Linking Contextual Affordances

Abstract

This exploratory investigation examined the link between self-reported racial–ethnic socialization experiences and perceived parental career support among African American undergraduate and graduate students. The results of two separate multivariate multiple regression analyses found that messages about coping with racism positively predicted parental career supports involving opportunities to practice career behaviors, modeling of career behaviors, verbal encouragement of career development, and providing emotional support. Messages involving intergroup interactions were positively predictive of emotional support messages and opportunities to practice career development activities. The self-report of exposure to African American cultural artifacts (i.e., nonverbal ethnic socialization) positively predicted parental modeling of career behaviors and verbal encouragement of career development. Messages about African American history positively predicted verbal encouragement of career development and emotional support. Finally, messages about engaging in African American cultural activities negatively predicted verbal encouragement of career development. Recommendations for research and practice are provided.

Keywords

racial–ethnic socialization African American college students career development parental career support

African American young adults face many obstacles when entering the workforce. Like all youth, they have to make critical decisions regarding postsecondary education and vocational choices. Many of these decisions must be made with an awareness of potential discrimination that may be faced. Numerous studies have documented employment discrimination and its effects (Bertrand & Mullainathan, 2004; Collins, David, Handler, Wall, & Andes, 2004; Din-Dzietham, Nembhard, & Collins, 2004; Mays, Coleman, & Jackson, 1996; Wilson, 1996). For instance, Bertrand and Mullainathan (2004) found that by altering names on identical resumes to reflect European American or African American–sounding names resulted in the European American named resumes receiving 50% more call backs from employers. Wilson (1996) found that employers have a variety of stereotypes about African American job applicants living in urban communities. Finally, African American professionals who experience workplace discrimination report reduced job satisfaction (Holder & Vaux, 1998).

Taken together, the process of obtaining and maintaining employment for African Americans is significantly and meaningfully affected by discrimination. The challenges associated with developing a positive career identity and finding employment highlight the importance of understanding the role African American parents and caregivers play in the career development of African American youth. The American Psychological Association (2008) recently highlighted racial–ethnic socialization (an identity-building protective cultural process) as a factor that contributes to healthy development and resilience among African American youth.

To date, no investigation has explored the link between self-reported racial–ethnic socialization and career development. The goal of this investigation is to examine the relationship between self-reported racial–ethnic socialization messages and perceived parental career support among a group of African American undergraduates and graduates. The following sections will briefly review research on knowledge of workplace discrimination among African American youth, followed by brief discussions of racial–ethnic socialization and perceived parental career support.

Youth Knowledge of Employment Discrimination

Knowledge of employment discrimination affects African American youth in meaningful ways (Mickelson, 1990; Taylor, Casten, Flickinger, Roberts, & Fulmore, 1994). Greater awareness of workplace discrimination predicts reduced achievement attitudes and investment in school work (Taylor et al., 1994). Although academic achievement attitudes and investment in school work are linked to knowledge of workplace discrimination, African American adolescents’ perceptions of workplace discrimination has no association to perceived academic ability or ethnic identity, suggesting African American adolescents utilize internal mechanisms to protect their perceived abilities and identity (Beale-Spencer, Ashford, Thompson, & Hartman, 2002). While perceptions of academic ability and ethnic identity may be shielded and preserved, awareness of occupational barriers is linked to African American youth feeling indecisive about making career choices (Constantine, Wallace, & Kindaichi, 2005).

J. M. Hughes and Bigler (2007) posit that African American youth develop such attitudes because, over time children develop racialized occupational schemata (i.e., an ability to categorize groups of individuals by occupation and race), race-based occupational stereotypes, and develop an awareness of the biased attitudes others have about differing types of occupations. These factors then contribute to values, self-efficacy, and outcome expectations relative to education and work, finally contributing to differences in occupational aspirations. Based on previous work (Constantine et al., 2005; J. M. Hughes & Bigler, 2007; Mickelson, 1990; Taylor et al., 1994), we posit that some African American youth are at risk of developing career-related internalized oppression. We define career-related internalized oppression as the development of negative attitudes about one’s Black identity that contribute to African American youth approaching education and career development experiences in counterproductive ways (e.g., disengaging from school, low career aspirations, reduced career decision-making self-efficacy, etc.).

