Choice of major and career interests among 1.5 and second generation chinese American college students

The purpose of the following two studies is to identify the personal and contextual factors and the ways in which 1.5 and second generation Chinese American undergraduate at two universities believe these factors influence their academic and career decision making. While research on career development has identified important social-contextual factors, the roles of hindering and supportive environmental conditions and the ways in which they impact students' academic and career interests and field of study choice have not been as well understood (Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 2002). This study utilizes qualitative methods to examine how 58 Chinese American college students at two universities make meaning of the personal and environmental factors that influence their academic and career development. In the first study, I examine perceptions of how individual factors such as sense of academic identity, self-efficacy beliefs, and personal interest and aptitude influence the development of academic and career interests. Contextual factors such as parental involvement, exposure to extracurricular activities, and university context are considered to be just as influential, if not more. In the second study, the role of parents in guiding their young adult children's career development are dissected further by examining the role of gender in male and female students' perceptions of parental involvement, with mother's and father's involvement examined separately. Findings indicate perceptions of same-sex parents having more direct influence and the perceptions of the nature and degree of influence differing by participants' gender.