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Cultural Relativity in the Conceptualization of Career Maturity
Journal of Vocational Behavior 58, 36–52 (2001) doi:10.1006/jvbe.2000.1762, available online at http://www.idealibrary.com on
Cultural Relativity in the Conceptualization of Career Maturity Erin E. Hardin, Frederick T. L. Leong, and Samuel H. Osipow The Ohio State University The present study investigated whether theories and measurement of career maturity, because of their reliance on independence in career choice attitudes as a crucial variable, may be culturally relative and therefore less valid when working with Asian Americans. Asian American (n = 182) and European American (n = 235) college students completed Form B1 of the Crites Career Maturity Inventory (CMI), the Self-Construal Scale (SCS), and a demographic questionnaire. Asian American participants also completed the Suinn–Lew Asian Self-Identity Acculturation Scale (SL-ASIA). As a group, Asian Americans exhibited less mature career choice attitudes than European Americans. However, High Acculturation Asian Americans and those with lower Interdependent self-construals did not differ from European Americans in maturity of career choice attitudes. Counseling implications are discussed. °C 2001 Academic Press Key Words: career maturity; self-construal; Asian Americans; measurement.
To work effectively with diverse clients, counselors need to explore whether the theory they use to guide their interventions represents universal phenomena or is relative to the cultural group from which it was initially derived. Some researchers have suggested that the culturally relative values inherent in counseling are incongruent with traditional Asian values and that this incongruence contributes to the tendency for Asian Americans to underutilize mental health services (Atkinson, Morten, & Sue, 1993; D. W. Sue & D. Sue, 1990). Given that Asian Americans are more likely to seek counseling for vocational concerns (Tracey, Leong, & Glidden, 1986), understanding the cultural relativity of vocational development theories seems particularly important. Career maturity has been an important construct in vocational development theory and practice. Viewing vocational development as a lifelong process (Super, 1957), career maturity may be defined as the extent to which an individual has mastered the developmental tasks appropriate to his or her career stage. These tasks relate to both career choice content and career choice process (Crites, 1965, 1978). In terms of career choice process, previous research has reported that Asian Americans exhibit less mature career choice attitudes than their European American peers (Leong, 1991; Luzzo, 1992). However, other variables in these studies indicated Asian and European Americans do not differ on other indices of Address correspondence and reprint requests to Erin E. Hardin, The Department of Psychology, 1885 Neil Avenue Mall, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210. E-mail: [email protected]. 36 0001-8791/01 $35.00 C 2001 by Academic Press Copyright ° All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.
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vocational development. Luzzo (1992) reported that Filipino and other Asian American students showed lower career maturity than European American students, as evidenced by their scores on Form A2 of the Crites Career Maturity Inventory (CMI), yet the two groups did not differ in their career decision-making skills, as measured by the Career Development Inventory (Super, Thompson, Lindeman, Jordaan, & Myers, 1981.) Using the same measure of career maturity, Leong (1991) reported that although Asian Americans showed less mature career choice attitudes than their European American counterparts, the two groups did not differ in terms of vocational identity, as measured by Holland, Daiger, and Power’s (1980) My Vocational Situation. These results indicated that Asian Americans and European Americans approached the career decision-making process differently, yet still arrived at similarly crystallized vocational identities. Based on these results, Leong (1991) introduced the concept of cultural relativity in the construct of career maturity. He suggested that, rather than automatically assuming that Asian Americans actually have lower career maturity, researchers and counselors needed to carefully investigate possible ways in which cultural differences moderate the meaning of career maturity. One such cultural difference may be independence. Crites’ (1965) theory of career maturity, based on Super’s (1957) theory of vocational development and the basis of the CMI, includes Independence in career decision making as a crucial component of career-mature attitudes, along with Compromise, Decisiveness, Involvement, and Orientation. Compromise is the extent to which one is willing to compromise wishes and reality. Decisiveness refers to how certain one is about a career choice. Involvement is the degree to which an individual is actively participating in the career choice process. Orientation is “the extent to which an individual is familiar with and relates self to the decisional process” (Savickas, 1990, p. 296). Independence in career decision making is defined as the “extent to which an individual relies upon others in the choice of an occupation” (Crites, 1978, p. 10). More decisiveness, involvement, and independence in career decision making, a greater self-orientation, and more willingness to compromise one’s desires with reality are all considered more career-mature. The emphasis on independence seems less valid for Asian Americans than for European Americans. Asian culture is more collectivist and family-oriented (Sue & Morishima, 1982; Triandis, Bontempo, Villareal, Asai, & Lucca, 1988), and Asian American individuals tend to be more interdependent than independent (Singelis, 1994). Indeed, family involvement has been reported to be a significant predictor of career choice among Asian Americans (Tang, Fouad, & Smith, 1999). Thus, this emphasis on independence, to the exclusion of other alternatives, may underlie the cultural differences discussed above between Asian and European Americans in their approaches to the career decision-making process. One such alternative to independence is interdependence. Markus and Kitayama (1991) first distinguished between what they termed independent and interdependent self-construals. Self-construal refers to how individuals see themselves in relation to others. “The independent self-construal is defined as a ‘bounded,
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unitary, stable’ self that is separate from social context” (Sharkey & Singelis, 1995, p. 920). Markus and Kitayama (1991) noted that people with an independent selfconstrual tend to be “individualist, egocentric, separate, autonomous, idiocentric, and self-contained” (p. 226). They argued that an independent self-construal is encouraged and highly valued in Western culture. In contrast, Eastern culture emphasizes the importance of the self in relation to others and thus encourages and values interdependent self-construal. Interdependent self-construal involves “. . . a ‘flexible, variable’ self. Central to the interdependent self is the sense that the self and other are intertwined” (Sharkey & Singelis, 1995, p. 920). Markus and Kitayama (1991) offered an extensive review of the cross-cultural literature, outlining the consequences of an independent or an interdependent selfconstrual on cognition, emotion, and motivation. All the evidence cited supported the idea that Asians and Asian Americans, presumably those with interdependent self-construals, are more attuned to the needs and wishes of significant others than are European Americans and are more likely to behave and to perceive behavior in context-specific terms. Singelis (1994) designed the Self-Construal Scale (SCS) to measure the strength of an individual’s independent and interdependent self-construals. He reported that Asian Americans had a higher interdependent self-construal than European Americans, and that European Americans