Career Identity Among Community College Students

Abstract

Career identity development is salient in adolescence and young adulthood, but little research has assessed career identity in populations other than four-year college students. Context should be considered when examining career identity, and to address this gap in the literature, the current study examined the extent to which parental support for career, work experience, and career decision self-efficacy (CDSE) influenced career identity evaluation (i.e., engaging in in-depth career exploration and identification with one's career) in a sample of community college students. Results showed that parental support for career was predictive of CDSE, and CDSE was predictive of career identity evaluation, which suggests parental support for career indirectly affects career identity evaluation through CDSE. In contrast to expectations, work experience was not associated with CDSE or career identity evaluation. Findings suggest differences in career identity development for two-year community college and four-year university students.