J. M. Hughes and Bigler (2007) further suggest providing interventions for African American youth that help them to avoid, reduce, or overcome negative career development attitudes. Such interventions include countering career stereotypes, improving career-related expectations, and developing psychological resistance to discriminatory experiences. A useful framework for understanding how the career attitudes of African American youth may be affected by discrimination is social cognitive career theory (SCCT). SCCT posits that individuals have the ability to “direct their own vocational behavior” while also conceding that individuals are affected by personal and environmental factors that promote, impede, or supersede “human agency in career development” (Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 2005, p. 102). SCCT further indicates that while some environmental factors may stymie career development, positive “supports or support systems” (i.e., contextual affordances) can assist individuals in pursuing career choices. Racial–ethnic socialization is one example of a contextual affordance (i.e., support) that likely contributes to positive career development.

Racial–Ethnic Socialization

T. L. Brown and Krishnakumar (2007) conceptualize racial–ethnic socialization as two separate but related constructs: racial socialization and ethnic socialization. Racial socialization is the process by which African American parents provide children with an understanding of “intergroup protocol” when interacting with individuals from the majority culture. Ethnic socialization is the process by which African American parents communicate messages about ethnic identity and “intragroup protocol” for interacting with other African Americans.

Racial socialization messages include coping with racism, cross-racial relationships, and racial barrier awareness. Coping with racism messages comprise providing a framework for how to cope with racism when it occurs. Cross-racial relationship messages consist of encouraging youth to have interracial interactions. Racial barrier awareness messages involve warning youth about potential experiences of racism. Warning youth about racism and teaching them how to cope provides a preparative awareness of the existing racial climate and a cognitive schema for conceptualizing and negotiating race and racism. In contrast, African American youth must also understand that regardless of current social conditions they must be able to productively interact with majority group members (T. L. Brown & Krishnakumar, 2007).

Ethnic socialization messages include cultural embeddedness, African American history, African American heritage, African American cultural values, and ethnic pride. Cultural embeddedness consists of displaying African American cultural artifacts in the home (e.g., African American magazines, television shows, art, toys, and/or dolls). African American history messages involve teaching youth about the history of African Americans (e.g., slavery, segregation, etc.). African American heritage consists of “providing activities and opportunities to commemorate the African American experience” (e.g., Kwanza or other culturally focused events; T. L. Brown & Krishnakumar, 2007, p. 1075). African American cultural values messages include helping African American youth develop an understanding of African American cultural mores, customs, and practices. Ethnic pride involves encouraging African American youth to have pride in their African American identity. Providing accurate information about African American culture and history in addition to encouraging youth to be proud of who they are is imperative in counteracting stigmatizing experiences (D. L. Brown & Tylka, 2011; Fischer & Shaw, 1999).

Racial–ethnic socialization is linked to self-esteem (Constantine & Blackmon, 2002), positive mental health (Fischer & Shaw, 1999), approach-oriented coping strategies (Scott, 2003), and resilience (D. L. Brown, 2008). Furthermore, it is known to moderate the relationships between racism and psychological distress (Bynum, Burton, & Best, 2007). More relevant to career development processes, racial–ethnic socialization is positively predictive of academic curiosity, academic persistence, grade point average (T. L. Brown & Krishnakumar, 2007; Neblett, Philip, Cogburn, & Sellers, 2006; Sanders, 1997a), and college academic adjustment (Anglin & Wade, 2007).

Although there is no available research on self-reported racial–ethnic socialization and career development constructs, the link between them is supported by previous research on racial and ethnic identity, correlates of racial–ethnic socialization (Phinney & Chavira, 1995; Thomas & Speight, 1999). For instance, racial identity is associated with the self-report of greater career planning (Perry, 2008) and vocational identity (Jackson & Neville, 1998). Ethnic identity is associated with career decidedness (Duffy & Klingman, 2009), career decision-making self-efficacy (Gloria & Hird, 1999), and career self-efficacy (Rollins & Valdez, 2001).