had a higher independent self-construal than Asian Americans (Singelis, 1994). Given that Asian Americans are more likely to have an interdependent selfconstrual, and are thus more likely to value and respond to the wishes of important others, it is feasible that these individuals would be less likely to exhibit independence and personal involvement in career decision making. They may also exhibit less willingness to compromise in making a career choice, since doing so would represent a compromise of the wishes of important others, as well. It is important to note, as do Markus and Kitayama (1991), that those who are not independent are not necessarily dependent. Markus and Kitayama (1991) argued that self-construal has been falsely dichotomized into either independent or dependent. They argued that this culturally limited conceptualization fails to acknowledge alternative selfconstruals such as interdependence. In other words, finding that Asian Americans exhibit less independence in career decision making does not imply that they are dependent on others in making choices. Recognizing higher interdependence and lower independence in career choice attitudes as a cultural difference, not an inherent deficit, has important counseling implications. “Counselors may erroneously interpret these [less independent] attitudes as indicative of a lack of career maturity, when in fact they are just ramifications of different cultural beliefs” (Leong & Chou, 1994, p. 169; see also Fouad & Bingham, 1995). The present study investigated cultural relativity in the measurement of career maturity by investigating its relation to acculturation and self-construal among Asian American and European American college students. Acculturation was included as a variable because it has been related to other vocational constructs, such
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as career choice and interest (Tang, Fouad, & Smith, 1999), and because it was expected to relate directly to self-construal. There were four hypotheses. First, it was expected that Asian Americans would have higher Interdependent and lower Independent self-construals than European Americans. Second, it was expected that more acculturated Asian Americans would have higher Independent and lower Interdependent self-construals than their less acculturated peers. Third, it was hypothesized that as a group, Asian Americans would exhibit less mature career choice attitudes than European Americans, but that these differences would be largely a function of differences in acculturation and self-construal. Specifically, it was expected that (a) highly acculturated Asian Americans would have more mature career choice attitudes than their less acculturated peers and would not differ from the European Americans in career maturity; and (b) Asian American individuals who are high in interdependence and low in independence would report less mature career choice attitudes than the European Americans, but that Asian Americans high in Independence and low in Interdependence would not differ from the European Americans in career maturity. Fourth, it was expected that Asian Americans would demonstrate significantly less independence, involvement, and willingness to compromise in career choice attitudes than the European Americans, as measured by these three subscales of the CMI. METHOD Participants Participants were recruited from introductory psychology courses at a large Midwestern state university. A total of 417 students were included as follows: 235 self-identified non-Hispanic, White European Americans (52% female) and 182 self-identified Asian Americans (56% female). The data from 1 Asian American participant were excluded because the student’s scores on both dimensions of the Self-Construal Scale were more than 5 standard deviations below the mean. Ages of the participants ranged from 17 to 43 years, with a mean of 19.4 years and a mode of 18 years. The mean ages for the two groups of participants were comparable (Asian Americans, M = 19.48 years; European Americans, M = 19.39 years; t = .36, ns). The majority of participants (62%) were 1st-year students, 22% were 2nd-year students, 9% were 3rd-year students, 6% were 4th-year-students, and 1% were of other statuses (e.g., continuing education student). The Asian American participants represented 15 different countries of national origin. Fifty-three percent (n = 96) of the Asian American participants reported they were U.S. citizens. Two of the European American participants reported they were not U.S. citizens. One was a citizen of Canada, the other a citizen of Great Britain. Materials Demographic questionnaire. A brief questionnaire regarding age, gender, class standing, family income, citizenship status, grade point average (GPA), and college
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major and career decision status (i.e., decided, uncertain, or undecided) was administered to all participants. Questions regarding family income and GPA were asked to examine betweengroups differences that might need to be included as covariates in subsequent analyses. Some early studies reported differences in career maturity based on socioeconomic status (SES) (e.g., Asbury, 1968), though more recent studies did not (e.g., Luzzo, 1992). Intellectual ability has also been reported to correlate strongly (r = .40, on average) with CMI Attitude Scale scores (Walsh & Betz, 1995). In the current sample, the average annual family income of the European Americans (M = $63,000) was higher than that of the Asian Americans (M = $52,000; t = 4.24, d f = 415, p < .001). However, in this sample, family income was not correlated with total career maturity scores (r = .07, ns), so family income was not included as a covariate. Since GPA was only weakly correlated with total career maturity scores (r = .12, p < .05) and did not differ between Asian Americans and European Americans (M = 3.20 and 3.15, respectively, t = .89, d f = 415, ns), GPA was not included as a covariate. Form B1 of the Attitudes Scale of the Career Maturity Inventory. The Career Maturity Inventory Attitudes Scale (CMI; Crites, 1978) measures the career choice process factor of career maturity. Form B1 of the CMI contains 75 items and provides five subscale scores (decisiveness, involvement, independence, orientation, and compromise) and a total career maturity score. Responses are dichotomous (“agree/true” and “disagree/false”) and are scored by counting the number of “correct” responses. Correct responses are scored 1, incorrect or omitted responses, 0. Raw total scores range from 0 to 50. Compromise subscale scores range from 0 to 7. The other four subscale scores range from 0 to 10. In all cases, higher scores represent higher career maturity. The latest version of the CMI (Crites & Savickas, 1995) does not provide subscale scores because they exhibit poor reliability and are not used in counseling (Crites & Savickas, 1995, 1996). In the current sample, reliabilities on the subscales ranged from .43 (Compromise) to .80 (Orientation) for the European Americans and from .40 (Compromise) to .77 (Orientation) for the Asian Americans (see Table 3). Reliability in the current sample for the total score is acceptable (α = .85). The Attitudes Scale has shown reasonable content validity, with career-mature attitudes found to be consistently correlated with other theoretically related variables (Savickas, 2000; Walsh & Betz, 1995). Suinn–Lew Asian Self-Identity Acculturation Scale (SL-ASIA). The SL-ASIA (Suinn, Rickard-Figueroa, Lew, & Vigil, 1987) was used to assess level of acculturation in the Asian American sample. The SL-ASIA consists of 21 multiplechoice questions about language (4 items), identity (4 items), friendship (4 items), behaviors (5 items), generation and geography (3 items), and attitudes (1 item). The questions assess actual behaviors and preferences or ideals. Responses are indicated on a 5-point scale. The final SL-ASIA score is an average of the 21 responses and ranges from 1 (low acculturation; i.e., high Asian identification) to 5 (high acculturation; i.e., high Western identification).
