Career Counseling With Diverse Populations

1. Career Counseling With Diverse Populations SCCN 645 Adapted from the work of Williamson (2005)

2. Multicultural Career Counseling • Culture can refer to many aspects of life and living • Two people from the same race could share some values, attitudes, and so on, but might also be very different in their cultural makeup. • Counselors should be alert to value orientation when working with different cultural groups

3. Multicultural Career Counseling • Cultural variability includes: • Variability of worldviews including constructs of individualism & collectivism • Time orientation • View of Human nature • Personal space • Privacy

4. Byars-Winston, A. M., Fouad, N. A. (2006). Metacognition and multicultural competence: Expanding the culturally appropriate career counseling model. The Career Development Quarterly, 54, 187-201. • Findings • Fouad & Byars-Winston (2005) Metanalysis • No difference in career aspirations by self-reported racial/ethnic groups • Racial/ethnic minorities perceived fewer career opportunities and greater barriers • Hold that counselors should evaluate their culturally-relevant metacognitions when working with clients • Poses the CACCM with their own 7 steps • Assert that “cultural differences in norms, values, and expectations significantly shape the emergence and recognition of a career problem operate not only for the client but also for the counselor.”

5. Multicultural Career Counseling • Culture does have an important role in work-related values. • Differences between cultures helps us understand employee attitudes, values, behaviors, & interpersonal dynamics • Counselors must be aware of different cultural orientations when establishing rapport. • Necessary skill areas include awareness of differences, self-awareness, knowledge of client’s culture, and adaptation of counseling methods, materials, & procedures.

6. Multicultural Career Counseling • Optimal theory is multidimensional in nature and emphasizes how • Specific cultures influence and develop worldviews • The human universality of themes cut across cultures • The uniqueness of the individual is developed

7. Multicultural Career Counseling • Multicultural counseling and therapy theory (MCT) was developed because many contemporary theories of counseling do not deal adequately with the complexity of culturally diverse populations. • We must balance the focus of counseling, expand the repertoire of helping responses, identify indigenous helping roles, and develop alternatives to the conventional counseling role.

8. Multicultural Career Counseling • Immigrants have special needs that involve premigration process as well as the adjustment process in a new & different culture. • Adjustment to a new culture includes transitions of reconstructing social networks, adjusting to a new socioeconomic system, and learning a different cultural system.

9. Multicultural Career Counseling • Counselors must develop a great sensitivity to culturally diverse clients when conducting an interview. • Technique issues include: • Eye contact • Touch • Probing questions • Space & distance • Verbal style • Restrictive emotions • Confrontation • self-disclosure • Focus on self-in relation & self-in-context

10. Career Development of African American (AA) Clients • Swinton (1992) concluded that AA are disadvantaged economically and occupationally • 36.9% of AA men, but 61.8% of White men were employed in “good” jobs in 1990 (i.e., executives, administrators, etc.) • 45.2% of AA men, and 23.9% of White men were employed in “bad” jobs (i.e., laborers, service workers, material movers, etc.)

11. Career Development of African American Clients • Trait-Factor Theories • Possibly do not consider unique needs, intertwined with psychological testing of minorities and ability testing (Anastasi, 1982; Franklin, 1991, et. al.) • Super’s Theory • Question of whether career maturity applies across SES and ethnic background (Smith, 1983)

12. Career Development of African American Clients • Holland’s Theory • Miller, Springer, and Wells (1988) found that most of their AA respondents recorded Social type as highest or second highest personality type • Gottfredson (1978) reported that realistic and social jobs surfaced as the most frequent source of jobs for AA • Gottfredson also found AA are poorly represented in Enterprising work at all levels

13. Career Development of Hispanic Clients • Predicted to soon be the majority, minority group • Include heritages of Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Central America, or Spain • Largest groups: Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban • Concentrated more in lower-paid, lesser-skilled occupations of the work force • Progress is being made with subsequent generations

14. Career Development of Hispanic Clients • Arbona (1990) suggested that middle-class and college-educated Mexican Americans and Anglos are similar in their attitude towards work • Many variations in generational immigration and attained level of education • Luzzo (1992) found that Hispanic college students did not differ from their white-American peers in career decision-making skills, attitudes, or vocational congruence

15. Career Development of Asian Americans • Since 1980’s this population grew by 70% • Into the 2000’s continue to grow by 40-50% • First generation student = “Superstudent” • Diverse Group heritages include Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Filipino, Thai, Korean

16. Career Development of Asian Americans • 80% of all Asian Americans are in college 2 yrs. after high school – education is viewed as vehicle to mobility • Family structure important – education is tied to values of home • Typical male occupations (investigative types) – engineers, computer scientists, and mathematicians • Females are sex-typed like whites, but generally lean towards investigative types

