This study examined the extent to which two dimensions of cultural adjustment difficulties (i.e., acculturative distress and intercultural competence concerns) predicted two specific career development outcomes (i.e., career aspirations and career outcome expectations) in a sample of 261 international college students from Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Although no significant differences among the participants were found by region of origin and gender, multivariate multiple regression analyses indicated that higher levels of acculturative distress were predictive of lower levels of career outcome expectations among these international students. Furthermore, findings revealed that greater intercultural competence concerns were predictive of lower career aspirations and lower career outcome expectations. Implications of the findings for career counseling with African, Asian, and Latin American international students are discussed.
Adachi, T. (2004). Career self-efficacy, career outcome expectations and vocational interests among Japanese university students. Psychological Reports, 95, 89—100.
2.
Brinson, J.A., & Kottler, J. (1995). International students in counseling: Some alternative models. Journal of College Student Psychotherapy, 9, 57—70.
3.
Carrero, M.R. (2003). The influence of individualism-collectivism on the career development of ethnic minorities in the United States. Dissertation Abstracts International, 63(9-B), 4406.
4.
Constantine, M.G., Anderson, G.M., Berkel, L.A., Caldwell, L.D., & Utsey, S.O. (2005). Examining the cultural adjustment experiences of African international college students: A qualitative analysis. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 52, 57—66.
5.
Constantine, M.G., Okazaki, S., & Utsey, S.O. (2004). Self-concealment, social self-efficacy, acculturative stress, and depression in African, Asian, and Latino international college students. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 74, 230—241.
6.
Donin, I.B. (1995). The relationships among acculturation, coping, and stress in Puerto Rican and Korean college students. Dissertation Abstracts International, 55(11-A), 3451.
7.
Dukstein, R.D., & O'Brien, K.M. (1994). The contribution of multiple role self-efficacy and gender role attitudes to women's career development. Unpublished manuscript , University of Kansas.
8.
Flores, L.Y., Lin, Y., & Huang, Y. (2005). Applying the multicultural guidelines to career counseling with people of color. In M. G. Constantine & D. W. Sue (Eds.), Strategies for building multicultural competence in mental health and educational settings (pp. 73—90). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley.
9.
Fouad, N.A., & Smith, P.L. (1996). A test of a social cognitive model for middle school students: Math and science. Journal of Counseling Psychology , 43(3), 338-346.
10.
Hartung, P.J., Vandiver, B.J., Leong, F.T.L., Pope, M., Niles, S.G., & Farrow, B. (1998). Appraising cultural identity in career-development assessment and counseling. Career Development Quarterly, 46, 276—293.
11.
Hayes, R.L., & Lin, H. (1994). Coming to America: Developing social support systems for international students. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 22, 7—16.
12.
Leong, F.T.L. (1998). Career development and vocational behaviors. In L. C. Lee & N. W. Zane (Eds.), Asian American psychology (pp. 359—398). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
13.
Leong, F.T.L., & Hartung, P.J. (2003). Cross-cultural career counseling. In G. Bernal, J. E. Trimble , A. K. Burlew, & F. T. L. Leong (Eds.), Handbook of racial and ethnic minority psychology (pp. 504—520). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
14.
Lin, J.-C.G., & Yi, J.K. (1997). Asian international students' adjustment: Issues and program suggestions. College Student Journal, 31, 473—479.
15.
Lopez, A.E. (2002). Factors influencing career decision-making and post-secondary career choices of a cohort group of female Cuban immigrants . Dissertation Abstracts International, 62(12-A), 4088.
16.
Lutz, J.G., & Eckert, T.L. (1994). The relationship between canonical correlation analysis and multivariate multiple regression. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 54, 666—675.
17.
Mallinckrodt, B., & Leong, F.T.L. (1992). International graduate students, stress, and social support. Journal of College Student Development, 30, 71—77.
18.