The provision of racial–ethnic socialization messages is a reflection of African American parents’ own racism awareness (D. L. Hughes & Chen, 1997), racial–ethnic socialization experiences, racial–ethnic identity (Thomas & Speight, 1999), and beliefs about parenting African American children. A logical result of such attitudes and awareness is that many African American parents are likely to provide supports that prepare African American youth to negotiate race-related career barriers. In considering the empirical link between racial–ethnic socialization and racial and ethnic identity (Phinney & Chavira, 1995; Thomas & Speight, 1999), numerous associations between racial and ethnic identity and career development (Duffy & Klingman, 2009; Gloria & Hird, 1999; Jackson & Neville, 1998; Perry, 2008; Rollins & Valdez, 2001), J. L. Hughes and Bigler’s (2007) framework, and SCCT (Lent et al., 2005), it seems reasonable that self-reported racial–ethnic socialization should also be linked to parental career support.

Parental Career Support

Generally, parental career support (also a contextual affordance) is defined as the degree of perceived support an individual experiences in relation to their career development (Turner, Alliman-Brissett, Lapan, Udipi, & Ergun, 2003). For African American parents, career support is filtered through the lens of what it means to be a person of color in the working world (D. L. Hughes & Chen, 1997), hence, resulting in an emphasis of particular career messages. For instance, qualitative investigations exploring the role of African American families in the career development of successful African American women indicates a pattern of racialized and gendered support messages (Pearson & Biescheke, 2001; Richie et al., 1997). Among African American youth, parental career support is positively linked to career decision-making self-efficacy (Gushue & Whitson, 2006), career interest self-efficacy across career interest themes (Turner & Lapan, 2002), career certainty (Constantine et al., 2005), work salience, and vocational expectations (Diemer, 2007).

A limitation of most parental career support research is the use of one-dimensional measures that provide limited information about parenting practices or behaviors that contribute to career development (Turner et al., 2003). Recently, the Career-related Parent Support scale (CRPSS) was developed for ethnic minority youth. The CRPSS fills a needed gap in the literature, giving much needed attention to specific parental processes that contribute to career development. Turner and colleagues (2003) offered an expanded definition of parental career support, defining it as the extent to which parents provide children with opportunities for career-related skill development (i.e., instrumental assistance), provide modeling relevant to education and career development (i.e., career modeling), verbally encourage youth to pursue educational and career development (i.e., verbal encouragement), and offer emotional support relevant to career development (i.e., emotional support).

For African American youth parental career support is imperative, as career self-efficacy may be “weakened” by direct and indirect experiences of discrimination in work and educational settings, knowledge of racism in work settings, or lack of exposure to African Americans or other people of color in specific professions (Hackett & Byars, 1996). African American children develop an awareness of the status of jobs based on race as early as age six (Bigler, Averhart, & Liben, 2003). By second grade, some African American males are already beginning to reduce their occupational expectations (Cook et al., 1996), indicating a need for parenting practices that bolster career self-efficacy and aspirations.

In one of the few studies published utilizing the CRPSS, it was found that African American girls and boys respond differently to varying types of parental career support (Alliman-Brissett & Skovholt, 2004). For girls, emotional support positively predicts confidence in school to work transitions and career decision-making outcome expectations. Among boys, career modeling positively predicts the confidence to engage in career planning and exploration, school to work transition, confidence in career decision making, career decision-making expectations, and knowledge of self and others. The findings for boys are particularly interesting, given that less than half of African American male youth complete high school and only 4% are enrolled in college (Council of Great City Schools, 2010). Overall, perceived parental career support is important but has differing implications for African American boys and girls.

We contend that self-reported racial–ethnic socialization and perceived parental career support messages are linked due to their high relevance to potential negative racial experiences in work and educational settings. It is important to understand the connection between self-reported racial–ethnic socialization and perceived parental career support messages because both sets of messages likely contribute to African American youth developing the skills and confidence necessary for negotiating career and educational barriers. The intersection of both experiences may contribute to adaptive career and educational attitudes and behaviors. That is, African American youth who receive positive racial–ethnic socialization messages and parental career support may perceive racism and or marginalization in educational and work environments as a challenge rather than a threat (Sanders, 1997a), allowing them to more fully maximize their educational experiences and more confidently engage in the working world.