17. Career Development of Asian Americans • Might prematurely constrict choices based on prestige. May ignore variables such as interest and aptitude. • Directive counseling preferable, authoritative style – counselor who is confident and provides structure, interpretation, and solutions to problems • May place emphasis on extrinsic values: money, stability, and security • Involve parents in intervention – linear social values

18. Career Development of Native Americans • No other group has experienced deeper prejudiced or is in a less-advantaged posture (Herr, Cramer, & Niles, 2005) • Nearly 50% of all NA live on NA lands and some 275 reservations • Concentrated Los Angeles, San Francisco, & Chicago • Over 450 recognized tribes (Casas & Arbona, 1992)

19. Career Development of Native Americans • Values significantly different from mainstream: sharing, cooperation, the group, a circular time orientation, harmony with nature, and respect for elders (Herring, 1996) • Extremely high unemployment rate • Enter a restricted number of occupations (1/3rd of the relatively few who attend college, earned their degrees in education or social sciences)

20. Career Development of Native Americans • Self-efficacy has been measured as lower than that of Whites and Hispanics (Lauver & Jones, 1991) • NA tend to prefer a counselor with similar ethnicity • Parents seem to have a greater impact on their children than other, particularly, majority groups (Lee, 1984)

21. Gender Issues in Career Counseling • Women are reassessing their career priorities and looking beyond the traditional feminine working roles. • Even though women are being given great opportunities to expand their career choice, barriers to the changing role of women in the working world still exist.

22. Gender Issues in Career Counseling • In response to the women’s movement, men are reexamining their roles, beliefs, & relationships with women. • The Society for the Psychological Study of Men and Masculinity, Division 51 of the American Psychological Association was formed to study gender roles & masculinity.

23. Gender Issues in Career Counseling • Several Career Theorists have addressed women’s issues • Super was one of the major career development theorists who addressed career development patterns of women. • He classified them into 7 categories: stable, homemaking,conventional,stable working, double track, interrupted, unstable, and multiple trial. • Super among others viewed career development of women as different from men.

24. Gender Issues in Career Counseling • Ginzberg denoted three lifestyle dimensions: • Traditional (homemaker-oriented) • Transitional (more emphasis on home than on job.) • Innovative (giving equal emphasis to job & home)

25. Gender Issues in Career Counseling • Zytowski (1960s) labeled vocational developmental patterns of women as: • Mild vocational • Moderate vocational • Unusual vocational (Stages similar to Ginzberg) Through vocational participation, woman can change their modal lifestyle. Patterns of vocational participation for women are determined by age at entry, the length of time that a woman works, and the type of work undertaken. Further determinants include: individual motivation, ability, environmental circumstances (such as financial need)

26. Gender Issues in Career Counseling • In the late 1970s, Sanguiliano (1978) emphasized the theme of different and special needs of women. • He suggests that a woman’s life cycle does not follow a rigid progression of developmental tasks and that attention should focus on unique paths that women take to break away from gender role stereotyping.

27. Gender Issues in Career Counseling • Counselors must be aware of unique influences that shape gender role development. Cultural groups have some special needs that must be addressed and individual differences within groups must be recognized. • Each individual is influenced by a number of specific cultural and situational factors that contribute to gender stereotyping. Tentative gender boundaries are established in childhood. Gender role is intensified in adolescence. It is not certain how and to what extent gender differences remain stable among adults.

28. Gender Issues in Career Counseling • Some special needs of men & women are: • Gender stereotyping beliefs • Fear of feminity and restrictive emotionally restrictive emotionally among ment • Sexual harassment in the workplace • Problems for both men & women associated with achievement • Competition and self-destructive bahaviors

29. Gender Issues in Career Counseling • Counseling approaches should be free of gender role typing. Counseling strategy components include working climate, expressiveness training, dual career, & lifestyle skills.

30. Issues Facing Dual-Career Families • The family influence on career development has been a significantly relevant issue. • The family is conceptualized as a social system. • The nuclear family is the most common in the US. The extended family is the most common around the world.

31. Issues Facing Dual-Career Families • Current trends in family systems include: • increased number of single adults, • postponement of marriage, • decreased childbearing, • more female participation in the labor force, • more divorce, • more single-parent families, • more children living in poverty, • more remarriage, • increased years without children, • and more multigeneration families

32. Issues Facing Dual-Career Families • There is a typical issue within dual career families involving struggles for gender equity of household and child care tasks and of work recognition.

