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Introduction re

Introduction re

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Introduction

Career aspirations are different from individual to individual. It may mean networking with the

right people. It may mean getting training in a specific area. When you focus your efforts, you

can attain what you want. The final thing to consider in career aspirations is those that want

balance. Many people have other aspirations, but find they need balance between their working

and non-working lives. When you have this aspiration, you need to make sure your goals reflect

this need.

Super, Roe, and Holland are three prominent theorists who have helped shape the field of career

development. Each set forth their own theory on how an individual determines his or her future

career path, whether the theory was largely based in a developmental framework, like Super’s, or

based on personality and need theories, like Roe and Holland’s. Super, Roe, and Holland tried to

define which facets of an individual’s life influence his or her career aspirations. Since each

theory was proposed, numerous studies have explored career aspirations in their own right,

including when career aspirations typically develop, common influences on an individual’s

career aspirations, as well as the stability of the aspirations over time. One of the major

determinants of a child’s career aspirations is his or her parent’s expectations. There also seems

to be differences in career aspirations depending on if the child has a learning disability (LD) or

not.

Influential Career Theorists

Donald Super. Donald Super’s theory of career development was largely based in a

developmental framework (Super, 1983). In 1951, Super began a longitudinal Career Pattern

Study (CPS), in which he followed a group of approximately 100 men from the time they were

14 or 15-years- old, until they were 36-years-old (Super, 1985). Super sought to determine the

developmental course that young men follow in their career attainment. He believed that career

development occurred in stages, in which people cycled between career growth, exploration,

establishment, maintenance, and decline (Super, 1985). Super’s stages extended from birth to

retirement age, in which individuals progressed from fantasy to reality in their career aspirations,

and often sought to explore different career options before they settled into a stable career

(Seligman, 1994). Super’s stages also coincided with normal development, in which personal

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developmental milestones influenced career development (Seligman). A central component of

Super’s theory is his belief that self-concept played a vital role in an individual’s developmental

career trajectory (Super, 1985). Super believed that an individual’s self-appraisal of his or her

own abilities, interests, and values gave the individual confidence to explore numerous career

paths, and ultimately to attain career satisfaction in one field (Seligman). Because Super

neglected to study women and minority groups in his CPS, it is questionable whether his work

can generalize to those who are not white, middle class men; however, Super attempted to apply

his work to women as well. His research from the CPS led to four types of career patterns for

male career development and seven career patterns for female career development (Seligman,

1994). For men, Super believed that they fit into either a stable, conventional (several different

trial careers are tried, until stable employment was attained), or unstable, multi-trial career

pattern (frequent career changes, without stable employment) (Seligman). Super’s original career

patterns for women are outdated, given the enormous strides that women have made in the

workforce and toward equality with men. Although Super believed that individuals should

maximize their interests and abilities through their careers, he did not place as strong an

emphasis on individual interests, personality types, and personal needs as subsequently did Roe

and Holland.

Ann Roe. Ann Roe based her theory of career development on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

(Roe, 1957). She believed that occupational choice was directly related to early development and

the type of parent-child relationship that was formed. If the child had all of his or her needs met

at a young age, then the child as an adult would not seek to meet those basic needs through his or

her career; however, any unmet needs were to be fulfilled through career choice (Roe; Seligman,

1994). Roe conceptualized that the way parents related to their children influenced the children

as adults to enter into a career field with an orientation toward others or a field where interaction

with others was minimal). Factors that influenced future career choice stemmed from the

parent’s emotional concentration on the child (i.e., overprotecting or overdemanding), their

avoidance of the child (i.e., rejection or neglect), and/or their acceptance of the child (i.e., casual

acceptance or loving acceptance; Roe).

John Holland. Roe’s career theory is based on the relationship between family environment and

future career choice, whereas John Holland’s theory is based on the relationship between

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Introduction Career aspirations are different from individual to individual. It may mean networking with the right people. It may mean getting training in a specific area. When you focus your efforts, you can attain what you want. The final thing to consider in career aspirations is those that want balance. Many people have other aspirations, but find they need balance between their working and non-working lives. When you have this aspiration, you need to make sure your goals reflect this need. Super, Roe, and Holland are three prominent theorists who have helped shape the field of career development. Each set forth their own theory on how an individual determines his or her future career path, whether the theory was largely based in a developmental framework, like Super’s, or based on personality and need theories, like Roe and Holland’s. Super, Roe, and Holland tried to define which facets of an individual’s life influence his or her career aspirations. Since each theory was proposed, numerous studies have explored career aspirations in their own right, including when career aspirations typically develop, common influences on an individual’s career aspirations, as well as the stability of the aspirations over time. One of the major determinants of a child’s career aspirations is his or her parent’s expectations. There also seems to be differences in career aspirations depending on if the child has a learning disability (LD) or not. Influential Career Theorists D ...
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