Research on the definition and conceptual understanding of meaningful work is fragmented. The purpose of this study is to better understand characteristics of people who experience meaningful work. Variables will be selected based on conceptual importance and empirical significance from a range of theoretical perspectives on meaningful work. The following constructs were studied through cluster analysis: (a) meaningful work, (b) authenticity at work, (c) career confidence, (d) work centrality, (e) religiousness, (f) meaning in life, (g) coworker satisfaction, (h) calling, (i) work engagement, (j) career commitment, and (k) work values. A sample of 437 adults who endorsed finding their work meaningful were recruited through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) online data collection service. A two-step process by Gore (2000) was followed for the data analysis. First, hierarchical cluster analysis using the “NbClust” package in R statistical software (Charrad, Ghazzali, Boiteau, & Niknafs, 2015) was used to determine the best number of clusters. Subsequently, k-means cluster analyses were used to assign individual cases to specific clusters.

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Thesis advisor: David L. Blustein / Recent immigration into the United States is characterized by an increase in the influx of people from Latin America, Asia and Africa (Larsen, 2004). The increased diversity of the immigrant population calls for greater attention to the needs of this population, particularly as immigrants and their children are entering the education system. A growing body of literature documents the experience of immigrant youth in schools and the implications of school engagement, and academic achievement for their future success (e.g., Suárez-Orozco, Suárez-Orozco & Todorova 2008). Vocational and ethnic identity represent different aspects of the implementation of the individual's self concept which are relevant to students' academic engagement and success (Kenny, Blustein, Haase, Jackson & Perry, 2006; Suárez-Orozco, et. al., 2008). Previous research has examined separately the contribution of perceptions of discrimination and vocational variables to the school engagement experiences of immigrant students and students of color respectively; however, the collective contribution of these variables has not been studied. The present study brings together these two bodies of literature to understand the relationship between school engagement, perceptions of discrimination, vocational and ethnic identity variables in a sample of 125 Cape Verdean immigrant students. The participants were first through second generation high school students with at least three years of residence in the US. Specific ethnic/ acculturation profiles (ethnic, national, bicultural, and diffuse) developed by previous researchers were confirmed in this sample. Differences were found in perceptions of discrimination between those students in the bicultural and diffuse profiles. The results of a regression analysis indicate that perceived discrimination moderates the relationship between vocational variables (career planfulness and vocational identity) and school engagement. The third set of hypotheses, examining vocational variables as mediators of the relationship between perceptions of discrimination and school engagement were not supported. The findings highlight the importance of including considerations of ethnicity, acculturation and perceptions of discrimination as one considers the academic and vocational functioning of immigrant students. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2010. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology.

Thesis advisor: David L. Blustein / This study sought to better understand the complex relationship between family, social class, and career development. Social class, which is largely influenced by family of origin, contributes to work opportunities and work, in turn, can determine social class (Diemer & Ali, 2009). As such, work has the potential to promote social mobility among individuals from low-income backgrounds (Blustein, 2006; Matthys, 2012). For young people who have not yet entered the workforce, career expectations, which have been shown to lead to positive outcomes in work and overall wellbeing (Koen et al., 2012; Perry, 2008; Taber & Blankenmeyer, 2015; Zacher, 2014), provide a promising entry point for understanding and influencing the relationship between social class, career development, and social mobility (Perry & Wallace, 2013). Previous research has shown that family, a crucible for the development of social class identity (Brown, 2004), is also a significant predictor of career expectations (Whiston & Keller, 2004). Given the intergenerational nature of social class (Wagmiller & Adelman, 2009), the current study postulates that family, social class identity, and career expectations interact to perpetuate social inequality. The purpose of the present study was to tease apart these interactions through the lens of Social Cognitive Career Theory (Lent, Brown & Hackett, 2002). Broadly, it was hypothesized that one of the ways in which family influences both social class identity and career development is through vicarious learning; children integrate information about class and the world of work through observing their parents’ work experience. This relationship was examined by surveying 298 young adults online and in person. Individuals responded to a survey asking about their caregivers’ work experiences, as well as their own social class identity, parent support, mentoring experiences, and career expectations. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling and findings revealed that, overall, the hypothesized model describing social class as partially mediating the relationship between caregiver work experiences and work expectations was an excellent fit to the data. Results of the model also suggested that the quality of caregiver work experiences and work expectations is more important to overall work experience than actual occupation. Gender differences were found in the overall fit of the model, as well as the influence of specific variables, such as mentoring. The results are discussed in the context of their contribution to existing literature on intergenerational social mobility and career development. Theoretical and practical implications, as well as limitations of the study, are considered.

