Attachment, family conflict, and vocational self -concept in the career indecision of Asian Americans
Abstract
Asian American college students experience challenges that affect their academic and career decisions. The current study assessed the applicability of previous findings regarding attachment, intergenerational family conflict, vocational self-concept crystallization, and career indecision to the population of Asian American youths. The study also explored gender differences in the roles of attachment and intergenerational family conflict, vocational self-concept crystallization, and career indecision. Finally, the study examined two specific models to elucidate the relationship between vocational self-concept crystallization and career indecision. The sample consisted of 206 Asian American college students (50 men, 156 women, mean age 20.06). Participants completed an informed consent, demographic questionnaire, and a survey comprised of four measures (Asian American Family Conflicts Scale, Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment, Vocational Rating Scale, and Career Decision Scale) that were available on a website. An independent samples t test revealed no significant gender differences among the predictor and outcome variables. The results of path analytic models indicated that intergenerational family conflict and vocational self-concept crystallization were predictors of career indecision whereas parental attachment was not a predictor of career indecision; vocational self-concept crystallization was not found to be a mediator in the relations of parental attachment and intergenerational family conflict to career indecision. Results also indicated that both path models with career indecision and vocational self-concept crystallization as mediators were comparable in fitting the data. The study shed light on a familial variable, intergenerational family conflict, which should be considered when conceptualizing Asian Americans' vocational self-concept crystallization and career indecision. It also highlighted the complexity of the relationship between two interrelated constructs of vocational self-concept crystallization and career indecision.
Subject Area
School counseling|Psychology|Ethnic studies|Higher education
Recommended Citation
Kang, Angela Eun, "Attachment, family conflict, and vocational self -concept in the career indecision of Asian Americans" (2009). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI3361461.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI3361461
