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how others respond when good news is shared has important implications for both the personal well-being of the individual sharing that news and also for the relationship that the individual has with the person with whom they shared the event.
SEE ALSO: Close relationships Family functioning Intimacy
Marital happiness Social support
Career Development 123 selections, career transitions, career adjustment, and job satisfaction. On the other hand, psychologists who are practitioners help individuals or groups of indi- viduals to implement career decisions and to enhance their overall well-being and performance at work and life in general. When working with individuals who have work-related concerns, practitioners often utilize both vocational psychology theory and research to inform their practice.
The study of career development has a long and rich history, originating in the early 1900s with the work of Frank Parsons, who is often referred to as the
“father of vocational psychology.” Parsons founded the Vocation Bureau in Boston to provide systemic vocational guidance to youth in the area. His book, Choosing a Vocation, was published a year after his death in 1909 and outlines key components in the vocational guidance and counseling process. His three-part framework for career counseling included a clear understanding of the self, knowledge of different lines of work, and true reasoning. This work served as the foundation for early career counseling practice and contemporary trait-factor theory of career development. Parsons’ advocacy for social reform continues to influence vocational psychology research and practice today in efforts to provide equal educational and occupational opportunities to individuals from all segments of society.
Several theories have been developed over the years to explain career choice selection, adjustment, and satisfaction. These theories have served as frameworks for generating research and informing career counseling practice. Career devel- opment theories are generally grouped into trait-factor, developmental, social learning/social cognitive, decision-making, constructionist, sociological, and per- sonality frameworks according to the major assumptions underlying the respec- tive theories. Trait-factor theories are based on the assumption that individual traits can be measured and matched with information about the world of work to make career decisions. Individual traits that are important to assess include abilities, values, interests, and personality. Some of the major trait-factor theories include John Holland’s theory of vocational personalities and work environments and Rene Dawis and John Lofquist’s Minnesota theory of work adjustment.
Bandura’s social learning/social cognitive theory was extended to the study of career development in Lent, Brown, and Hackett’s social cognitive career theory and Krumboltz’s career theory of social learning. The common assumption underly- ing these theories is the belief that career decision-making is influenced by an interaction of personal, environmental, and behavioral factors. Core social cog- nitive and social learning constructs that are believed to influence career goals include career-related self-efficacy and outcome expectations and role modeling.
Developmental theories include Super’s lifespan/life space theory of development and Ginzberg’s stages of career development. These theories approach career development as a life-long process in which individuals pass through various developmental stages with different vocational-related tasks. Key career constructs that originated in developmental approaches to career development include role salience and career maturity.
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From the beginnings of Parsons’ work, the field has blossomed into a vibrant and active profession that seeks to advance knowledge and practice in career development. An important professional organization is the National Vocational Guidance Association, which was formed in 1913 and later, in 1985, changed to the National Career Development Association. Other professional career develop- ment associations that are devoted to contributing to the scientific knowledge, practice, and public awareness of vocational development include the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology of the American Psychological Association and the Society of Vocational Psychology, a section of the Society of Counseling Psychology of the American Psychological Association.
Other indicators of the importance of work and careers in our lives include the variety of self-help books that are available to assist individuals in making career decisions. One of the most popular books by Richard Bolles, What Color is Your Parachute?, has served as a valuable resource for individuals interested in a self-guided exploration of their career development.
Contemporary career development research and practice is heavily influenced by social constructionist, multicultural, and international perspectives. These approaches have been incorporated within the field to understand and explain how a range of backgrounds and experiences contribute to the unique issues and career paths of diverse groups of people. Social constructionist approaches to career development advocate for a more subjective, personal understanding of the career development process in which individuals are encouraged to make meaning of their personal career/life stories. Thus, unlike the other theories which seek to understand a universal process to career development, social constructionist approaches assume that multiple realities to career development exist. As educa- tional and work settings across the country continue to become more culturally and internationally diverse, the career development field has, in recent decades, been characterized by its increasing focus on multicultural and international issues. Career development professionals in the United States have issued challenges to other professionals in the field to avoid becoming culturally encapsulated.
These calls to the profession highlight that career theory, research, and practice in the United States have developed based on middle-class Eurocentric values and serve to warn the profession from over-generalizing knowledge to individuals from under-researched groups. Today, career researchers and practitioners are examining how career development theories can be modified and applied to individuals from diverse backgrounds and are using this knowledge to understand the ways in which an individual’s gender, sexual orientation, social class, and race and ethnicity may interact to uniquely influence one’s career development journey.
The role of careers in people’s lives has received attention for well over a cen- tury. Career development theory, research, and practice will continue to evolve based on societal events and needs, economic changes, and increasing cultural diver- sity and global awareness. In addition, technological advancements will promote the establishment of new jobs as well as make redundant old jobs that no longer