FAMILY MATTERS
Family Influence in Career
Development
Robert C. Chope, Ph.D.
San Francisco State University
rcchope@sfsu.edu
Good Morning Madison!!
The Doyles
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Like father like son
Father, Judge James Doyle, ran
unsuccessfully for governor in 1954
Purpose of Presentation
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Provide an argument for exploring in depth
family issues in career development.
Create a means to organize information and
ask personal and family related questions as
an aid to the career development process.
Show how cultural expectations, class, and
ethnicity add to our understanding of family
influences.
Illustrate how the family can contribute to
career development.
Part I
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Provide an argument for exploring in
depth family issues in career
development
Illustrations
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Four examples illustrate the point
Jack London
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Mother Knows
Best
Zak Unger
Same story
100 Years Later
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Wendy Wasserstein
Mother’s
Disappointment
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George Wein
Father’s
Disapproval
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The Data Are In
Family Matters
What do families want?
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Fame?
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Al Franken, Joshua Bell, Vincent Van Gogh
Chuck Ross resubmitted Jerry Kosinski’s
Steps which one the 1969 Nat. Book Award
Income stability?
Happiness?
Community involvement?
Don’t do what I did!!
Families influence career
choices – why not …
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Accentuate the positive
Understand the negative
Let the career choice unfold like a story
And have the client create a narrative
Don’t Work Alone,
Use the Family
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Family of origin affects how people
choose a career path
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Background, history, mobility, support,
conflicts, nurturing and exposure to new
ideas
Families and significant others can be
used in the career development process
Counselors are in the village, on the
team
Family Influence Versus
Happenstance
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John Krumboltz and his career
development
Serendipity Theory
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Describe three events of happenstance
The use of mentors
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Name three important mentors
New Models
In and out economy-Actor model
Organizational matrices reduce linearity
Never ending job search-Dental model
Buffet-Walk on Model
Project driven work-Portfolio career model
Imagination and Creativity are key
Part II
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The purpose of Part II:
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To create a means to organize information.
To ask personal and family related
questions as an aid to the career
development process.
Biography, Blogs and Tweets
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A nation of biographers
Create chronicles and memory books
Create web sites reflecting interest like
a family history site
Create a blog to discuss anything from
food to politics
Keep the personal network tuned in
with face book, twitter, linked in, et al.
E-Portfolios and Journaling
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Just write
Discover a focus
Contribute daily
Look at the journey
Give the details (like James Boswell and
Samuel Johnson)
Let others comment with postings
New Focus on Context
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Peers , teachers, coaches, community
officials, and others
Families and interaction patterns
The need to know yourself and your
context before you know your career
New Contextual Approaches
Creating narratives, contextualizing career
development and utilizing
constructivism give added meaning to
the counseling process
Family Dictates: Family Histories
Can Be Filled With Intrigue
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Struggle may ensue
Two well-known examples
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Andre Agassi
Rachel Naomi Remen
Andre Agassi
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Reinventing success
Portrait of
Andre Agassi
His Story “Open”
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Hated tennis but played to please father
Anxiety/pressure/dropped from school
Turned pro to a life he hated
His drug use shows how counselors must
treat more than the career decision
He was able to make his career his own
Rachel Naomi Remen
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The Jewish Doctor finds wiggle room
Savickas’ Career Styles
Interview
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Models-Who do you admire? Why?
Books-Favorite book? Why?
Magazines? (Web sites?)
TV (Games?)
Movies-Which on a stranded island
Leisure-Free time activities
School subjects
Career Styles (cont)
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Mottos-Do you have a motto or favorite
saying?
Ambitions
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What do your parents want?
(What do your friends want?)
What are your ambitions?
What do you day dream about?
Career Styles (cont)
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Decisions- Describe an important
decision you have made and how you
were able to make it.
Counseling moves from “fit” to
belonging, from similarity to
uniqueness, from interests to career
path, discovering the “hidden reasons”
that guide the story.
Systematic Methods for
Gathering Information
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Genogram
Retrospective Questionnaires
Career Genogram
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Picture the origin of family career
expectations and congruence
Family success and failure
Patterns of career choice
Contextual influences and genetics
Some Questions With the
Genogram
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Who do you identify with?
Whose aspirations are similar to yours?
What are the dominant values?
Are there myths, ghosts, legends?
Are there secrets?
What are the interactions like?
What are the pressures?
Retrospective Questionnaires
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Amundson’s Significant Other
Questionnaire
Taylor’s Family Work History
Family Constellation Questionnaire
Chope’s Family Protocol
Chope Protocol
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What kind of career related information
does the family provide?
