2008).
Donald Super’s theory is also described in the textbook. Donald Super has a career selfconcept theory that states, “An individual’s self-concepts play a central role in his or her career
choices and that in adolescence individuals first construct their career self-concept.” (Santrock,
2008, p. 414). He emphasizes five different phases of career exploration. There is crystallization,
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specification, implementation, stabilization, and consolidation (Santrock, 2008). These stages
begin with age 14 and end after 35 Santrock, 2008. In each stage the adolescent or adult learn
something more about themselves. It is similar to other theories, in that first they decide and
develop ideas and careers that they believe they would enjoy. They then narrow down their
options. Receiving adequate education, they then start in the workforce, and then they finally
seek to advance their careers and in many cases pick a long term career (Santrock, 2008). Super
is adamant in his beliefs that career development is a way of discovery of the self-concept.
The textbook also mentions John Holland’s personality type theory. This theory states,
“An effort should be made to match an individual’s career choice with his or her personality.”
(Santrock, 2008, p. 415). Holland believes that if everybody worked in a job that matched their
personality, everybody would enjoy their job and stay in the job for a longer period of time
(Santrock, 2008). There are six different personality types that Holland mentions; realistic,
investigative, social, conventional, enterprising, and artistic (Santrock, 2008). There are many
personality tests that people take to find out what careers they are supposed to be in. Many
businesses also have their applicants take personality test to make sure that they are hiring the
right person for the job. There are numerous people believe that your personality should fit the
job you are in. For example, you would not find a shy, quiet, or artistic person running for
presidency. Understanding one’s personality type can be very helpful in discovering
occupations and careers that are of interest.
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Societal Influences, Minority Students, and Gender
Although there is a message in America that says to children that they can be anything
they want to be, there are factors that can greatly help or hurt an adolescent’s chance of
achieving their goals. There are external factors and social influences that work for and against
every teen. Socioeconomic status, parents, schools, gender, and ethnicity can all play a role in
an adolescent’s career exploration. There have been many studies that have shown that a
student socioeconomic status is a great determinate in the job that adolescents choose.
Students in a high socioeconomic status, in most cases have a wide range of the occupations
they can choose from. They have the many resources to meet their goals, and they often have
parents who have a secondary education. Adolescents in low socioeconomic situations do not
have the same opportunities that others do. Students from a low socioeconomic status usually
are from a rural area or urban area with many minority students. In a study done by
Constantine, Erickson, Banks, and Timberlake called “Challenges to the Career Development of
Urban Racial and Ethnic Minority Youth: Implications for Vocational Intervention”, they
mention that urban and ethnic minority youth often have a difficult time with the challenges
they face in their career exploration (1998). They found that, “Although, racial and ethnic
minority and White youth do not differ in their career development interests or aspirations,
youth of color tend to have lower occupational expectations regarding their career attainment”
(Constantine, M., Erickson, C., Banks, R., & Timberlake, T., 1998, p. 83). This study also found
that these minority students also do not believe that they have the same career opportunities,
and that they will not be able to make it through secondary education to obtain their goals
(Constantine et. al., 1998). Minority students are not the only adolescents who have a difficult
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time combating their socioeconomic status. Students in rural schools also have the same issues
that minority students have. In an article “Preparing Rural Adolescents for Post-High School
Transitions” by Lapan, Tucker, Kim, and Kosciulek , they found that, “rural adolescents may
have lower career aspirations and greater expectations for entering the workforce immediately
after high school than do adolescents who live in other settings. Many rural young people face
geographic isolation that limits future employment opportunities” (Lapan, R., Tucker, B. Kim, S.,
& Kosciulek, J., 2003, p. 330). Rural youth are similar to minority students as they believe their
opportunities are limited. Living in a low socioeconomic status can get in the way of goals,
especially with rising secondary education costs; however, with parents and school counselors,
these students should be informed about school loans and scholarships.
There are also many differences between genders when looking at career development.
The textbook mentions, “because many females have been socialized to adopt nurturing roles
rather than career or achieving roles, they traditionally have not planned seriously for careers,
have not explored career options extensively, and have restricted their career choices to
careers that are gender stereotyped” (Santrock, 2008, p. 420). In many cases even academically
gifted females have many issues and conflicts with their future career goals. In an article by
Millie Maxwell called “Career Counseling is Personal Counseling: A Constructivist Approach to
Nurturing the Development of Gifted Female Adolescents”, she finds that many girls are stuck
between their gender and their intelligence (2007). She also found research that states,” fear of
failure manifests itself similarly in men and women but that a fear of success is essentially only
an issue for women” (Maxwell, 2007, p. 210). Females believe that they are not allowed to be
successful and if they are they have to compromise their other goals of having a family and
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being a wife. From Maxwell’s research, gifted females often tend to report lower career goals
and aspirations (2007). Females are continuously fighting the stereotypes of gender and in
many cases females are perpetuating the cycle.
