A Living Systems Theory of Vocational Behavior and Development

The Living Systems Theory of Vocational Behavior and Development (LSVD) explains and illustrates the processes by which individuals construct their work experiences, vocational pathways and career patterns through episodes of interaction with affordances they recognize within their contexts, and how counseling can facilitate those processes. Readership: Educational Researchers and their student

Perspectives historiques et contemporaines sur la transition de l’école au travail : apports théoriques et méthodologiques du modèle développemental-contextuel

Les travaux d’Erikson sur les périodes de l’enfance et de l’adolescence offrent un cadre intéressant pour la compréhension des multiples transitions développementales qui conduisent du jeu au travail. Selon Erikson, le développement s’effectue en plusieurs étapes séquentielles, ou stades psychologiques, caractérisés par une épreuve spécifique, ou crise. Chaque crise psychologique doit être affrontée et résolue avant que la personne identifie et affronte la crise suivante. Dans le meilleur des cas, cette suite d’épreuves aboutit au développement de la confiance, de l’autonomie, de « l’industrie », et de l’identité, dans cet ordre, au cours de l’enfance, de l’adolescence et de l’entrée dans l’âge adulte. Cette séquence épigénétique de transitions invariables a été remise en question par les changements de la société moderne que les sociologues appellent la modernisation du cours de la vie. Des formulations plus récentes selon lesquelles les transitions sont modulées par les caractéristiques individuelles et par les multiples niveaux de contextes de l’époque offrent de nouvelles possibilités de conceptualisation. Une attention particulière est portée aux méthodologies de recherche capables de prendre la personne-en-contexte comme unité d’analyse, en tenant compte à la fois du développement de la personne et du contexte toujours changeant.Erikson’s insights into the experience of childhood and adolescence offer a promising framework for illuminating the multiple developmental transitions that lead from play to work. According to Erikson, development proceeds through several sequential psychosocial stages or phases that are delineated from one another by a unique challenge or crisis. Each psychosocial crisis must be confronted and resolved before the person can identify and face this subsequent crisis. Optimally, this sequence of challenges results in the development of trust, autonomy, initiative, industry, and identity, in that order, during enfancy, adolescence, and young adulthood. This epigenetic, invariant sequence of transitions has been called into question by the changing face of modern society, referred to by sociologists as the modernization of the life course. More recent formulations that view the transitions as shaped by individual characteristics and multiple levels of context, as well as historical time, are discussed as alternative conceptualizations. Special attention is given to research methodologies that are able to accommodate the person-in-context as the unit of analysis, thereby taking into account both the developing person and the ever-changing context

Valores como predictores de satisfacción con la vida en los jóvenes

Numa perspectiva funcionalista, os valores são uma expressão cognitiva das necessidades humanas, princípios que orientam o comportamento para metas mais pessoais, sociais ou gerais de vida, cujo impacto psicossocial merece mais investigação. Neste estudo, analisou-se em que medida o tipo de orientação dos valores prediz a satisfação com a vida de 562 jovens portugueses (n = 303, 53,9% mulheres), com idades entre 14 e 22 anos (M = 16,9, DP = 1,71), que frequentam o ensino médio: via profissionalizante (63,7%) e regular (36,3%). Os jovens completaram o Questionário de Valores Básicos e a Escala de Satisfação com a Vida. Os resultados da análise de regressão linear indicam que a orientação dos valores explica menos de um quarto da variabilidade da satisfação com a vida, o que suscita a necessidade de se analisar o seu poder explicativo em conjunto com outras variáveis, por exemplo, de personalidade e sociocognitivas.In a functionalist perspective, values are a cognitive expression of human needs as well as principles that guide behaviors to personal, social or general life goals, whose psychosocial impact deserves more investigation. This study aimed to analyze whether the type of values orientation predicts life satisfaction in 562 Portuguese youths (n = 303, 53.9% women) aged 14 to 22 years (M = 16.9; SD = 1.71), attending high school studies, being 63.7% technical and (36.3%) regular high school.Students completed the Basic Values Survey and the Satisfaction With Life Scale. The results of the linear regression analyzes indicate that the values orientation explains less than a quarter of life satisfaction variability, which indicated the need to further analyze its explanatory power together with other variables, such as, personality and socio-cognitive.Desde el punto de vista funcional, los valores son una expresión cognitiva de las necesidades humanas, principios que orientan el comportamiento hacia metas más personales, sociales o generales de vida, cuyo impacto psicosocial necesita más investigación. En este estudio se analizó en qué medida el tipo de orientación de los valores predice la satisfacción con la vida de 562 jóvenes portugueses (n = 303, 53.9% mujeres), con edades entre 14 y 22 años ( = 16.9, P = 1.71) que frecuentan Enseñanza Secundaria: profesional (63.7%) y normal (36.3%). Los jóvenes completaron el Cuestionario de Valores Básicos y la Escala de Satisfacción con la Vida. Los resultados del análisis de regresión lineal indican que la orientación de los valores explica menos de una cuarta parte de la variabilidad de satisfacción con la vida, lo que plantea la necesidad de analizar su poder explicativo, junto con otras variables, por ejemplo, de personalidad y socio-cognitivas.(undefined)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Latent profiles of work motivation in adolescents in relation to work expectations, goal engagement, and changes in work experiences