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Reported internal consistency reliabilities for the 21 items are high, ranging from .88 (Suinn et al., 1987) to .91 (Suinn, Ahuna, & Khoo, 1992). Reliability in the current sample was good (α = .92). Suinn et al. (1987) reported consistent differences based on generation level, with first-generation Asian Americans scoring lowest and fourth-generation Asian Americans scoring highest. These results are consistent with acculturation theory and attest to the validity of the SL-ASIA. In the current sample, SL-ASIA scores for the Asian American participants who were not U.S. citizens (M = 2.37) were lower than those of the U.S. citizens (M = 3.24; t = −11.29, d f = 180, p < .001). Self-Construal Scale (SCS). The Self-Construal Scale (Singelis, 1994) measures an individual’s independent and interdependent self-construals, as defined by Markus and Kitayama (1991). Consistent with the idea that independence and interdependence are two separate dimensions, rather than opposite ends of a single continuum, the SCS provides separate scores for the strength of an individual’s interdependent and independent self-construals. Reliabilities for the 15-item scales are somewhat better for the European Americans (Independence, α = .73; Interdependence, α = .64) than for the Asian Americans (Independence, α = .69; Interdependence, α = .61). In the current sample, reliabilities were comparable to reliabilities reported elsewhere (Singelis, 1994; Singelis, Bond, Sharkey, & Lai, 1999). Although these reliabilities were low, they were comparable to those reported for other measures of self-construal and individualism–collectivism. For example, Cross (1995) obtained αs of .72 and .62 for Asian and European American students, respectively, on a measure of independent self-construal [The Private Ego-Task Subscale from the Breckler, Greenwald, & Wiggins (1986; cited in Cross, 1995) Ego-Tasks Subscales]. Cross also obtained αs of .78 and .68 for Asian and European Americans, respectively, on a measure of interdependent self-construal (items from a measure of group-oriented collectivism; Yamaguchi, 1994). Respondents indicate their agreement with each of the 30 statements on a 7-point Likert-type scale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). Previous factor analysis revealed that all the items loaded positively on their respective subscale (Singelis, 1994). There are no reverse-scored items on the SCS. An example of an independent item is, “I’d rather say ‘No’ directly, than risk being misunderstood.” An example of an interdependent item is, “I should take into consideration my parents’ advice when making education/career plans.” Responses on each subscale are averaged to give separate independent and interdependent scores that may range from 1 to 7, with higher scores indicating a higher self-construal. Singelis (1994) reported good face validity for the scale as well as evidence for the construct, content, and predictive validity of the scale. Procedure All measures were administered in single sessions to groups of 5 to 30 participants. European American and Asian American participants were recruited and tested separately. European American participants received the demographic
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questionnaire, Form B1 of the CMI Attitudes Scale, and then the SCS. The Asian American participants received the demographic questionnaire, followed by Form B1 of the CMI Attitudes Scale, the SL-ASIA, and the SCS. The initial 54 participants (14 Asian Americans and 40 European Americans) did not receive the SCS. RESULTS Given the large number of comparisons made, an α level of .01 was set as the level of significance for all analyses. It was expected that Asian Americans would have higher Interdependent and lower Independent self-construals than the European Americans. The means and standard deviations for both dimensions of the SCS (Independence and Interdependence) are presented in the top two rows of Table 1. Consistent with the hypothesis, Asian American participants exhibited a higher Interdependent self-construal than the European Americans (M = 4.88 and 4.55, respectively, t = 5.11, d f = 362, p < .001). Contrary to expectations, however, the Asian American and European American participants did not differ in the strength of their Independent self-construals (M = 4.94 and 4.96, respectively, t = −.29, d f = 362, ns). Thus, the Asian American and European American participants were equally Independent, while the Asian Americans were at the same time more Interdependent than the European Americans. As seen in the bottom rows of Table 1, there were no gender differences in self-construal (Independence, t = −1.13, d f = 362, ns; Interdependence, t = .48, d f = 362, ns). Self-construal was expected to vary as a function of acculturation among the Asian American participants. Specifically, it was hypothesized that more acculturated Asian Americans would have higher Independent and lower Interdependent TABLE 1 Mean SCS and CMI Total Scores as a Function of Gender and Acculturation SCS factor
Group
Independence
Interdependence
CMI total score
n
M(S D)
n
M(S D)
n
M(S D)
Ethnicity European American Asian Americans High Acculturation Medium Acculturation Low Acculturation Gender Women Men
195 169 29 88 52
4.96(.67) 4.94(.69) 5.04(.77) 5.01(.67) 4.75(.66)
195 169 29 88 52
4.55(.63) 4.88(.60) 4.71(.58) 4.86(.56) 5.01(.66)
235 182 30 96 56
33.77(4.88) 30.86(5.36) 32.97(5.27) 31.42(5.08) 28.79(5.30)
197 167
4.98(.67) 4.90(.69)
197 167
4.69(.61) 4.72(.67)
224 193
32.85(5.60) 32.10(4.89)
Total
364
4.95(.68)
364
4.71(.64)
417
32.50(5.29)
Note. Maximum total score on both SCS dimensions is 7. Maximum CMI total score is 50. Fifty-three participants did not complete the SCS.
