How the Perceptions of African American Women Influence Career Choices

Download or read book How the Perceptions of African American Women Influence Career Choices written by Laurie A. Gordon and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The purpose of this study was to examine how the perceptions of racial identity salience, career decision-making self-efficacy and career related barriers affected the career choice traditionality for African American women. The multiple self-referent model (Brown-Collins & Sussewell, 1986) was used as a theoretical framework to conceptualize the study in order to evaluate what possible factors may influence the career development process of Black women. One hundred and eighteen women were surveyed from predominantly White and predominantly Black campuses. It was predicted that women who endorsed traditional career choices would perceive more career related barriers and have lower levels of career decision-making self-efficacy than their non-traditional counterparts. Additionally, previous research has suggested that African American women may cluster in more traditional occupations as a way to limit their exposure to racism. As a result, it was predicted that Black women who chose more traditional occupations would perceive racism as a greater career related barrier than sexism. The influence of racial identity salience, particularly the psychological and socio-political domains, on the career choice traditionality of Black women was also evaluated. The following instruments were utilized: Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy - Short Form; the African American Identity Attitudes Scale; Career Barriers Inventory - Revised; and a demographics/career questionnaire. The results did not support these hypotheses or the conceptualization of the multiple self-referent model. However, these findings suggest that the career development of Black women is a complex process that warrants further investigation. The limitations of the current study as well as directions for future research will be discussed.