The relation of interest-major congruence to indicators of college success was examined as it was moderated by environmental constraint, individual flexibility, and congruence definition in an initial sample of 88,813 undergraduates (38,787 men and 50,026 women) from 42 different colleges and universities in 16 states. College achievement (GPA…

The present study examined perceptions of occupational prestige among university students. One hundred and twenty-four African American and 174 White students rated the prestige levels of 36 occupations evenly sampled from the six RIASEC types and three levels of prestige. Results indicated that there was a significant difference in perception of…

Based on the standard error of measurement, Holland (1985) suggested the "rule of eight" for determining the meaningfulness of differences between two summary scores on the Self Directed Search. The present study empirically examined the rule's validity for practice. The participants were 2397 (1497 females and 900 males) undergraduate students…

The purpose of this study was to investigate student preferences for socialization tactics and their intentions to be proactive when they begin a new job. We examined the relationship between the Five Factor Model of personality and proactive personality with socialization tactics preferences and proactive behavior intentions in a sample of 243…

This study examined 39 adolescents during their transition to university. In standardized weekly diaries over several weeks (M=8.13) adolescents reported on engagement in career exploration (in-breadth and in-depth self and environmental exploration), their parents' transition-related involvement (frequency of conversations, support, and…

This longitudinal study spanning 18 years examined the role of social strategies in early career adaptation. The aim was to find out whether individuals' social strategies measured during their university studies had an impact on work burnout and work engagement measured 10-18 years later. A sample of 292 university students completed the SAQ…

This article presents three studies that provide an in-depth examination of STEM-related supports and barriers. These studies constructed an instrument to identify male and female perceptions of the barriers and supports for pursuing coursework and/or careers in mathematics and sciences domains; to pilot test and refine that instrument; and then…

In this study, we use an experimental methodology called policy capturing to examine the effects of contextual barriers and supports on students' decisions to change academic majors. Consistent with Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT), we found that information about family supportiveness, peer supportiveness, financial status, and job market…

The present study applied Image Theory (Beach, 1990) to test how different components of a person's value image (i.e., perceived social status identity and conformity to masculine and feminine gender role norms) interact to influence trajectories toward high career aspirations (i.e., high value for status in one's work and aspirations for…

The utility of Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT; Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994) for predicting college women's interests and goals for positions of elite leadership was examined with 156 undergraduate women at a public university. They completed measures of elite leadership self-efficacy expectations, outcome expectations, interests, and goals.…

In this study we investigate the antecedents of career exploration. We apply the perspectives of Flum and Blustein [Flum, H., & Blustein, D. L. (2000). Reinvigorating the study of vocational exploration: A framework for research. "Journal of Vocational Behavior, 56", 380-404] for the first time in Hong Kong, and we also test culture-specific…

We tested the social cognitive model of choice (Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994) using a longitudinal design. Participants were 116 students taking beginning engineering courses at two historically Black universities. They completed measures of self-efficacy, outcome expectations, interests, goals, and environmental supports and barriers near the end…

To examine whether individuals' achievement strategies measured during university studies would have an impact on work burnout and work engagement measured 10, 14 and 17 years later, 292 university students completed the SAQ strategy questionnaire three times while at university, and the work burnout inventory three times and work engagement…

This paper reports the further testing of a research instrument to examine the expectations and self-perceptions of employability of business students at post-graduate level, building on previously reported research with undergraduates [Rothwell, A., Herbert, I., & Rothwell, F. (2008). "Self perceived employability: Construction and initial…

A social cognitive model of well-being [Lent, R. W. (2004). Toward a unifying theoretical and practical perspective on well-being and psychosocial adjustment. "Journal of Counseling Psychology," 51, 482-509.] was adapted to the context of academic adjustment and tested using a longitudinal design. Participants were 252 students at a university in…