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self-construals than their less acculturated peers. To examine differences in selfconstrual as a function of acculturation, the Asian American participants were divided into Low, Medium, and High Acculturation groups based on their SL-ASIA scores. These groups were defined by trichotomizing the 5-point scale into roughly equal intervals. Low acculturation Asian Americans (n = 56) have SL-ASIA scores less than 2.38. Medium acculturation Asian Americans (n = 96) have SL-ASIA scores between 2.38 and 3.62. High acculturation Asian Americans (n = 30) have SL-ASIA scores above 3.67. Means and standard deviations for both dimensions of the SCS for the acculturation groups are presented in the middle section of Table 1. To test the hypothesis that High Acculturation Asian Americans would have higher independent and lower interdependent self-construals than their less acculturated peers and would not differ in self-construal from the European Americans, a one-way MANOVA was conducted with the SCS scores as dependent variables and the three acculturation groups and the European Americans as the four levels of the independent variable. The MANOVA revealed a main effect on the Interdependence scale only [F(3, 360) = 10.27, p < .001, η2 = .08]. Post hoc Tukey tests indicated that the Low (M = 5.01) and Medium (M = 4.86) Acculturation Asian Americans have significantly higher SCS Interdependence scores than the European Americans (M = 4.55; p < .001). No differences were found between groups on the Independence scale [F(3, 360), = 1.85, ns], indicating that regardless of acculturation, all participants hold similarly Independent self-construals. The third hypothesis was that, as a group, Asian Americans would exhibit lower career maturity than the European Americans, but that this difference would largely be a function of acculturation and self-construal. To examine the effects of acculturation, a 2 (gender: male vs female) × 4 (ethnicity/acculturation: European Americans vs High, Medium, and Low Acculturation Asian Americans) ANOVA was conducted with CMI Total scores as the dependent variable. There was a significant main effect of acculturation [F(3, 409) = 16.46, p < .001, η2 = .11]. Post hoc Tukey tests revealed that the Low (M = 28.79) and Medium Acculturation (M = 31.42) Asian Americans had significantly lower CMI Total scores than the European Americans (M = 33.77). The Low Acculturation Asian Americans also had significantly lower CMI total scores than the Medium and High Acculturation (M = 32.97) Asian Americans (all ps <.01). The High Acculturation Asian Americans did not differ from the European Americans in CMI Total Scores ( p > .8). Self-Construal and Career Choice Attitudes To examine the relationship between self-construal and career choice attitudes, participants were divided into groups based on their Self-Construal Scale (SCS) scores. For each factor, a median split was used to dichotomize SCS scores for the total sample. High Independence participants are those with SCS Independence scores in the upper half of the total sample (>4.61, M = 5.5), and Low Independence participants are those with scores in the lower half of the
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HARDIN, LEONG, AND OSIPOW TABLE 2 CMI Total and Subscale Scores as a Function of Self-Construal
SCS dimensions Interde- Independpendence ence
CMI subscale [M(SD)] n
CMI total M(SD)
Compromise
Decisiveness
Independence
Involvement
Orientation
Low
Low High Total
94 32.77(5.18) 5.18(1.38) 4.80(2.24) 8.51(1.76) 8.36(1.62) 7.01(2.48) 88 33.89(4.98) 5.27(1.42) 4.80(2.56) 9.05(1.45) 8.98(1.03) 7.77(2.38) 182 33.31(5.10) 5.23(1.40) 4.80(2.39) 8.77(1.64) 8.66(1.40) 7.38(2.45)
High
Low High Total
88 31.35(5.54) 4.72(1.34) 4.66(2.54) 7.93(1.66) 8.10(1.67) 7.03(2.93) 94 30.90(5.13) 4.66(1.44) 4.21(2.32) 8.13(1.77) 7.90(1.80) 7.30(2.40) 182 31.12(5.32) 4.69(1.39) 4.43(2.43) 8.03(1.72) 8.00(1.73) 7.17(2.67)
Note. Maximum total CMI score is 50; maximum score on the Compromise subscale is 7; maximum score on the Decisiveness, Independence, Involvement, and Orientation subscales is 10.
total sample (<4.61, M = 4.4). Similarly, High Interdependence participants are those with SCS Interdependence scores in the upper half of the total sample (>4.41, M = 5.20), and Low Interdependence participants are those with scores in the lower half of the sample (<4.41, M = 4.20). Table 2 presents the means and standard deviations for the self-construal groups on the CMI. It was expected that participants who have higher interdependent and lower independent and self-construals would have the lowest career maturity, and those with the opposite pattern (higher independent and lower interdependent self-construal) would have the highest career maturity. To test this hypothesis, a 2 (ethnicity) × 2 (gender) × 2 (level of independence) × 2 (level of interdependence) ANOVA was conducted with CMI Total scores as the dependent variable. There was a significant main effect of ethnicity [F(1, 348) = 22.36, p < .001, η2 = .06], indicating that, as predicted, European Americans (M = 33.77) had significantly higher CMI Total scores than the Asian Americans (M = 30.86; see Table 1). There was also a small main effect of interdependence [F(1, 348) = 7.24, p < .01, η2 = .02], indicating that participants who were low in interdependence (M = 33.31) had significantly higher CMI Total scores than participants who were high in interdependence (M = 31.12). Neither of the other main effects (for gender or independence) reached significance, indicating that CMI Total scores did not significantly vary as a function of either gender or independence. Subscale scores. Means and standard deviations on the five CMI subscales for the self-construal groups are presented in Table 2; means and standard deviations for the gender and ethnicity groups are presented in Table 3. The fourth hypothesis was that the Asian Americans would have significantly lower subscale scores than the European Americans and that differences in subscale scores would vary as a function of self-construal. To test this hypothesis, a 2 (ethnicity) × 2 (gender) × 2 (level of independence) × 2 (level of interdependence) MANOVA was conducted with the five CMI subscale scores as the dependent variables. There were main effects of ethnicity on the Compromise [F(1, 348) = 17.49, p < .001, η2 = .05],
SCS Independence SCS Interdependence CMI Total CMI Compromise CMI Decisiveness CMI Independence CMI Involvement CMI Orientation
169 169 182 182 182 182 182 182
n
M(SD)
n
α M(SD)
1
.69 4.94(0.69) 195 .73 4.96(.67) —(—) .61 4.88(.60) 195 .64 4.55(.63) .10(−.10) .72 30.86(5.36) 235 .71 33.77(4.88) .23∗ (−.08) .40 4.64(1.42) 235 .43 5.34(1.34) .15(.01) .64 4.46(2.32) 235 .70 4.84(2.45) .14(−.10) .58 7.90(1.81) 235 .62 8.89(1.45) .18(.13) .52 7.91(1.72) 235 .53 8.73(1.39) .12(.03) .77 7.04(2.54) 235 .80 7.67(2.48) .29∗ (.05)
α
European Americans
—(—) −.27∗ (−.17) −.12(−.09) −.11(−.08) −.30∗ (−.16) −.14(−.17) −.14(.01)
2
—(—) .61∗ (.58∗ ) .59∗ (.72∗ ) .50∗ (.35∗ ) .62∗ (.61∗ ) .75∗ (.74∗ )
3
5
6
7
8
—(—) .34∗ (.51∗ ) —(—) .21∗ (.21∗ ) .11(.10) —(—) .37∗ (.25∗ ) .16(.32∗ ) .33∗ (.30∗ ) —(—) .37∗ (48∗ ) .61∗ (.62∗ ) .26∗ (.24∗ ) .30∗ (.36∗ ) —(—)
4
Asian Americans (European Americans)
Correlations:
Note. Maximum score on either SCS dimensions is 7; maximum total CMI score is 50; maximum score on the Compromise subscale is 7; maximum score on the Decisiveness, Independence, Involvement, and Orientation subscales is 10. ∗ p < .01.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
Scale
Asian Americans
Reliabilities, means, and standard deviations
TABLE 3 Means, Standard Deviations, Reliabilities, and Correlations on the CMI and SCS as a Function of Ethnicity