There are other societal factors that play a role in an adolescent’s career choice.
Parental influences have a large impact on the teen. Parents can play a big role with how their
adolescent sees their career choices. There can be parents who do not push their child towards
anything, which might lead to a floundering youth, there are also other parents who push their
child too hard and have children who cannot handle the pressure to succeed. Parents can send
many messages to their children about careers. These message include, how much money they
should make, if a women should work or raise a family, if their child should work for money and
or work for the love of their job. Parents are a big influence in an adolescent’s life because
children and adolescents often look towards their parents as a model of how they would like to
be. From an early age children hear about their parents jobs and sometimes even accompany a
parent to their place of work. Santrock finds that, “the development of work values is
transmitted more strongly in same-sex parent adolescent relationships than in opposite-sex
parent adolescent relationship” (Santrock, 2008, p. 418). For example, a daughter is much more
likely going to get a positive message from her mother about women in the workforce if her
mother has a full time job. The same is for a son and his father. Both parents have an influence
on the amount of education that their child gets (Santrock, 2008). They do this by either placing
a lot or a little influence on secondary education. Santrock also mentions that parents who take
their children to the library on a regular basis, are involved with their schoolwork, and
introduce them to different cultures and arts send a positive message to their children about
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academic pursuits (2008). Adolescents receive verbal and nonverbal message from their
parents every day. They look up to their parents as models, and because of this; parents have a
very important role in helping with their child’s career development.
School plays another important part of a teen’s career development. Teachers and
counselors can often have a similar influence on adolescents as parents do. Santrock mentions,
“School is the primary setting where individuals first encounter the world of work. School
provides an atmosphere for continuing self-development in relation to achievement and work”
(Santrock, 2008, p. 419). School counselors are in the school to help with these career goals. In
some high schools counselors will sit down with the student in a mandatory meeting to discuss
their future plans. Teachers also have a large impact on their students. They are able to
introduce them to the topics that they enjoy and dislike. They can also give them a glimpse into
what a job or career in a specific field might look like. For example, a student might not know
that he enjoys chemistry, until he has a chemistry teacher who introduces him to new
experiments. Teachers can open the student’s eyes up to the many opportunities and different
career choices.
A school counselor can be very helpful when a student is exploring his or her options.
They are in the school to help the student logically set goals for their high school career and for
their future. They also help inform the student of different universities, majors, and jobs. In
fact, “preparing adolescents from diverse backgrounds to transition more effectively into
satisfying, productive, and personally valued post-high school settings has become one of the
central responsibilities for counselors working in school settings” (Lapan et. al., 2003, p. 329).
School counselors can be seen as the beginning steps towards a career. Counselors also need to
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know their students so that they can better help them in their goals. If a student has strong
grades in science classes, a school counselor can help the student explore the many science
careers. They may even introduce the student to an entire area of careers that they did not
know about themselves. School counselors cannot decide for the student and they should
understand that in many cases students will change their minds; there are many cases of
students changing their major in college. However, they need to open up the students options
and give them a starting line to where they think the student would be successful and what
they would enjoy. “Examining these early career decisions and factors that relate to choices can
provide insight for school counselors who seek to promote the academic and career
development of all students” (Akos, P., Lambie, G., Mison, A., & Gilbert, K., 2007, p. 58).
Career exploration and development is an extremely important area to study. It can
even help a student discover things about themselves. Many of the discussed theories find that
self-concept and career development are correlated. “Adolescents who are further along in the
identity process are better able to articulate their career plans” (Santrock, 2008, p. 424). During
this long process of discovery, it is very important to involve many people such as parents,
teachers, and counselors. These people can help open up doors and influence the adolescent in
many ways. They can impress upon the adolescent their views and options about career
choices. This impression can be influenced by external factors such as, socioeconomic status,
parents, and school. It is important for counselors to get involved in career exploration because
in many cases, minority and rural area students do not have the same opportunities. In these
cases they need an extra push to achieve and become what they want to become.
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References
Akos, P., Lambie, G., Milsom, A., & Gilbert, K. (2007). Early adolescents' aspirations and
academic tracking: An exploratory investigation. Professional School Counseling, 11(1),
57-64. Retrieved from PsycINFO database.
Constantine, M., Erickson, C., Banks, R., & Timberlake, T. (1998). Challenges to the career
development of urban racial and ethnic minority youth: Implications for vocational
intervention. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 26(2), 83-95.
Retrieved from PsycINFO database.
Lapan, R., Tucker, B., Kim, S., & Kosciulek, J. (2003). Preparing rural adolescents for post-high
school transitions. Journal of Counseling & Development, 81(3), 329-342. Retrieved from
PsycINFO database.
Maxwell, M. (2007). Career counseling is personal counseling: A constructivist approach to
nurturing the development of gifted female adolescents. The Career Development
Quarterly, 55(3), 206-224. Retrieved from PsycINFO database.
Santrock, J. W. (2008). Adolescence. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.