The purpose of this investigation is to examine the link between self-reported racial–ethnic socialization and perceived parental career support messages among a group of African American undergraduate and graduate students. Establishing such a link will lay the groundwork for future research on racial–ethnic socialization and career development, potentially contributing to more effective vocational interventions for African American youth and college students. If we can determine what successful youth perceive as being important in their career development experiences, we can then apply what is learned with African American youth who struggle in their career development. Although previous research suggests a potential link between racial–ethnic socialization and parental career support messages, it is impossible to know which racial–ethnic socialization messages will be linked to specific parental career support messages. Thus, we can only broadly hypothesize that a general link exists between self-reported racial–ethnic socialization and perceived parental career support messages.

Method

Participants

Participants were a group of 139 self-identified Black undergraduate and graduate students attending universities in the south; 22% (n = 31) self-identified as male and 77% (n = 108) self-identified as female. Participants ranged in age from 18 to 47 (M = 21, SD = 3.9). Eighty-seven percent identified as African American, 7% reported they were of African or Caribbean descent, and 5.6% identified as biracial or multicultural. Nearly 38% were raised by their mothers, 2% were raised solely by their fathers, nearly 57% were raised by their mothers and fathers, 3.5% were raised by other relatives such as a grandmother, aunt, or uncle.

Instruments

Adolescent Racial and Ethnic Socialization Scale (ARESS)

The ARESS (T. L. Brown & Krishnakumar, 2007) is 35-item scale designed to measure racial–ethnic socialization among adolescents. For the purposes of this investigation, the ARESS was modified to query participants about parents or caregivers, whereas the original ARESS separately inquires about the racial–ethnic socialization practices of African American mothers and fathers. Racial socialization subscales include coping with racism and discrimination, promoting cross-racial relationships, and racial barrier awareness. Ethnic socialization subscales include cultural embeddedness, African American history, African American heritage, African American cultural values, and ethnic pride. Higher scores represent greater endorsement of socialization messages. Sample items for the ARESS include “My caregiver(s) had Black magazines like Essence, Ebony, Jet in the home,” and “My caregiver(s) taught me to never be ashamed of my skin color.” Responses include a range of 0 (never) to 3 (always). Reliability estimates ranged between .63 to .86 for more recent investigations using the ARESS (T. L. Brown, Linver, Evans, & DeGennaro, 2009). The reliability estimates for this sample ranged from .66 to .91. The subscales of the ARESS are intercorrelated, consistent with other similar measures (Stevenson, Cameron, Herrero-Taylor, & Davis, 2002). The ARESS is predictive of academic grades (T. L. Brown & Krishnakumar, 2007; T. L. Brown et al., 2009) and negatively predictive of delinquent behavior (T. L. Brown & Krishnakumar, 2007).

CRPSS

The CRPSS is a 27-item scale based on Bandura’s (1977) self-efficacy theory, and is designed to measure parental messages of vocational support among ethnic minority youth (Turner et al., 2003). For this investigation, the CRPSS was modified to query participants about their experiences during childhood and adolescence. Individual items were modified to query about past experiences. The following prompt was added just prior to CRPSS items: “When I was growing up …” The CRPSS consists of four subscales that include instrumental assistance, career-related modeling, verbal encouragement, and emotional support. Sample items include “My caregivers gave me chores that taught me skills I can use in my future career,” and “My caregivers would praise me when I learned job-related skills.” Response range from 1(strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). The reliability estimates for the CRPSS during its initial construction ranged from .72 to .88. A similar pattern of reliability estimates was found for the CRPSS in a later investigation (Alliman-Brissett & Skovholt, 2004). The reliability estimates for this sample ranged from .58 to .92. The CRPSS correlates with measures of career planning self-efficacy, self-knowledge, career decision-making self-efficacy, and outcome expectations (Alliman-Brissett & Skovholt, 2004; Turner et al., 2003).

Demographic information

A demographic survey was included to obtain information regarding age, race, gender, and other additional relevant information.