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Independence [F(1, 348) = 24.10, p < .001, η2 = .07], and Involvement [F(1, 348) = 16.67, p < .001 η2 = .05] subscales. On all subscales, the European Americans had higher subscale scores (see Table 3). There were also main effects of interdependence on two subscales: Independence [F(1, 348) = 10.28, p = .001, η2 = .03] and Involvement [F(1, 348) = 9.83, p < .01, η2 = .03]; the main effect of Interdependence approached significance on the Compromise subscale [F(1, 348) = 5.35, p < .05, η2 = .02]. On all subscales, participants low in interdependence had higher scores. Neither of the other main effects (for gender or independence) reached significance. The only significant interaction was between independence and interdependence on the Involvement subscale only [F(1, 348) = 5.58, p < .01, η2 = .02]. Post hoc tests revealed that for participants high in interdependence, there were no differences in CMI Involvement scores as a function of Independence (Ms = 8.10 and 7.90 for the High and Low Independence participants, respectively). However, among participants low in interdependence, those high in Independence (M = 8.98) had significantly higher CMI Involvement scores than participants low in Independence (M = 8.36; p < .01). In addition, the High Independence/Low Interdependence participants (M = 8.98) had significantly higher CMI Involvement scores than the Low Independence/High Interdependence participants (M = 7.90, p < .01). To further investigate the relationship between self-construal and independence in career choice attitudes, two five-item subsets of the CMI Independence subscale were analyzed. One subset, Parental Guidance, includes items that reflect parents as a source of decision-making expertise. The other subset, Self-Reliance, includes items that reflect reliance on oneself in making career decisions (M. Savickas, personal communication). Reliabilities for the Parental Guidance subset were .56 for the Asian Americans and .59 for the European Americans. Reliabilities for the Self-Reliance subset were lower (α = .31 for the Asian Americans and α = .47 for the European Americans). A 2 (ethnicity) × 2 (Independence) × 2 (Interdependence) MANOVA was conducted with the two subset scores as the dependent variables. There was a significant main effect of ethnicity on the Parental Guidance subset [F(1, 356) = 32.28, p < .001, η2 = .08]. European Americans (M = 4.53, SD = .89) scored higher than the Asian Americans (M = 3.78, SD = 1.26). On this subset, higher scores indicate less reliance on parental guidance, which is considered more mature. The main effect of ethnicity approached significance at the α = .01 level on the self-reliance subset [F(1, 356) = 6.38, p < .02, η2 = .02]. European Americans (M = 4.37, SD = .92) scored higher than Asian Americans (M = 4.11, SD = .93). On this subset, higher scores indicate more reliance on oneself, which is considered more mature. There was also a main effect of Interdependence on the Parental Guidance subset only [F(1, 356) = 14.40, p < .001, η2 = .04]. Participants high in Interdependence (M = 3.90, SD = 1.24) had significantly lower Parental Guidance scores (indicating greater reliance on parental guidance) than participants low in Interdependence (M = 4.46, S D = .99). There were no differences in Self-Reliance scores for the High Interdependence (M = 4.13, SD = .88) and Low Interdependence
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(M = 4.31, SD = .97) participants. The main effect of Independence was not significant, nor were any of the interactions. DISCUSSION Consistent with previous research (Leong, 1991; Luzzo, 1992), the Asian American participants in the present study exhibited less mature career choice attitudes, as measured by the CMI, than their European American counterparts. However, the acculturation and self-construal findings indicated that the observed group differences in career maturity may reflect degree of acculturation. High Acculturation Asian Americans did not differ from the European Americans in career choice attitudes. High Acculturation Asian Americans also did not differ from the European Americans in self-construal. In this sample, High Acculturation Asian Americans had similar levels of both independence and interdependence compared to the European Americans. Although levels of independence were similar across all participants, the High Acculturation Asian Americans and the European Americans exhibited less interdependence than the Low and Medium Acculturation Asian Americans. These results suggest that acculturation to Western culture is associated not with an increase in independence (or individualistic orientation), but rather with a decrease in interdependence (or collectivistic orientation). Similarly, interdependence, not independence, was found to be most associated with career choice attitudes. Those participants who had high Interdependent selfconstruals, regardless of the level of their Independent self-construals, had less mature career choice attitudes, as measured by the CMI, than those participants who had lower Interdependent self-construals. No differences in maturity of career choice attitudes were observed based on level of Independence. Further, the three subscales on which the Asian Americans were found to exhibit less mature career choice attitudes than the European Americans (Compromise, Independence, and Involvement) were also the three subscales found to be most related to Interdependence. Specifically, those participants who were high in Interdependence had lower scores on these subscales than participants who were low in Interdependence. Together with the acculturation results discussed above, this pattern of results suggests that as Asian Americans become more acculturated, they tend to “lose” their traditional collectivistic orientation (i.e., interdependent self-construal) and will be characterized by the CMI as possessing mature career choice attitudes. Those Asian Americans who have not acculturated will hold on to their collectivistic orientation and will tend to be characterized by the CMI as possessing less mature career choice attitudes. This is most clearly reflected in the analysis of the two subsets of items in the Independence subscale of the CMI. In order to obtain a high score (indicating high career maturity), one must demonstrate low openness to parental guidance and a strong reliance on oneself. Indeed, some of the items in the self-reliance subset even suggest a refusal to consider outside advice (e.g., “Choosing an occupation is something you have to do on your own” and “I don’t want my parents to tell me which occupation I should choose”). Not taking into account the wishes of one’s
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parents when choosing a career is completely contrary to the sense of self and the value system of interdependent individuals with a more collectivistic orientation. The results of this study are interesting for two reasons. First, it is interesting that self-construal related not only to independence in career choice attitudes but also to involvement and compromise in career choice attitudes. Perhaps because more interdependent individuals perceive the career decision-making process as less of an individual choice, their attitudes reflect less personal involvement. More interdependent individuals presumably consider the wishes of significant others in addition to their own and may therefore be less willing to make compromises. However, given the low reliability of this subscale (α = .40), which is likely due to the fact that the Compromise subscale is 30% shorter than the other four subscales, it is difficult to draw conclusions about these results. The second reason these results are interesting is because it is interdependence, not independence, that is related to maturity of career choice attitudes. Participants high in Interdependence, regardless of their level of Independence, displayed less mature career choice attitudes. These results suggest that the CMI may in fact not be able to accurately distinguish between independence, interdependence, and dependence. In other words, consistent with earlier suggestions (Leong, 1991), Asian Americans may appear to exhibit less mature career choice attitudes because their greater collectivist orientation (i.e., interdependent self-construal) is misconstrued as a lack of independence. Independence and Interdependence are conceptualized as separate dimensions (Markus & Kitayama, 1991). Empirical data have supported this assertion that Independent and Interdependent self-construals, as operationalized by the SCS, are indeed separate dimensions (Singelis, 