What kind of tangible assistance is
provided?
What kind of emotional support is
provided?
Chope Protocol (cont)
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Is your client concerned about the
impact of the career choice on the
family?
What disruptive events affected your
client or other members of the family?
What are the actions of the family
members who are asked to help and
the actions of those not asked to help?
What Were the
Disruptions?
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Untimely moves
Tragedies
Homelessness
Incarceration
Divorce
Military service
Non events
How Does the Family Help?
In Summary
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Career information possibilities,
alternatives, traditions
Emotional support
Emotional pressure
Available resources
Networks
Part III
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The purpose of Part III:
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Show how cultural expectations,
environment, class, and ethnicity add to
understanding family influence.
Diversity
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Cultural expectations
Examples
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The Korean one year old
The Thai Monk
Considering Multicultural
Context
Multiethnic and diversified groups remain
worse off than white peers
Diminished employment opportunities are
a significant source of stress
Cultural Stressors
Biological stress
Physical stress
Psychological stress
Family stress
Social stress
Cultural stress
Other Considerations
Younger family members access global
information
Loss of filial piety
Desire for autonomy, self expression, and
individually oriented achievement
Many witnessed family career
reconstruction
Ten Issues for Understanding
Family Influence
1 Cultural Identity
Cultural identity in a multicolored world is
complicated
What is the impact of assimilation?
Look at the questions asked about
President Obama
2 Acculturation Modes
Acculturation vs. enculturation
Pride vs. shame
Inclusion vs. separation
Adopting new values vs. holding on to
indigenous values
3 Demographic Environment
What is the nature of the population in
the area where the client resides and
how representative is it of the client's
culture?
4 Diversity within Cultural
Groupings
Counselors need to be sensitive to variations within a
culture.
A broad categorization like "Latino/a" or "Hispanic"
can be South American, Central American, Iberian,
Cuban, Caribbean, Mexican and other cultures.
Middle Eastern ethnic groups share many similarities
in culture and traditions but have many differences
including language (e.g. Arabic, Persian, Farsi, Iraqi,
and Armenian) as well as differences in religion.
5 Legal Status
This is likely to be a sensitive topic for
many immigrants. The documentation
status of a person and the family has
important implications on career
decision making. Legal services
referrals may be appropriate in certain
circumstances.
6 Language
Language is an important source of
identity for people.
Dialect may represent identity.
Language your client uses at home may
not be used at work or in school.
7 Religion
Religious values may play an important
role in career choices.
People who follow a non mainstream
religion may feel uncomfortable on the
job.
8 Attitudes About Work
The worldview of the family and culture
should be addressed.
Some families want their children to
earn money and be independent.
Others want them to achieve.
Others want them to refrain from
drawing attention to themselves.
9 Rules in the Family System
Families may have different rules about
the power and the influence of the
extended family.
Grandparents, aunts, cousins, and
uncles may have a role regarding career
selection and education different from
other cultures.
Confronting or disagreeing with parents
can be seen as a sign of disrespect.
10 Gender Stereotypes
Most cultures have gender stereotypes regarding the
roles that men and women play relative to work,
educational experiences, and family responsibilities.
Career counselors should be aware of the differential
expectations regarding appropriateness of jobs for
each gender.
A most interesting question is how a woman’s
success affects the family relationship.
Part IV
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How the family can contribute to career
development?
Alan & Louis
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Modeling
Ryan Sadowski
Why is this important?
Group Decision Making
Networking---Relocating
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Linked in, Facebook, My Space, Twitter
Family knows you
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Reflect on past—photos, letters, report
cards, vacations, events, who you were
Mattering
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People need to feel that they matter-it
is why we visit loved ones at holidays
and in hospitals
Lowers depression and anxiety and
increases wellness
Fantasy has power—Cold Mountain
Practical advice is given, ideas are
generated
But families can hurt
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Destroy creativity
Demand that you know what you are
doing before getting started
Demand that you not offend
Demand that everything is run through
them first
Criticize every step of the way
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Indecision results
How families can help
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Listen more, judge less
Support risk taking
Forge new connections
Prevent career indecision
Promote positive career beliefs
Integrating families, teachers
and counselors
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Work with English teachers to craft
assignments about family experiences
with work.
Have the stories become a part of the
students’ career planning files.
Use technology like Youtube to find
varieties of career experience
Conclusion
Exploring family influence allows for a deeper
appreciation of the uniqueness of all clients
and the cultures they came from and are now
part of.
Being aware of differential pressures on people
and their responses to them makes a
counselor culturally sensitive and effective.