Family factors associated with sixth-grade adolescents' math and science career interests

Career Development Quarterly, Sept, 2004 by Sherri L. Turner, Jason C. Steward, Richard T. Lapan

Although both mother's support and father's support positively affected adolescents' math efficacy in this study, only mother's support affected their math outcome expectations. This finding suggests that the support and encouragement of mothers to explore math careers, as well as their help in connecting math and science courses to later career possibilities, is especially important in assisting adolescents to develop expectations that math can be important to their future careers. In addition, the results of our study show that adolescents who gender-type math as an appropriate pursuit for persons of their own gender have greater math efficacy and math outcome expectations than adolescents who do not and that mother's support and father's support are significant in developing these gender-typing perceptions.

The results of this study suggest that the social-cognitive career model is a useful framework for conceptualizing the influences of parents' support, family structure, and math career gender-typing on the math efficacy, math outcome expectations, and math and science career interests of adolescents. Fouad, Smith, and Zao (2002) have suggested that "one of the strengths of the social-cognitive career model is that it is directly linked to interventions" (p. 170). Based on the findings of our study, we suggest a number of interventions for counselors to use to assist parents in supporting the math efficacy, math outcome expectations, and thus the math and science career interests of their children.

Counselors can help parents increase their adolescents' mastery of math-related skills by showing them how to help their adolescents choose and engage in educational activities related to math (e.g., advanced math courses, math summer camps). Counselors can help parents model math-related activities by showing their adolescents how they use math both in their careers and in their personal lives (e.g., how they use computers to do inventory, how they balance their checkbooks). Counselors can help parents manage their children's math-related anxiety by showing parents how to acknowledge this anxiety and assure their adolescents that these negative emotions are normal. Counselors can show parents how to encourage their adolescents when they successfully accomplish math-related tasks (e.g., offering concrete praise for their adolescents' accomplishments, giving their adolescents tangible rewards). Counselors can show parents how to encourage their adolescents' persistence in math when they encounter negative or gender-biased stereotyping (e.g., by assuring their adolescents that math is valuable and important for both men and women).

Counselors can also help parents increase their own efficacy to support their adolescents' math efficacy and outcome expectations (Bandura, Barbaranelli, Caprara, & Pastorelli, 2001). For example, counselors can help parents experience success in setting, implementing, evaluating, and adjusting explicit support goals (e.g., setting specific homework times for studying math with their children, engaging a math tutor when needed). Counselors also can assist parents in managing their own math anxiety as it relates to their children's math and science career development (e.g., helping parents find alternative ways to support their children's math career development if their own math skills or experiences are limited). Finally, counselors can encourage divorced parents to collaborate in the support of their adolescents' consideration of math- and science-based careers. For families in which one parent is not available, counselors can work with the custodial parent to find other adult female and male role models, such as grandmothers, grandfathers, teachers, or trusted friends, who can positively influence their middle school students' consideration of and preparation for math and science careers.