Procedure

Participants were recruited through e-mail via two southern universities and were asked to complete an online survey on African American college students’ social attitudes. Participant responses were collected through Survey Monkey, a password secured Internet survey administrator. Participants were given specific instructions to assist them in maintaining confidentiality, to minimize the chance that participant responses could be viewed by unauthorized individuals. Participants were able to participate in a lottery for compensation of five gift cards in the amount of US$20 as an incentive.

Results

The means, standard deviations, α coefficients, and correlations for the racial and ethnic socialization subscales as well as the career-related parent support subscales are presented in Table 1. An independent-samples t-test revealed no significant gender differences in regard to the parental career support subscales.

Table 1.

Correlations Between Variables.

	CWR	CRR	RBA	CE	AAHS, AAHT	AACV	EPR	IA	CM	VE	ES	α	M	SD	Potential Range	Obs. Range
CWR	—											.66	11.43	2.61	0–15	3–15
CRR	.39**	—										.84	4.64	2.94	0–9	0–9
RBA	.55**	.44**	—									.86	8.14	4.00	0–15	0–15
CE	.41**	.17	.34**	—								.74	7.60	3.02	0–12	0–12
AAHS	.55**	.43**	.52**	.47**	—							.91	6.70	3.82	0–12	0–12
AAHT	.46**	.41**	.43**	.47**	.76**	—						.89	7.24	4.57	0–15	0–15
AACV	.56**	.36**	.44**	.290**	.60**	.66**	—					.69	8.89	2.60	0–12	1–12
EPR	.53**	.31**	.51**	.35**	.67**	.61**	.68**	—				.89	11.79	3.83	0–15	1–15
IA	.54**	.39**	.30**	.25**	.42**	.47**	.35**	.37**	—			.75	22.78	4.96	6–30	9–30
CM	.43**	.06	.24*	.41**	.36**	.27**	.29**	.33**	.49**	—		.92	29.76	6.15	7–35	10–35
VE	.52**	.13**	.17	.32**	.39**	.27**	.35**	.32**	.46**	.52**	—	.58	27.38	2.96	6–30	17–30
ES	.47**	.35**	.32**	.31**	.49**	.42**	.43**	.44**	.63**	.52**	.49**	.89	25.81	7.09	7–35	7–35

Note. AACV = African American cultural values; AAHS = African American history; AAHT = African American heritage; CE = cultural embeddedness; CM = career modeling; CRR = cross-racial relationships; CWR = coping with racism; EP = ethnic pride; ES = emotional support; IA = instrument assistance; M = mean; RBA = racial barrier awareness; SD = standard deviation; VE = verbal encouragement.

*p < .05. **p < .01.

Our primary goal was to determine the links between racial and ethnic socialization and parental career support. Racial and ethnic socialization messages complement each other, often occurring in tandem. Given that racial and ethnic socialization messages are correlated with each other, multivariate multiple regression analysis (i.e., Statistical Package for the Social Sciences 18 General Linear Models) is useful in that it can accommodate intercorrelations between variables while also reducing Type I and Type II errors (Lutz & Eckert, 1994). Multivariate multiple regression can also accommodate multiple independent and dependent variables. In this investigation, self-reported racial and ethnic socialization were separately examined to determine their separate contributions to the variance in perceived parental career support, consistent with T. L. Brown and Krishnakumar’s (2007) model.

The first multivariate multiple regression analysis examined racial socialization messages. Coping with racism, cross-racial relationships, and racial barrier awareness were entered as predictor variables. The second multivariate multiple regression analysis analyzed ethnic socialization. Cultural embeddedness, African American history, African American heritage, African American cultural values, and ethnic pride were entered as predictor variables. For both multivariate multiple regression analyses instrumental assistance, career modeling, verbal encouragement, and emotional support served as criterion variables, representing perceived parental career support.