Mau, W., & Jepsen, D.A. (1990). Help seeking perceptions and behaviors: A comparison of Chinese and U.S. graduate students. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 18, 94-104.
19.
McWhirter, E.H., Rasheed, S., & Crothers, M. (2000). The effects of high school career education on social-cognitive variables. Journal of Counseling Psychology , 47, 330—341.
20.
Misra, R., Crist, M., & Burant, C.J. (2003). Relationships among life stress, social support, academic stressors, and reactions to stressors of international students in the United States. International Journal of StressManagement , 10, 137—157.
21.
Mori, S. (2000). Addressing the mental health concerns of international students. Journal of Counseling and Development, 78, 137—144.
22.
Nauta, M.M., Epperson, D.L., & Kahn, J.H. (1998). A multiple-group analysis of predictors of higher level career aspirations among women in mathematics, science, and engineering majors. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 45, 483—496.
23.
Nguyen, T.T. (2001). A qualitative analysis of factors that influence the career development of Vietnamese Americans. Dissertation Abstracts International, 61(8-B), 4478.
24.
Nwadiora, E., & McAdoo, H. (1996). Acculturative stress among Amerasian refugees: Gender and racial differences. Adolescence, 31, 477—486.
25.
O'Brien, K.M. (1992). Career Aspiration Scale. (Available from K.M. O'Brien, Psychology Department, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742).
26.
O'Brien, K.M., Gray, M.P., Touradji, P.P., & Eigenbrode, S.P. (1996, August). The operationalization of women's career choices: The Career Aspiration Scale. In V. S. Solberg & K. M. O'Brien (Chairs), Promoting women's career development into the next millennium and beyond. Paper presented at the 104th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, Toronto, Canada.
27.
Parr, G., Bradley, L., & Bingi, R. (1992). Concerns and feelings of international students . Journal of College Student Development, 33, 20—25.
28.
Pedersen, P.B. (1991). Counseling international students. The Counseling Psychologist, 19, 10—58.
29.
Pope, M., Cheng, W.D., & Leong, F.T.L. (1998). The case of Chou: The inextricability of career to personal and social issues in a multicultural context. Journal of Career Development, 25, 53—64.
30.
Robbins, S.B., Wallis, A.B., & Dunston, K.T. (2003). Exploring the academic achievement and career aspirations of college-bound and postsecondary Zulu students. The Counseling Psychologist, 31(5), 593-618.
31.
Sandhu, D.S. (1995). An examination of the psychological needs of the international students: Implications for counseling and psychotherapy. International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling, 17, 229—239.
32.
Shen, Y., & Herr, E.L. (2004). Career placement concerns of international graduate students: A qualitative study. Journal of Career Development , 31, 15—29.
33.
Shih, S., & Brown, C. (2000). Taiwanese international students: Acculturation level and vocational identity. Journal of Career Development , 27, 35—47.
34.
Sodowsky, G.R., & Lai, E.M.W. (1997). Asian immigrant variables and structural models of cross-cultural distress. In A. Booth, A. C. Crouter, & N. Landale (Eds.), Immigration and the family: Research and policy on U.S. immigrants (pp. 211—234). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
35.
Spencer-Rodgers, J. (2000). The vocational situation and country of orientation of international students. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 28, 32—49.
36.
Spencer-Rodgers, J., & Cortijo, A. (1998). An assessment of the career development needs of international students. Journal of College Student Development , 39, 509—513.
37.
Wilton, L., & Constantine, M.G. (2003). Length of time, cultural adjustment difficulties, and psychological distress in Asian and Latin American international college students. Journal of College Counseling , 6, 177—186.
38.
Winkelman, M. (1994). Cultural shock and adaptation. Journal of Counseling and Development, 73, 121—126.
39.
Yi, J.K., Lin, J.G., & Kishimoto, Y. (2003). Utilization of counseling services by international students. Journal of InstructionalPsychology, 30, 333—342.