Motivation plays a key role in successful entry into working life. Based on a cross-sectional and a one-year longitudinal study, we used a person-centered approach to explore work-related motivation (i.e., autonomous goals, positive affect, and occupational self-efficacy) among 577 students in 8th grade (Study 1) and 949 adolescents in vocational training (Study 2). Based on latent profile analysis, in both studies we identified four groups that were characterized by different levels of overall motivation and one group characterized by low positive affect and mean levels in autonomous goals and self-efficacy. Profiles characterized by high levels of motivation showed the highest levels of positive work expectations and goal engagement and the lowest levels of negative work expectations in Study 1 and the highest levels of person-job fit, work engagement, and job satisfaction in Study 2. Moreover, latent difference score analysis showed that motivational profiles predicted changes in person-job fit and work engagement across one year but not in job satisfaction. The results imply that career counselors should be aware of characteristic motivational patterns of clients that may require specific counseling approaches

Reassessing the protean career concept: Empirical findings, conceptual components, and measurement

This article was published in the serial Journal of Organizational Behavior [© John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.] The definitive version is available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/job.1908The protean career concept is a widely acknowledged contemporary career model, but conceptual and empirical analysis of the model is scarce. We provide an integrative literature review of empirical research and note that the research is hampered by inconsistent use of terminology and methodological limitations. First, we show that the two protean metacompetencies-adaptability and identity-have been relatively neglected as the research has evolved. Second, we describe how preexisting protean measures are limited in covering the full range of the concept. Finally, we draw on career theory to suggest four conceptual components as a basis for future model development and offer suggestions for research that tests the utility of the protean career concept in relation to other similar constructs. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Career Exploration for Children and Adolescents

Career theory characterises early to middle childhood as the period when children physically and psychologically explore the outer world and organise this information into increasingly complex categories and associations. The late childhood and early adolescent period has been theoretically distinguished from the earlier periods within the career literature by the use of a dynamic form of exploration that involves a transaction between aspects of a person’s inner and outer world in the pursuit of career goals of varying degrees of specificity. However, the broader literature on human exploration suggests that exploration as a complex interplay between the inner and outer world occurs during the childhood period. Regardless of the timing of the process, the developmental course of diversive and specific career exploration is predicted to yield a set of career pathways that are consistent with a child’s emerging interests, needs, aspirations, and values on the one hand and his/her environmental opportunities and social pressures (e.g., parental wishes and expectations) on the other. Career exploration is, therefore, a critical aspect of child and adolescent exploration. This chapter will first explore the theoretical and empirical literature on career exploration in children and adolescents. Acknowledging the importance of the outer world, or the developmental context, in career exploration, the chapter will then investigate the major contexts for formal (or intentional) career exploration for children and adolescents, namely the family and the school, and critique the programs and interventions utilised to facilitate the career exploration process for children and adolescents