Presented here are the omnibus results for both multivariate multiple regression analyses. Results for the first multivariate multiple regression analysis indicated that coping with racism, Pillai’s trace = .32, F(4, 92) = 11.24, p < .01, η² _m = .32, and cross-racial relationships, Pillai’s trace = .16, F(4, 92) = 4.06, p < .01, η² _m = .15 were found to be significant, where η² _m represents the multivariate effect size. The second multivariate multiple regression analysis indicated cultural embeddedness, Pillai’s trace = .13, F(4, 86) = 3.35, p < .05, η² _m = .13, African American history, Pillai’s trace = .10, F(4, 86) = 2.63, p < .05, η² _m = .10, and African American heritage, Pillai’s trace = .11, F(4, 86) = 2.84, p < .05, η² _m = 11, were also significant, where η² _m represents the multivariate effect size.

Given that multivariate significance was reached, follow-up analyses were conducted (Bray & Maxwell, 1982). For the racial socialization subscales, coping with racism positively predicted instrumental assistance, F(1, 95) = 39.21, p < .001, η² = .29, career modeling, F(1, 95) = 15.37, p < .001, η² = .13, verbal encouragement, F(1, 95) = 15.92, p < .001, η² = .14, and emotional support, F(1, 95) = 18.27, p < .001, η² = .16, where η² represents the univariate effect size. Cross-racial relationships positively predicted instrumental assistance, F(1, 95) = 9.71, p < .01, η² = .09, and emotional support, F(1, 95) = 4.96, p < .05, η² = .04, where η² represents the univariate effect size. For the ethnic socialization subscales, cultural embeddedness positively predicted career modeling, F(1, 89) = 9.48, p < .01, η² = .09, and verbal encouragement, F(1, 89) = 4.44, p < .05, η² = .04, where η² represents the univariate effect size. African American history positively predicted verbal encouragement, F(1, 89) = 9.96, p < .01, η² = .10 and emotional support, F(1, 89) = 4.33, p < .05, η² = .04. African American heritage, F(1, 89) = 4.91, p < .05, η² = .05, negatively predicted emotional support. According to Cohen (as cited in Tabachnick & Fidell, 2007) an η² of .09 or more represents a medium effect and an η² of .25 or more represents a large effect.

There was a medium effect size for coping with racism in relation to career modeling, verbal encouragement, and emotional support but a large effect in relation to instrumental assistance. The findings for cross-racial relationships and instrumental assistance denote a medium effect whereas the effect for cross-racial relationships and emotional support was small. The finding for cultural embeddedness and career modeling indicated a medium effect; cultural embeddedness and verbal encouragement represents a small effect. The findings for African American history and verbal encouragement indicate a medium effect while the association between African American history and emotional support suggests a small effect. Finally, the association of African American heritage to verbal encouragement accounts for a small effect.

In summary, coping with racism racial socialization messages positively predicted each of the four types of perceived parental career support. Cross-racial relationships positively predicted instrumental assistance and emotional support. Cultural embeddedness positively predicted career modeling and verbal encouragement. African American history positively predicted verbal encouragement and emotional support. Finally, African American heritage was negatively predictive of verbal encouragement.

Discussion

The reality and presence of workplace discrimination and the resulting consequences on African American youth’s occupational goals suggest a necessity for research examining factors that may prevent or buffer the effects of oppression. This investigation sought to determine whether self-reported racial and ethnic socialization messages were linked to perceived parental career support messages among African American undergraduate and graduate students. Two separate multivariate multiple regression analyses were conducted.

There were several significant findings in regard to racial socialization. Coping with racism positively predicted instrumental assistance, career modeling, verbal encouragement, and emotional support. As a group, these findings may speak to the concerns African American parents have about their children engaging in the interracial world of work, where they may be exposed to a variety of assaults on their racial and ethnic identities. The magnitude of the individual relationships between coping with racism and perceived parental career support messages was interesting. Specifically, career modeling, verbal encouragement, and emotional support indicated moderate effect sizes while instrumental assistance (i.e., performance accomplishments) had a large effect (see Tabachnick & Fidell, 2007). This is significant and meaningful considering that opportunities for performance accomplishment (i.e., practice) are the strongest sources of self-efficacy (Bandura, 1977; Byars, 1998).

