Efficacy of a group career construction intervention with urban youth of colour

ABSTRACT

The efficacy of a three-week career construction counselling group intervention that was structured using the My Career Story workbook [Savickas, M. L., & Hartung, P. J. (2012). My career story: An autobiographical workbook for life-career success. www.vocopher.com] was examined using a pre/post-test design. The group intervention was delivered within an urban high school largely comprising African American, Puerto Rican and Dominican students across two semesters. Both groups completed two pre/post-test measures of vocational identity and a career adaptability measure. Results indicated that the career construction intervention increased scores on measures of vocational identity and control and confidence dimensions of career adaptability. Implications for career intervention with adolescents of colour and for future research are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Identity
• career adaptability
• career construction theory
• career construction counselling
• adolescent career development

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

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Notes on contributors

Michael C. Cadaret

Michael C. Cadaret, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Graduate Psychology in the School of Health Sciences at Chatham University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. His research is focused on how social, cultural and environmental factors influence identity, career choice, career development and access to education and employment. Additionally, he researches gender socialisation and behavior including masculinities and sexual assault prevention. His work has been published in the Journal of Vocational Behavior, The Counselling Psychologist, the Journal of Black Psychology, the Journal of College Counselling and the Journal of Interpersonal Violence. He currently serves on the editorial board for The Career Development Quarterly (2019–).

Paul J. Hartung

Paul J. Hartung, Ph.D., is a Professor of Family and Community Medicine at Northeast Ohio Medical University, USA. He has authored over 55 journal articles and 35 book chapters and edited 3 books dealing with career development, assessment and counselling. Currently, he is an editor for The Career Development Quarterly (2014–). He also serves on the editorial boards for Journal of Vocational Behavior (2003–), Journal of Career Assessment (1997-) and International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance (2012–). He is a fellow of the International Association of Applied Psychology (IAAP; Division 16), American Psychological Association (APA; Division 17) and the National Career Development Association. He received the APA Division 17 John L. Holland award for achievement in career and personality research and is current President (2018–2022) of IAAP Division 16 (Counselling Psychology).