The application of a sociocognitive framework to the career development of lesbian women and gay men

Researchers and theorists have identified a need for integrative models of career development, particularly as they apply to specific populations. This article focuses on the application of social cognitive career theory (SCCT, Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994) to the career development of lesbian women and gay men. Specifically, we address societal influences at various points in the process of academic and career development and their effects on self-efficacy, outcome expectations, interests, and vocational choice. We describe how environmental and contextual influences shape academic and career-related interests through their impact on self-efficacy beliefs and outcome expectations. In addition, we describe how environmental conditions more proximal to junctures of academic and career-related choice may prevent the translation of interests to choices congruent with those interests. Implications for theory-building research are included. (C) 1996 Academic Press, Inc.