Cross-racial relationship messages were positively predictive of instrumental assistance and emotional support. It is possible that participants’ parent’s provided cross-racial relationship messages as a function of knowing their children would have to engage Whites in work settings. Instrumental assistance and emotional support may have relevance to cross-racial relationships because participants’ parent’s perceived career-related practice and emotional support as important to participants’ survival and welfare.

For the ethnic socialization variables included in the second multivariate multiple regression analysis, cultural embeddedness positively predicted career modeling and verbal encouragement. Thus, participants who reported that their parents or caregivers kept African American–centered materials in the home reported more career modeling and verbal encouragement messages; this speaks to a preference for nonverbal communication and a proactive approach to parenting. That is, African American parents who seek out African American cultural artifacts for their homes, model career behaviors for their children, and engage in conversations about career development are making the choice to proactively engage their children, thereby communicating the importance of and connection between ethnic identity and career development. This finding is significant, given that nonverbal ethnic socialization is linked to parents’ reporting greater involvement with their children and greater provision of enrichment activities (Caughy, O’Campo, Randolph, & Nickerson, 2002; Caughy, Randolph, & O’Campo, 2002). The significance of this finding is further highlighted by other research indicating that career modeling is an important factor in the career development of African American boys. Among African American boys, career modeling predicts a variety of career development attitudes such as planning and exploration (Alliman-Brissett & Skovholt, 2004).

African American history positively predicted verbal encouragement and emotional support. African American history messages involve providing African American youth with information about slavery and other aspects of African American history. Many events in African American history are related to experiencing and overcoming oppression. Considering that the remembrance of such experiences is painful, African American parents may seek to provide verbal encouragement and emotional support as an outgrowth of their own pain or the distress they believe their children may experience. Hence, African American parents may try to balance the bitter with the sweet, balancing important historical information that provides a context for the African American experience with verbal encouragement and emotional support. While African American history messages may be difficult for youth to hear, they may also be used to motivate African American youth to persevere despite historical and contemporary barriers.

Finally, African American heritage was negatively associated with verbal encouragement. African American heritage consists of engaging in African American cultural activities as well as being encouraged to never forget one’s African American heritage. It is possible that the aspect of never forgetting one’s heritage conflicts with career development. For African American youth, actively engaging in career development requires youth to interact with majority culture, forcing them to become more acculturated. For parents, this may activate the concern that African American youth may forget their cultural roots thereby explaining the negative association between the constructs.

Limitations

One limitation of this investigation is that participants were asked to reflect on their previous racial–ethnic socialization and parental career support experiences. While retrospective research designs have their drawbacks, there may be some benefit to querying African American adults. Participants are likely to have a more crystallized understanding of their experiences, whereas youth in earlier developmental stages may not fully understand their racial–ethnic socialization and parental career support experiences. Research shows parents’ reports of racial–ethnic socialization messages do not necessarily correspond with child reports (D. L. Hughes, Bachman, & Ruble, 2006).

Additionally, college attendance suggests that our participants may have higher career self-efficacy. A study that included noncollege young adults may find differences in the relationship between self-reported racial–ethnic socialization and perceived parental career support. There was also a disparity between the number of males and females in the sample. Although our numbers were limited, other research suggests that only 4% of college students are African American males (Council of Great City Schools, 2010).

It should also be noted that there were two low reliability estimates for the ARESS and the CRPSS. The low reliability estimate for the coping with racism subscale suggests that the items do not fully capture the racial–ethnic socialization construct, speaking to the challenges associated with measuring racial–ethnic socialization. Even under the most optimal circumstances, the messages that parents believe they provide versus what children actually hear at a specified developmental point makes it difficult to measure racial–ethnic socialization (D. L. Hughes et al., 2006; Thomas et al., 2013). In regard to the CRPSS, the low reliability estimate for the verbal encouragement subscale also speaks to the low number of items for the subscale.

Implications for Research

Future research should continue to explore how racial–ethnic socialization may be linked to other career development constructs. These might include but are not limited to career self-efficacy, interest, or choice. In particular, it may be useful to understand racial–ethnic socialization as a moderator of other career development constructs (Constantine et al., 2005) such as perceived racism and career self-efficacy. Finally, future investigations should also consider the use of mixed method designs to better understand future findings. A mixed-methods design would allow for a deeper understanding of empirical findings. This may be especially important, given the difficulties associated with operationalizing and measuring racial–ethnic socialization (Thomas et al., 2013).

