Career self-efficacy and perceptions of parent support in adolescent career development

The authors examined the relative contributions of both proximal and distal supports to the career interests and vocational self-efficacy in a multiethnic sample (N = 139) of middle school adolescents. Consistent with Social Cognitive Career Theory, it was found that (a) vocational self-efficacy and career planning/exploration efficacy consistently predicted young adolescents' career interests across Holland (J. L. Holland, D, R. Whitney, N. S. Cole, & J. M. Richards, 1969) themes; (b) gender and career gender-typing predicted interests in Realistic, Investigative, and Social careers; and (c) perceived parent support accounted for 29% to 43% of the total unique variance in vocational self-efficacy for all Holland theme careers.