A Career Development Profile for the Incoming Class of 2006

1. A Career Development Profile for the Incoming Class of 2006 Ryan Duffy Cristina Risco William Sedlacek Kevin London The University of Maryland

2. Background • Career choices are hypothesized to be based on a combination of variables that include vocational interests, skills, personality, perceived abilities, and work values. • Development of these dimensions (i.e. interests, skills, values) is partially dependent on a host of additional predictor variables, including gender, environmental supports and barriers, family influences, ability, racial/ethnic, and sexual identity. • History of Census

3. Sample • 3091 incoming first-year students • White (56%) • African American (15%) • Asian American (15%) • Latino/a American (8%) • Males (@ 50%) • Females (@ 50%)

4. Items Explored • Major Decision Status • A major in mind and will not change • Decided on a major after considering several options • A couple ideas of interest, but not decided • Absolutely no idea what I would like to major in • Career Development Progress • Certainty • Comfort • Indecisiveness • Salience • Self Clarity • Work Values • Career as a “Calling”

5. Status in Choosing a Major

6. Status in Choosing a Major-Gender Differences

7. Status in Choosing a Major-Racial Differences

8. Career Development Progress-Gender Differences

9. Work Values

10. Work Values- Gender Differences

11. Presence of a Calling • “I have a calling to a particular kind of work”

12. Search for a Calling • “I am searching for a calling as it applies to my career”

13. Calling and CDP Correlations

14. Conclusions: Choosing a Major • Male students and White students were generally more decided in choosing a major after considering several possibilities • Female students and students of color were more definitive in their choice of major.

15. Career Decision Profile Male students more likely to hold higher degree of career salience Women more likely to be indecisive about their career status Work Values Male students more likely to value being respected and working without supervision. Female students more likely to value making a difference. Conclusions: Career Decision Profile and Work Values

16. Discussion Questions • Early Major Decidedness vs. Major Exploration? • From what or where does a “Calling” arise? • Is the idea of a “Career” outmoded in today’s zeitgeist? • Is attaining a “Career” equally probable for marginalized socio-demographic groups? • Implications for Career Counseling?

17. Gender Differences may be due to differential socialization experiences. • Women tend to have a more relational orientation and are thus more likely to value cooperation and community. • Men tend to have a less relational orientation and are thus more likely to value autonomy, and independence.

18. Racial and gender barriers in the education system and world of work implicate fewer opportunities for members of marginalized groups. • Marginalized students who overcome educational and career barriers and enter a university have done so because they are more clear in their career choice at the onset (more goal oriented). • Educational and occupational role models for majority students are of greater breadth. Education and the world of work is more segregated for women and people of color.