Implications for Practice

Relative to practice, what is most notable about our findings is that African Americans attending college report that their racial–ethnic socialization experiences were almost unanimously and positively linked to experiencing greater parental career support. Given our findings, we posit that African American parents intuitively and experientially understand that racial and ethnic processes are relevant to career development. Our assertion is supported by previous research indicating racial–ethnic socialization is predictive of a variety of positive educational outcomes (Anglin & Wade, 2007; T. L. Brown & Krishnakumar, 2007; Neblett et al., 2006; Sanders, 1997b). While it has not been determined if racial–ethnic socialization predicts positive career development attitudes (e.g., self-efficacy, outcome expectations, etc.), it may be useful to integrate racial–ethnic socialization into the career counseling process. That is, if African American parents believe it is crucial to provide both sets of experiences, it may be critical for career counselors to additionally include racial–ethnic socialization into the career counseling process, given that career supports are an integral part of the process. Doing so may help African American youth and emerging adults maintain a resilient outlook in the face of race-related career barriers. The following case example is used to illustrate how positive racial–ethnic socialization can be integrated into the career counseling process.

Jamila is a 20-year-old African American female college student. She is seeking career counseling services because she is considering changing her major. She reports that she has been an architecture major and has done well until recently. She expresses that she is one of a very few women in her major and one of an even smaller number of African Americans in her department. She states that individuals have made several subtle comments to her in regard to her ability to complete her architecture degree; she suspects this is related to her being an African American woman. After some discussion with Jamila, the career counselor discovers it is not her ability or grades but the emotional toll the environment is having on her. She expresses that she sometimes feels isolated and the environment is hostile.

In addition to listening to Jamila’s experiences and normalizing her concerns, the counselor might explore the following questions with Jamila. What are your thoughts in regard to being one of a few African American females in your program? How do you make sense of your subtle racialized–gendered experiences? How do you cope? Do you blame yourself or are you able to place responsibility on those that are hostile toward you? Are you internalizing your experiences? What messages did your family give you about what to do in such environments? Are those suggestions appropriate for your current situation? How do you respond? What in your African American cultural heritage can you draw on to give you strength? Do you feel as though you are able to maintain pride in your African American identity in spite of your difficult experiences? Do you have a mentor? Are you a member of a professional organization that serves the needs of minorities in your field? Such questions when balanced with appropriate psychoeducation about discrimination may help Jamila begin to understand her own worldview, racial–ethnic socialization experiences, identity and their relations to her current situation. Once processed, the counselor and Jamila can explore the accuracy of her worldview in terms of helping her to negotiate the barriers she experiences. Jamila and her counselor can plan her next steps as well as cocultivate the career self-efficacy necessary for helping her to successfully negotiate her educational environment.

Conclusion

The findings of this investigation indicated that self-reported racial–ethnic socialization messages regarding coping with racism, engaging in intergroup interactions, being exposed to African American cultural motifs, and awareness of African American history are positively associated with varying domains of parental career support. It was also found that messages regarding the engagement of African American cultural activities were negatively predictive of verbal encouragement of career development. Both racial–ethnic socialization and parental career support are important contextual affordances that may in combination contribute to the career development processes of African American youth. Further exploration of these processes will likely contribute to the development of improved vocational interventions for African American youth in high school and postsecondary education programs.

Although the findings of the investigation have important implications, it is critical to note that while racial–ethnic socialization is important for the healthy development of African American youth, not all African American parents are equipped to provide optimal racial–ethnic socialization (Frabutt, Walker, & MacKinnon-Lewis, 2002). It is vital that African American parents be supported in developing racial–ethnic socialization efficacy and skills, reminding them of the need to draw upon this well-established cultural practice. Being grounded in African American culture and having an awareness of minority experiences will contribute to the general and career well-being of African American youth. Racial–ethnic socialization may be an important yet unexplored component of multiculturally competent career counseling.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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