Cultural Factors, Perceived Barriers, and Asian American Career Development: An Application of Social Cognitive Career Theory

Contextual factors can play an important and influential role in the career development of Asian American students. The purpose of this study was to examine how specific cultural factors, such as ethnic identity, internalization of Asian American stereotypes, Asian values, parental influences, and perceived barriers, predicted Asian American college students' self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and interests in occupations and academic areas in which Asian Americans are highly represented. Two social cognitive career theory models were tested in this study: the first model examined how distal and proximal contextual influences predicted self-efficacy and interests in occupations with high Asian American representation and the second model examined how distal and proximal contextual variables predicted math and science self-efficacy, outcome expectations, goals, and intentions. Three hundred and eighty-one Asian American college students participated in this study. The findings from path analyses found a strong fit for the first model, suggesting that distal and proximal contextual factors predicted self-efficacy and interests in occupations with high Asian American representation. An adequate fit was found for the second model. The findings from this study provide psychologists and counselors with a more nuanced understanding of how career decisions are made for Asian American college students.