33. Issues Facing Dual-Career Families • Issues facing dual career couples are: • Expectations of work and family • Role Conflict • Child Care • Geographic Moves • Competition • Relationship factors • Numbers of personal factors

34. Issues Facing Dual-Career Families • Implications of career counseling include: • Illuminating underlying issues of gender equity • Couple communication • Sharing exercises • Family and career status • Conflict resolution

35. Career Counseling for Gay, Lesbian, & Bisexual Clients • G/L/B persons have special needs because of their sexual orientation that should be addressed in career counseling. • There are estimates of between 5 and 25 million g/l/b persons in this country. • More organizations are supporting gay and lesbian associations and networks. Many regard gay men and lesbian women as another diverse group in the workplace.

36. Career Counseling for Gay, Lesbian, & Bisexual Clients • Individuals with a sexual orientation of g/l/b continue to be stereotyped as to the kinds of jobs they should hold; • are threatened by violence often resulting from homophobia, • form a dislike for themselves through internalized homophobia; • and generally receive negative feedback from a society that views heterosexuality as the only viable lifestyle.

37. Sexual Minorities: Assessing Identity • Cass (1979) model of sexual identity development • Stage 1. Identity Confusion- not knowing or understanding much about his or her own sexual minority orientation • Stage 2. Identity Comparison- the individual acknowledges the possibility of being attracted to the same sex • Stage 3. Identity Tolerance- the individual tolerates rather than accepts and identification of an individual whose sexual orientation is different

38. Sexual Minorities: Assessing Identity • Stage 4. Identity Acceptance- this stage is characterized by continued contacts with other l/g/b persons to validate a new identity and a new way of life • Stage 5. Identity Pride- the individual takes pride in disclosing an identity as l/g/b • Stage 6. Identity Synthesis- when one accepts his or her sexuality

39. Career Counseling for Gay, Lesbian, & Bisexual Clients • Discrimination in the workplace can involve: • Threats • Lack of Promotion • Black mail • Ostracism • Sexual harassment • Exclusion or avoidance • Termination • The Lavender Ceiling • Mixture of Blue and Pink, “two-spirited” or “twin-spirited”

40. Career Counseling for Gay, Lesbian, & Bisexual Clients • Unique issues g/l/b persons bring to counseling can be resolved in career counseling with some adaptations and modifications. • Six stages that can be included within career counseling models are: • Precounseling preparation • Establishing an affirmative trusting relationship • Client identification issues • Identify variables that can limit career choice • Tailored assessment • Job search strategies

41. Two Major Models of Multicultural Career Counseling

42. Values-Based Multicultural Career Counseling (VBMCC)

43. Values-Based, Multicultural Approach • Work of Duane Brown • Based on a culmination of research on values and multiculturalism from psychology and a variety of other literature bases • Assumes that values can be defined within a culture and must be addressed as truths in career counseling • Unique in the approaches integration of advocacy in the career counseling process

44. Values-Based, Multicultural Approach • This approach addresses 8 core areas: • The assessment of cultural variables • Assess early and sensitively • For example, “I am aware that in many Asian American families, the family selects the occupation for the children. Before we begin, I would appreciate it if you would help me understand who will make the decision in this case.” • A culturally appropriate relationship • Sensitivity to broader ethnic group • SOLER nonverbal communication model

45. 8 Core areas continued • The facilitation of the decision-making process • Who makes the decision? • The identification of career issues (assessment) • Is crisis career counseling needed? • 3 suggested, qualitative assessment devices • Pattern Identification • Achievement Profiling • Lifeline

46. 8 Core areas continued • The establishment of culturally appropriate goals • Are client, family, and culture’s goals the same? • “Did your_____ affect this goal you set?” • The selection of culturally appropriate interventions • Possibly a mediation process when working with individuals who have a collateral social value orientation.

47. 8 Core areas continued • The implementation and evaluation of the interventions used • Interventions aligned with goals • Evaluation based on level of goal attainment • Advocacy • Requires working as a mediator between clients and industry • Being aware of relevant information and resources

48. Culturally Appropriate Career Counseling Model

49. 7 General Steps • Step 1: Establishing a Culturally Appropriate Relationship • Set the context for a working relationship • Empathy, warmth, and positive regard • Step 2: Identification of Career Issues • Help explore environment issues, role of race/ethnicity, external barriers – sexism or racism in the work environment

50. 7 General Steps (Cont’d) • Step 3: Assessing the Impact of Cultural Variables on Career Issues • Explore how behavior has been a product of client’s culture • Consider behaviors client wants to continue or change • Help client understand spheres of influence (e.g., gender, family, racial group, etc.)and how they are operating