Differential Moderating Effects of Student- and Parent-Rated Support in the Relationship Between Learning Goal Orientation and Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy

Abstract

Guided by the social cognitive career and cognitive evaluation theories, the authors theorize and test differential predictions regarding the moderating role of student- and parent-rated support when considering the influence of students’ learning goal orientation on career decision-making self-efficacy. Data were collected from 141 undergraduate students and their parents over a 6-month period. Time 1 learning goal orientation was positively related to career decision-making self-efficacy at Time 2. Results also revealed a differential pattern of moderating effects for student ratings of parental support and parent ratings of support. High student ratings of parental support strengthened the association between learning goal orientation and career decision-making self-efficacy. In contrast, low levels of parent-rated support strengthened the relationship between learning goal orientation and career decision-making self-efficacy. The discussion highlights the importance of considering how perceptions of parental support differ between parents and their children.

Keywords

learning goal orientation parental support self-efficacy students’ career development

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Alliman-Brissett

A. E.

Turner

S. L.

Skovholt

T. M.

(2004). Parent support and african american adolescents’ career self-efficacy. Professional School Counseling, 7, 124–132.

Bandura

(1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Englewoods Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Bernardo

A. B. I.

(2010). Exploring Filipino adolescents’ perceptions of the legitimacy of parental authority over academic behaviors. Journal of Applied and Developmental Psychology, 31, 273–280.

Betz

N. E.

(2007). Career self-efficacy: Exemplary recent research and emerging directions. Journal of Career Assessment, 15, 403–422.

Betz

N. E.

Klein

K. L.

Taylor

K. M.

(1996). Evaluation of a short form of the career decision-making self-efficacy scale. Journal of Career Assessment, 4, 47–57.

Betz

N. E.

Luzzo

D. A.

(1996). Career assessment and the career decision-making self-efficacy scale. Journal of Career Assessment, 4, 413–428.

Borgen

F. H.

Betz

N. E.

(2008). Career self-efficacy and personality: Linking career confidence and the healthy personality. Journal of Career Assessment, 16, 22–43.

Constantine

M. G.

Wallace

B. C.

Kindaichi

M. M.

(2005). Examining contextual factors in the career decision status of African American adolescents. Journal of Career Assessment, 13, 307–319.

Costa

P. T.

Jr. McCrae

R. R.

(1992). NEO-PI-R professional manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological assessment resources.

10.

Cutrona

C. E.

Cole

Colangelo

Assouline

S. G.

Russell

D. W.

(1994). Perceived parental social support and academic achievement: An attachment theory perspective. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66, 369–378.

11.

Deci

E. L.

Ryan

R. M.

(2002). Overview of self-deternimation theory: An organismic dialectical perspective. In Deci

E. L.

Ryan

R. M.

(Eds.), Handbook of self-determination research. New York, NY: University of Rochester Press.

12.

Diemer

M. A.

(2007). Parental and school influences upon the career development of poor youth of color. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 70, 502–524.

13.

Dietrich

Kracke

(2009). Career-specific parental behaviors in adolescents’ development. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 75, 109–119.

14.

Dweck

C. S.

Leggett

E. L.

(1988). A social-cognitive approach to motivation and personality. Psychological Review, 95, 256–273.

15.

Elliot

Church

(1997). A hierarchical model of approach and avoidance achievement motivaiton. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72, 218–232.

16.

Elliot

A. J.

Harackiewicz

J. M.

(1996). Approach and avoidance achievement goals and intrinsic motivation: A mediational analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70, 461–475.

17.

Elliott

E. S.

Dweck

C. S.

(1988). Goals: An approach to motivation and achievement. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 5–12.

18.

Fisher

C. D.

(1978). The effects of personal control, competence, and extrinsic reward systems on intrinsic motivation. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 21, 273–288.

19.

Ginsburg

G. S.

Bronstein

(1993). Family factors related to children’s intrinsic/extrinsic motivational orientation and academic performance. Child Development, 64, 1461–1474.

20.

Holland

J. L.

(1997). Making vocational choices: A theory of vocational personalities and work environments (3rd ed.). Odessa, FL: Psychological assessment.

21.

Kazdin

A. E.

Esveldt-Dawson

Unis

A. S.

Rancurello

M. D.

(1983). Child and parent evaluations of depression and aggression in psychiatric inpatient children. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 11, 401–413.