1994). Thus, the presence of high interdependence (or collectivism) does not imply a lack of independence (or individualism). Indeed, regardless of their level of interdependence, participants in this study did not have significantly different levels of independence. Further, analysis of the subsets of items within the CMI Independence subscale revealed that those participants who were high in Interdependence demonstrated a greater reliance on Parental Guidance in approaching the career choice process, but did not exhibit a lesser reliance on themselves. Crites’ theory of career maturity posits independence, not interdependence, is important to mature career choice attitudes. If the CMI were able to accurately distinguish between the separate dimensions of independence and interdependence, one would expect CMI scores to be related to SCS Independence scores, but not to Interdependence scores. In particular, one might have expected scores on the Self-Reliance subset of the Independence subscale to have been related to Independence while scores on the Parental Guidance subset to have been related to Interdependence. However, this was not the case. The poor reliabilities of these short subsets of items makes it difficult to draw firm conclusions about their relationship with Interdependence and Independence. However, the observed relationship between the more reliable CMI subscales and SCS Interdependence scores suggests that the operationalization of independence in career maturity reflects the
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common Western perception of independence as unidimensional, with the only alternative to independence being dependence (Markus & Kitayama, 1991). In other words, the CMI only provides choices of “independent” or “not independent” (i.e., dependent) career choice attitudes. With this cultural blindspot, the CMI is apparently unable to detect the alternative interdependent style. Although this reflects common Western conceptualizations of the self, it may bias the CMI against Asian Americans who are lower in acculturation and who tend to have a more interdependent self-construal (Markus & Kitayama, 1991; Singelis,1994). As initially suggested by Leong (1991; Leong & Gim-Chung, 1995), the construct and measurement of career maturity seem to be culturally relative. Counselors who formally use the CMI or more informally use Crites’ theory to assess career maturity should be aware of the potential cultural bias inherent in including independence in career choice attitudes as a key criterion of career maturity. As Leong (1991) noted in referring to his finding that Asian Americans preferred a more dependent decision-making style, the words independent and dependent may themselves be biased: “. . . the labels for these cultural differences seem to be biased toward White Americans and may be used inadvertently to perpetuate a deficit model of Asian Americans. It is conceivable that Asian Americans’ preference for a dependent style may reflect their culture’s greater emphasis on collectivistic rather individualistic orientation in decision making” (p. 227). In other words, counselors need to recognize the cultural blindspot within the CMI and remember the differences between independence, interdependence, and dependence in career decision making. An Asian American client who appears to lack independence may be demonstrating culturally appropriate interdependence, not career-immature dependence. Rather than counseling a client to consider his or her personal goals above those of the family, the counselor should respect the client’s consideration of the desires of important others. It is also important for counselors to assess an Asian American client’s levels of acculturation and self-construal, attending both to the client’s interdependent and independent selves. Specifically, counselors need to recognize that interdependent clients are more likely to be open to parental guidance in their career decision making. For example, asking the client to clarify the occupational values of his or her parents in addition to the client’s own values provides an opportunity to show respect for parents and to discuss and identify important similarities and differences in the client’s and parents’ values. Doing so may allow highly interdependent clients to feel that they are adequately considering the wishes of their parents and also allows the counselor to communicate appropriate cultural understanding and respect, thereby enhancing the therapeutic alliance. For a more acculturated client who is likely to be less interdependent and therefore to feel more conflict between satisfying both his or her own and parents’ desires, a discussion of occupational values may help the client focus less on specific jobs and more on potential areas of compromise. For example, rather than being focused on the presenting problem (e.g., “My parents want me to be a doctor,
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but I would like to be a teacher”), the client and counselor can identify together the values most important to the parents (e.g., prestige). Doing so may then allow the client to investigate alternate career possibilities that satisfy the same parental occupational values and are more satisfying to the client. It should be noted that interdependent self-construal relates positively to openness to parental guidance but not to self-reliance in the CMI Independence subscale. Therefore, it should not be assumed that a client with an interdependent self-construal will automatically be less self-reliant due to his or her openness to parental guidance. The present study was limited by the small numbers of Asian American participants within some acculturation and self-construal groups. Generalizibility is limited because the total sample included only undergraduate college students. Therefore, the findings presented should be accepted with caution and replicated with larger and more diverse samples. Replication with less diverse samples would also be informative. Due to the small numbers of participants within each nationality group in the present study, it was necessary to combine all Asian American participants into one group. The gain in power came at the expense of homogenizing a very heterogeneous group. Examining differences in acculturation, self-construal, and career maturity between and within single nationality groups would provide greater insight into the unique cultural experiences of each group and would appropriately acknowledge the heterogeneity of Asian Americans. It would be useful to investigate possible differences among European Americans, as well. Future research should include multiple measures of vocational development to better assess which measures are more or less valid across cultural groups. Including multiple measures would allow replication of earlier findings (Leong, 1991; Luzzo, 1992) that Asian Americans and European Americans do not differ on other indices of vocational development, strengthening the argument that a higher Interdependent self-construal is not a detriment to vocational development. The present study was an initial attempt to investigate the cultural relativity of theories of career maturity. The findings suggest that theories that rely on a unidimensional definition of independence may be culturally relative because they fail to acknowledge interdependence, which tends to be higher among Asian Americans. By recognizing such culturally relative theories and interventions in counseling and by investigating more culturally valid alternatives, counselors will be able to work more effectively with Asian American clients.
REFERENCES Asbury, F. A. (1968). Vocational development of rural disadvantaged eighth grade boys. Vocational Guidance Quarterly, 17, 109–113. Atkinson, D. R., Morten, G., & Sue., D. W. (1993). Counseling American minorities: A cross-cultural perspective (4th ed.). Dubuque, IA: Brown & Benchmark. Crites, J. O. (1965). Measurement of vocational maturity in adolescence. I. Attitude test of the Vocational Development Inventory. Psychological Monographs, 79(2), (Whole No. 595). Crites, J. O. (1978). Career Maturity Inventory: Theory and research handbook. Monterey, CA: CTB/McGraw–Hill.
