Longitudinal profiles of career decision-making among multicultural adolescents

초록

The current study examines the predictors of the career decision-making process among multicultural adolescents. Since lateral class growth analysis (LCGA) can Model simultaneously the variability of the Individual differences and of the temporal patterns in the developmental course of the career decision-making process, it was preferred over traditional analytical longitudinal methods. Based on a sample of 1,251 households with 1,260 adolescents (51.2% female; age range 15.97-17.97 years) and 1,227 of their parents, three latent classes were distinguished: "Proactive Explorers" who make and maintain early career decisions, "Gradual Explorers" who make decisions over time, and "Early Deciders, Later Explorers" who initiate certainty but become subsequently more undecided. It is indicated that a higher level of acculturation is related to early decisiveness, while perceived career barriers relate to being slow or indecisive about one's career choice. Theoretically, these results contribute to the importance of cultural contexts for the theory of adolescent career development and set the ground for the development of context-specific programs directed at career guidance and parent education for multicultural adolescents. In particular, the findings suggest that educational policy needs to differentiate support systems in consideration of the various directions of multicultural adolescents' career decision paths.

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