22.

Kenny

M. E.

Blustein

D. L.

Chaves

Grossman

J. M.

Gallagher

L. A.

(2003). The role of perceived barriers and relational support in the educational and vocational lives of urban high school students. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 50, 142–155.

23.

Klein

H. J.

Lee

(2006). The effects of personality on learning: The mediating role of goal setting. Human Performance, 19, 43–66.

24.

Koestner

Zuckerman

(1994). Causality orientations, failure, and achievement. Journal of Personality, 62, 321–346.

25.

Legault

Green-Demers

Pelletier

(2006). Why do high school students lack motivation in the classroom? Toward an understanding of academic amotivation and the role of social support. Journal of Educational Psychology, 98, 567–582.

26.

Lent

R. W.

Brown

S. D.

Hackett

(1994). Toward a unifying social cognitive theory of career and academic interest, choice, and performance. Journal of vocational behavior, 45, 79–122.

27.

Lent

R. W.

Brown

S. D.

Hackett

(2000). Contextual supports and barriers to career choice: A social cognitive analysis. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 47, 36–49.

28.

Lent

R. W.

Brown

S. D.

Schmidt

Brenner

Lyons

Treistman

(2003). Relation of contextual supports and barriers to choice behavior in engineering majors: Test of alternative social cognitive models. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 50, 458–465.

29.

Lent

R. W.

Lopez

A. M.

Jr. Lopez

F. G.

Sheu

H. B.

(2008). Social cognitive career theory and the prediction of interests and choice goals in the computing disciplines. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 73, 52–62.

30.

Luzzo

D. A.

McWhirter

E. H.

(2001). Sex and ethnic differences in the perception of educational and career-related barriers and levels of coping efficacy. Journal of Counseling and Development, 79, 61–67.

31.

Mau

W. C.

(1997). Parental influences on the high school students’ academic achievement: A comparison of Asian immigrants, Asian Americans, and White Americans. Psychology in the Schools, 34, 267–277.

32.

Mau

W. C.

(2000). Cultural differences in career decision-making styles and self-efficacy. Journal of vocational behavior, 57, 365–378.

33.

McWhirter

E. H.

(1997). Perceived barriers to education and career: Ethnic and gender differences. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 50, 124–140.

34.

Meece

J. L.

Anderman

E. M.

Anderman

L. H.

(2006). Classroom goal structure, student motivation, and academic achievement. Annual Review of Psychology, 57, 487–503.

35.

Payne

S. C.

Youngcourt

S. S.

Beaubien

J. M.

(2007). A meta-analytic examination of the goal orientation nomological net. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92, 128–150.

36.

Phillips

J. M.

Gully

S. M.

(1997). Role of goal orientation, ability, need for achievement, and locus of control in the self-efficacy and goal-setting process. Journal of Applied Psychology, 82, 792–802.

37.

Porter

(2005). Goal orientation: Effects on backing up behaviour, performance, efficacy, and commitment in teams. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90, 811–818.

38.

Restubog

S. L. D.

Bordia

(2006). Workplace familism and psychological contract breach in the Philippines. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 55, 563–585.

39.

Restubog

S. L. D.

Florentino

Garcia

P. R. J. M.

(2010). The mediating roles of career self-efficacy and career decidedness in the relationship between contextual support and persistence. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 77, 186–195.

40.

Ryan

R. M.

(1982). Control and information in the intrapersonal sphere: An extension of cognitive evaluation theory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 43, 450–461.

41.

Ryan

R. M.

Deci

E. L.

(2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55, 68–78.

42.

Salazar-Clemeña

R. M.

(2002). Family ties and peso signs: Challenges for career counseling in the Philippines. Career Development Quarterly, 50, 246–256.

43.

Schultheiss

D. E. P.

Kress

H. M.

Manzi

A. J.

Glassock

M. J.

(2001). Relational influences in career development: A qualitative inquiry. Counseling Psychologist, 29, 214–239.

44.

Turner

Lapan

R. T.

(2002). Career self-efficacy and perceptions of parent support in adolescent career development. The Career Development Quarterly, 51, 44.

45.

Vondracek

F. W.

(2007). Introduction and commentary: Studies of development in context. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 70, 1–7.