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Crites, J. O., & Savickas, M. L. (1995). Career Maturity Inventory sourcebook. Clayton, NY: ISM Information Systems Management, Inc., Careerware. Crites, J. O., & Savickas, M. L. (1996). Revision of the Career Maturity Inventory. Journal of Career Assessment, 4, 131–138. Cross, S. E. (1995). Self-construals, coping, and stress in cross-cultural adaptation. Journal of CrossCultural Psychology, 26, 673–697. Fouad, N. A., & Bingham, R. P. (1995). Career counseling with racial and ethnic minorities. In W. B. Walsh & S. H. Osipow (Eds.), Handbook of vocational psychology: Theory, research, and practice (2nd ed., pp. 331–365). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Holland, J. L., Daiger, D. C., & Power, P. G. (1980). My Vocational Situation: Description of an experimental diagnostic form for selection of vocational assistance. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press. Leong, F. T. L. (1991). Career development attributes and occupational values of Asian-American and European-American American college students. Career Development Quarterly, 39(3), 221–230. Leong, F. T. L., & Chou, E. L. (1994). The role of ethnic identity and acculturation in the vocational behavior of Asian Americans: An integrative review. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 44, 155–172. Leong, F. T. L., & Gim-Chung, R. H. (1995). Career assessment and intervention with Asian-Americans. In F. T. L. Leong (Ed.), Career development and vocational behavior of racial and ethnic minorities (pp. 193–226). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. Luzzo, D. A. (1992). Ethnic group and social class differences in college students’ career development. Career Development Quarterly, 41, 161–173. Markus, H. R., & Kitayama, S. (1991). Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation. Psychological Review, 98, 224–253. Savickas, M. L. (1990). The use of career choice measures in counseling practice. In E. Watkins & V. Campbell (Eds.), Testing in counseling practice (pp. 373–417). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. Savickas, M. L. (2000). Assessing career decision making. In C. E. Watkins & V. Campbell (Eds.), Testing and assessment in counseling practice (2nd ed., pp. 429–477). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. Sharkey, W. F., & Singelis, T. M. (1995). Embarrassability and self-construal: A theoretical integration. Personality and Individual Differences, 19, 919–926. Singelis, T. M. (1994). The measurement of independent and interdependent self-construals. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 20, 580–591. Singelis, T. M., Bond, M. H., Sharkey, W. F., & Lai, C. S. Y. (1999). Unpackaging culture’s influence on self-esteem and embarrassability: The role of self-construals. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 30, 315–341. Sue, D. W., & Sue, D. (1990). Counseling the culturally different: Theory and practice (2nd ed.). New York: Wiley. Sue, S., & Morishima, J. K. (1982). The mental health of Asian Americans. San Francisco: Jossey–Bass. Suinn, R. M. (1998). Measurement of acculturation of Asian Americans. Asian American and Pacific Islander Journal of Health, 6, 7–12. Suinn, R. M., Ahuna, C., & Khoo, G. (1992). The Suinn-Lew Asian self-identity acculturation scale: Concurrent and factorial validation. Educational & Psychological Measurements, 52(4), 1041– 1046. Suinn, R. M., Rickard-Figueroa, K., Lew, S., & Vigil, P. (1987). The Suinn–Lew Asian Self-Identity Acculturation Scale: An initial report. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 47, 401– 407. Super, D. E. (1957). The psychology of careers. New York: Harper. Super, D. E., Thompson, A. E., Lindeman, R. H., Jordaan, J. P., & Meyers, R. A. (1981). Career Development Inventory (College and university form). Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press. Tang, M., Fouad, N. A., & Smith, P. L. (1999). Asian Americans’ career choices: A path model to examine factors influencing their career choices. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 54, 142–157. Tracey, T. J., Leong, F. T. L., & Glidden, C. (1986). Help seeking and problem perception among Asian Americans. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 33, 331–336.
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Triandis, H. C., Bontempo, R., Villareal, M. J., Asai, M., & Lucca, N. (1988). Individualism and collectivism: Cross cultural perspectives on self-ingroup relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 323–338. Walsh, W. B., & Betz, N. E. (Eds.). (1995). Tests and assessment (pp. 275–309). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Yamaguchi, S. (1994). Collectivism among Japanese: A perspective from the self. In U. Kim, H. C. Triandis, C. Kagitcibasi, S. C. Choi, & G. Yoon (Eds.), Individualism and collectivism: Theory, method, and application (pp. 175–188). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Received: August 10, 1999
Cultural Relativity in the Conceptualization of Career Maturity Erin E. Hardin, Frederick T. L. Leong, and Samuel H. Osipow The Ohio State University The present study investigated whether theories and measurement of career maturity, because of their reliance on independence in career choice attitudes as a crucial variable, may be culturally relative and therefore less valid when working with Asian Americans. Asian American (n = 182) and European American (n = 235) college students completed Form B1 of the Crites Career Maturity Inventory (CMI), the Self-Construal Scale (SCS), and a demographic questionnaire. Asian American participants also completed the Suinn–Lew Asian Self-Identity Acculturation Scale (SL-ASIA). As a group, Asian Americans exhibited less mature career choice attitudes than European Americans. However, High Acculturation Asian Americans and those with lower Interdependent self-construals did not differ from European Americans in maturity of career choice attitudes. Counseling implications are discussed. °C 2001 Academic Press Key Words: career maturity; self-construal; Asian Americans; measurement.
To work effectively with diverse clients, counselors need to explore whether the theory they use to guide their interventions represents universal phenomena or is relative to the cultural group from which it was initially derived. Some researchers have suggested that the culturally relative values inherent in counseling are incongruent with traditional Asian values and that this incongruence contributes to the tendency for Asian Americans to underutilize mental health services (Atkinson, Morten, & Sue, 1993; D. W. Sue & D. Sue, 1990). Given that Asian Americans are more likely to seek counseling for vocational concerns (Tracey, Leong, & Glidden, 1986), understanding the cultural relativity of vocational development theories seems particularly important. Career maturity has been an important construct in vocational development theory and practice. Viewing vocational development as a lifelong process (Super, 1957), career maturity may be defined as the extent to which an individual has mastered the developmental tasks appropriate to his or her career stage. These tasks relate to both career choice content and career choice process (Crites, 1965, 1978). In terms of career choice process, previous research has reported that Asian Americans exhibit less mature career choice attitudes than their European American peers (Leong, 1991; Luzzo, 1992). However, other variables in these studies indicated Asian and European Americans do not differ on other indices of Address correspondence and reprint requests to Erin E. Hardin, The Department of Psychology, 1885 Neil Avenue Mall, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210. E-mail: [email protected]. 36 0001-8791/01 $35.00 C 2001 by Academic Press Copyright ° All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.
