By: Jeff Landine and John Stewart<\/p>\n
It is generally accepted that a stable identity is an important precursor to effective career decision-making. \u00a0The importance of self-knowledge to the career decision-making process has been recognized since Frank Parson\u2019s 1909 statement, and forms a key foundational element in just about every model of career development and\/or choice being used today. In the next few weeks we will address the role of identity and how it impacts career development and\/or decision-making for young Canadian adults.<\/p>\n
Identity can be viewed as developing and existing in different domains within the self-system. \u00a0Current notions suggest that the different dimensions of human development including physical, cognitive, social\/emotional, moral, spiritual and vocational, all play some part in identity formation. \u00a0Skorikov and Vondracek (1998) expanded on the distinct role that vocational identity plays in the overall development of self-system.\u00a0 Despite the possibility that different domains of identity exist, there are commonalities in the dynamics by which identity forms.\u00a0 Grotevant, Thorbecke and Meyer (1982) point to the importance of exploration, making commitments, crises in interpersonal relationships, and interactions in social and work-related realms as key factors in identity formation.<\/p>\n
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Entrance into the world of work provides important feedback regarding one\u2019s skills, interests and capacities, as well as providing clear indications of what one cannot do or does not like. \u00a0The life tasks of separating from one\u2019s family, entering into long-term relationships, and developing values and meaningful life goals forces individuals to consider who they are, both psychologically and socially.\u00a0 With the trend toward students staying in university longer, putting off entrance into the work world, and leaving their parent\u2019s home, together with establishing long-term relationships, it could be hypothesized that the mechanisms of stable identity development extend later in life than was previously theorized.\u00a0 These \u201ccrises\u201d may often occur after vocational identity has been foreclosed (Marcia, 1966), resulting in unrealistic or ill-informed career decisions.<\/p>\n
In the current consumer-driven approach to education, much pressure is placed on graduating high school students to make vocational decisions that have implications for the rest of their lives.\u00a0 Perhaps the pressure from parents and educators for young adults to commit to the \u201cperfect\u201d career choice may foreclose the opportunity to learn from such experiences as exploring options, making difficult decisions, developing new interpersonal relationships, and learning from mistakes, and the contribution these make to identity formation.\u00a0 Instead, more emphasis should be placed on helping young adults with understanding the role these life experiences play in forming a stable identity.<\/p>\n
References<\/p>\n
Grotevant, H. D., Thorbecke, W. L., & Meyer, M. L. (1982). An extension of Marcia\u2019s Identity Status Interview into the interpersonal domain. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 11, <\/em>33-47.<\/p>\n Marcia, J. E. (1966). Development and validation of ego-identity status. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, <\/em>35<\/em>, <\/strong>118\u2013133.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Skorikov, V., & Vondracek, F. W. (1998). Vocational identity development: Its relationship to identity domains and to overall identity development. Journal of Career Assessment, 6<\/em>(1), 13-35.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By: Jeff Landine and John Stewart It is generally accepted that a stable identity is an important precursor to effective career decision-making. \u00a0The importance of self-knowledge to the career decision-making process has been recognized since Frank Parson\u2019s 1909 statement, and forms a key foundational element in just about every model of career development and\/or choice […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1001010,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[76,77,78,79,80,81,82],"class_list":["post-171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-careercounselling","tag-decision-making","tag-grotevant","tag-identity","tag-meyer","tag-skorkov","tag-thorbecke","tag-vondracek"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n