Substance use disorders (SUDs) are a serious public health concern contributing to health risks for individuals and communities. Recovery capital are client strengths associated with SUD recovery. Employment represents recovery capital associated with positive SUD treatment outcomes. However, the relationship between employment mechanisms and SUDs are not well understood. The present study investigates how specific employment variables at SUD treatment intake predict (a) successful treatment completion, (b) abstinence at six-month treatment follow-up, (c) reduced use at six-month treatment follow-up. Additionally, employment variable change is explored. A retrospective, cross-sectional investigation with logistic regression modeling to predict substance use at six-months post SUD treatment follow-up was used. Clients in the study period (1999-2016, N = 8,925) were a mean age of 31.7 (SD=11.8), mostly male (67.2%), and primarily White (86.6%). Results demonstrated that employment variables at intake predicted greater successful treatment completion, Wald χ2[36]=185.3, p<0.0001. However, greater employment strengths were predictive of maintained use at six-month follow-up rather than abstinence or reduced use. Further investigation showed, the best predictors of post-treatment recovery were months employed change (AOR=1.53, 95% CI=1.34-1.75) and days missed from work change (AOR=2.43, 95% CI=2.00-2.96). Counseling psychologists can help to improve substance use outcomes and the quality of life for those in SUD treatment by becoming involved in intervention design, consultation, and policy making that focuses on increasing employment length and reducing absenteeism due to substance use. Employment is one route to engagement that can help to improve the lives for those involved.

Vocational psychologists have theorized that the congruence between self and occupations is the key to find fulfilling careers for individuals (Vondracek & Porfeli, 2011). However, the typical use of vocational interests to capture information about the self has been limited because it does not disentangle identity and work preferences in people’s responses in vocational assessments. People cannot be fully informed of careers most fitting to them if the vocational assessment does not capture distinct information about their identity. In this study, we strive to disentangle identity from preferences by including affective identity, which is sentiments that people hold towards themselves, as a predictor for career intent. Focusing on the context of entrepreneurship as a career, we examine how the congruence of affective identity and affective ratings of entrepreneurs provide additional information in predicting entrepreneurial intent beyond work preferences congruence. We invited undergraduate students from a Canadian University to complete an online-survey for an extra credit in their psychology course. We examined the impact of different congruence form of intent by including linear and polynomial terms of self and entrepreneur ratings when conducting a hierarchical linear regression. In general, we found support for the validity of our developed measure and demonstrated that contemporary congruence forms based on factors of affective identity brings new information in career choice perception. Affective identity accounts for unique predictability of self perception beyond vocational preference, which suggests the potential use of affective identity for career search feedback.

Vocational psychologists have theorized that the congruence between self and occupations is the key to find fulfilling careers for individuals (Vondracek & Porfeli, 2011). However, the typical use of vocational interests to capture information about the self has been limited because it does not disentangle identity and work preferences in people’s responses in vocational assessments. People cannot be fully informed of careers most fitting to them if the vocational assessment does not capture distinct information about their identity. In this study, we strive to disentangle identity from preferences by including affective identity, which is sentiments that people hold towards themselves, as a predictor for career intent. Focusing on the context of entrepreneurship as a career, we examine how the congruence of affective identity and affective ratings of entrepreneurs provide additional information in predicting entrepreneurial intent beyond work preferences congruence. We invited undergraduate students from a Canadian University to complete an online-survey for an extra credit in their psychology course. We examined the impact of different congruence form of intent by including linear and polynomial terms of self and entrepreneur ratings when conducting a hierarchical linear regression. In general, we found support for the validity of our developed measure and demonstrated that contemporary congruence forms based on factors of affective identity brings new information in career choice perception. Affective identity accounts for unique predictability of self perception beyond vocational preference, which suggests the potential use of affective identity for career search feedback.

Women face barriers to advancement in male-dominated fields (Glass Ceiling) and in female-dominated fields (Glass Escalator). More research is needed to elucidate the causes of these barriers in order to reduce the negative effects on women’s advancement. This study attempted to broaden the literature through the experimental examination of the glass escalator to further understand the gender inequalities that are seen in female-dominated fields. It employed a factorial design to examine the impact of gender, gender make up of an occupation, and level of authority within that occupation on a supervisor’s evaluation of an employee and decision to offer promotion, mentoring, and increase income and vacation time. Participants were recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk and were just over half women, predominantly White and heterosexual, had a bachelor’s degree or higher, currently engaged in full-time employment, and half indicated their household income to be between $25,000 and $74,999. Each participant was presented with a single vignette of an employee file who was eligible for a promotion from a female-dominated (nurse), male-dominated (engineer), or gender neutral (accountant) occupation. They evaluated the employee’s performance and made recommendations for promotion, increasing raise and vacation days, and offered mentoring. Participants also completed the Gender Attitude Inventory (GAI; Ashmore, Del Boca, & Bilder, 1995) to better understand the role that gender attitudes play in gender bias in promotion decision-making. Multiple analysis of covariance was utilized to examine main effects and interaction effects of target employee gender, gender-type of occupation, and level of authority of the occupation. Hypotheses that men will be more likely to be promoted into positions with more authority, and women will be viewed as most competent in positions that are female-typed with the least amount of authority were not supported. Results showed that gender attitudes were weakly related to an employee’s performance evaluation, raise, and mentoring. Significant differences were found on the GAI where participants identifying as women, gay, and with a graduate degree had more liberal gender attitudes. Possible explanations for the predominantly insignificant results and future directions are discussed. Suggestions are provided for increasing the strength of the manipulation and factors that possibly decreased the salience of gender. Future experimental and continued qualitative studies in applied settings are recommended to identify causal influences of the glass escalator that examine factors of race, SES, and sexual orientation.

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No description available.