The use of genograms in career counseling with elementary, middle, and high school students

Career Development Quarterly, June, 2005 by Donna M. Gibson

Genograms have been used successfully in career counseling with adults; however, there has been limited use of genograms in career counseling with elementary, middle, and high school children. This article focuses on the benefits of using genograms and the reasons for them to be integrated into the comprehensive developmental guidance programs used by professional school counselors.

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The emergence and implementation of comprehensive developmental guidance programs in the United States have reemphasized the developmental nature of career education, which has now been more integrated into the curriculum of elementary and middle schools (Murrow-Taylor, Folz, Ellis, & Culbertson, 1999). The conceptual foundation of the comprehensive developmental guidance program is life career development, which is defined as "self-development over a person's life span through the integration of the roles, settings, and events in a person's life" (Gysbers & Henderson, 2000, p. 49). This emphasis on career education is timely, considering that research indicates children may identify with adult workers in their lives and that they specifically identify more with the mother's occupation than with the father's occupation (Trice & Knapp, 1992). Hence, occupational aspirations may form early in a child's life. In addition, Hossler and Maple (1993), Mau (1995), and Ramos and Sanchez (1995) have found that parental expectations and support are key variables influencing college aspirations among students of color, and this influence may be felt as early as junior high school in many cases.

Because parental expectations and role models influence career aspirations and educational decisions, examining family dynamics, roles, and values with students in elementary, middle, and high school settings can be beneficial in helping students master the competencies in the comprehensive developmental guidance programs in order to reach their goals. One tool that can be used at all of these levels is the career genogram (Heppner, O'Brien, Hinkelman, & Humphrey, 1994; Moon, Coleman, McCollum, Nelson, & Jensen-Scott, 1993; Okiishi, 1987; Okocha, 1998).

The use of genograms in career counseling provides the child and counselor a nonthreatening method of assessing and discussing the career patterns in the child's family. The ability to be flexible with this type of assessment offers many advantages, including the ability of the counselor to adapt the genogram process to the developmental needs of the client. In supervising school counselors-in-training at all school levels, I have instructed students about how to use career genograms and have noted the flexibility of this tool. From creating to processing, using genograms in career counseling can be tailored to the individual child within the school setting.

Career Genograms in Elementary School Developmental Guidance Programs

The general career goal that is outlined in comprehensive developmental guidance programs for the elementary school student is gaining career awareness (Zunker, 2002). Gaining career awareness encompasses the student's awareness of personal characteristics, interests, aptitudes, skills, and diversity of the world of work. Through classroom guidance activities, individual counseling, and small-group activities, students from kindergarten through fifth grade can gain competencies in career awareness. At this level, the use of the career genogram or career family tree addresses competencies of identifying different types of work and workers in different settings, defining work/career, identifying careers in the community, identifying gender similarities and differences in work choices, describing responsibilities at home and school as work related, identifying career clusters, describing how choices are made and relating decision making to career choices, and identifying work and skills of family members (American School Counselor Association [ASCA], 2003).

Parents have influence on their children's early career and educational aspirations (Hossler & Maple, 1993; Mau, 1995; Ramos & Sanchez, 1995). This type of influence is an indication that parents may be the most influential role models for their children (Wahl & Blackhurst, 2000). Many parents may, however, be unaware of how influential they are in their children's lives, especially as the influence relates to career awareness.

Whiston and Sexton (1998) advocated educating parents of elementary-age children and raising their awareness about their influence in the area of career. Parents should not only be encouraged to participate in career guidance activities, but they should also participate in career assessment activities that examine the family's career history. One such activity, a family tree highlighting the family members' occupations and aspirations, is a spin-off of the career genogram (Gysbers & Moore, 1987; Wahl & Blackhurst, 2000).

The career family tree, or occupational tree, is a good choice for the elementary school child because the graphic representation of the tree is appealing at these age levels. With this exercise, only three generations are typically represented in order to make the representation physically and intellectually simple for children to handle. This assignment can be given in classroom guidance lessons, individual counseling sessions, or small groups. Based on my personal experience, it is easier to work either individually or in small groups with the younger children and in large group guidance lessons with older children. The school counselor is encouraged to prepare a tree template to distribute (see Figure 1). The children should be encouraged to add more information if they can remember it and if time allows. Although the assignment is given at school, it should be completed at home with families. Hence, one of the primary goals is to begin the communication process between parents and children about career-related events and thoughts.