Children's Vocational Development: A Research Rationale

✍ Scribed by Erik J. Porfeli; Paul J. Hartung; Fred W. Vondracek

• Publisher: American Counseling Association
• Year: 2008
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 120 KB
• Volume: 57
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0889-4019
• DOI: 10.1002/j.2161-0045.2008.tb00163.x

✦ Synopsis

Vocational development research and interventions have focused primarily on adolescents and young adults. The lack of attention to career development antecedents in children has led to a serious neglect of this period of life when the foundation is laid for career choices and outcomes in later life. A harmful by‐product is the frequent preclusion of gender‐atypical occupational pathways by boys and especially by girls. To address this situation, the authors recommend identifying a core set of constructs that describe children's vocational development and developing sound instruments to measure them, leading to a longitudinal study ranging from childhood to early adulthood.