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vocational development. Luzzo (1992) reported that Filipino and other Asian American students showed lower career maturity than European American students, as evidenced by their scores on Form A2 of the Crites Career Maturity Inventory (CMI), yet the two groups did not differ in their career decision-making skills, as measured by the Career Development Inventory (Super, Thompson, Lindeman, Jordaan, & Myers, 1981.) Using the same measure of career maturity, Leong (1991) reported that although Asian Americans showed less mature career choice attitudes than their European American counterparts, the two groups did not differ in terms of vocational identity, as measured by Holland, Daiger, and Power’s (1980) My Vocational Situation. These results indicated that Asian Americans and European Americans approached the career decision-making process differently, yet still arrived at similarly crystallized vocational identities. Based on these results, Leong (1991) introduced the concept of cultural relativity in the construct of career maturity. He suggested that, rather than automatically assuming that Asian Americans actually have lower career maturity, researchers and counselors needed to carefully investigate possible ways in which cultural differences moderate the meaning of career maturity. One such cultural difference may be independence. Crites’ (1965) theory of career maturity, based on Super’s (1957) theory of vocational development and the basis of the CMI, includes Independence in career decision making as a crucial component of career-mature attitudes, along with Compromise, Decisiveness, Involvement, and Orientation. Compromise is the extent to which one is willing to compromise wishes and reality. Decisiveness refers to how certain one is about a career choice. Involvement is the degree to which an individual is actively participating in the career choice process. Orientation is “the extent to which an individual is familiar with and relates self to the decisional process” (Savickas, 1990, p. 296). Independence in career decision making is defined as the “extent to which an individual relies upon others in the choice of an occupation” (Crites, 1978, p. 10). More decisiveness, involvement, and independence in career decision making, a greater self-orientation, and more willingness to compromise one’s desires with reality are all considered more career-mature. The emphasis on independence seems less valid for Asian Americans than for European Americans. Asian culture is more collectivist and family-oriented (Sue & Morishima, 1982; Triandis, Bontempo, Villareal, Asai, & Lucca, 1988), and Asian American individuals tend to be more interdependent than independent (Singelis, 1994). Indeed, family involvement has been reported to be a significant predictor of career choice among Asian Americans (Tang, Fouad, & Smith, 1999). Thus, this emphasis on independence, to the exclusion of other alternatives, may underlie the cultural differences discussed above between Asian and European Americans in their approaches to the career decision-making process. One such alternative to independence is interdependence. Markus and Kitayama (1991) first distinguished between what they termed independent and interdependent self-construals. Self-construal refers to how individuals see themselves in relation to others. “The independent self-construal is defined as a ‘bounded,
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unitary, stable’ self that is separate from social context” (Sharkey & Singelis, 1995, p. 920). Markus and Kitayama (1991) noted that people with an independent selfconstrual tend to be “individualist, egocentric, separate, autonomous, idiocentric, and self-contained” (p. 226). They argued that an independent self-construal is encouraged and highly valued in Western culture. In contrast, Eastern culture emphasizes the importance of the self in relation to others and thus encourages and values interdependent self-construal. Interdependent self-construal involves “. . . a ‘flexible, variable’ self. Central to the interdependent self is the sense that the self and other are intertwined” (Sharkey & Singelis, 1995, p. 920). Markus and Kitayama (1991) offered an extensive review of the cross-cultural literature, outlining the consequences of an independent or an interdependent selfconstrual on cognition, emotion, and motivation. All the evidence cited supported the idea that Asians and Asian Americans, presumably those with interdependent self-construals, are more attuned to the needs and wishes of significant others than are European Americans and are more likely to behave and to perceive behavior in context-specific terms. Singelis (1994) designed the Self-Construal Scale (SCS) to measure the strength of an individual’s independent and interdependent self-construals. He reported that Asian Americans had a higher interdependent self-construal than European Americans, and that European Americans had a higher independent self-construal than Asian Americans (Singelis, 1994). Given that Asian Americans are more likely to have an interdependent selfconstrual, and are thus more likely to value and respond to the wishes of important others, it is feasible that these individuals would be less likely to exhibit independence and personal involvement in career decision making. They may also exhibit less willingness to compromise in making a career choice, since doing so would represent a compromise of the wishes of important others, as well. It is important to note, as do Markus and Kitayama (1991), that those who are not independent are not necessarily dependent. Markus and Kitayama (1991) argued that self-construal has been falsely dichotomized into either independent or dependent. They argued that this culturally limited conceptualization fails to acknowledge alternative selfconstruals such as interdependence. In other words, finding that Asian Americans exhibit less independence in career decision making does not imply that they are dependent on others in making choices. Recognizing higher interdependence and lower independence in career choice attitudes as a cultural difference, not an inherent deficit, has important counseling implications. “Counselors may erroneously interpret these [less independent] attitudes as indicative of a lack of career maturity, when in fact they are just ramifications of different cultural beliefs” (Leong & Chou, 1994, p. 169; see also Fouad & Bingham, 1995). The present study investigated cultural relativity in the measurement of career maturity by investigating its relation to acculturation and self-construal among Asian American and European American college students. Acculturation was included as a variable because it has been related to other vocational constructs, such
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as career choice and interest (Tang, Fouad, & Smith, 1999), and because it was expected to relate directly to self-construal. There were four hypotheses. First, it was expected that Asian Americans would have higher Interdependent and lower Independent self-construals than European Americans. Second, it was expected that more acculturated Asian Americans would have higher Independent and lower Interdependent self-construals than their less acculturated peers. Third, it was hypothesized that as a group, Asian Americans would exhibit less mature career choice attitudes than European Americans, but that these differences would be largely a function of differences in acculturation and self-construal. Specifically, it was expected that (a) highly acculturated Asian Americans would have more mature career choice attitudes than their less acculturated peers and would not differ from the European Americans in career maturity; and (b) Asian American individuals who are high in interdependence and low in independence would report less mature career choice attitudes than the European Americans, but that Asian Americans high in Independence and low in Interdependence would not differ from the European Americans in career maturity. Fourth, it was expected that Asian Americans would demonstrate significantly less independence, involvement, and willingness to compromise in career choice attitudes than the European Americans, as measured by these three subscales of the CMI. METHOD Participants Participants were recruited from introductory psychology courses at a large Midwestern state university. A total of 417 students were included as follows: 235 self-identified non-Hispanic, White European Americans (52% female) and 182 self-identified Asian Americans (56% female). The data from 1 Asian American participant were excluded because the student’s scores on both dimensions of the Self-Construal Scale were more than 5 standard deviations below the mean. Ages of the participants ranged from 17 to 43 years, with a mean of 19.4 years and a mode of 18 years. The mean ages for the two groups of participants were comparable (Asian Americans, M = 19.48 years; European Americans, M = 19.39 years; t = .36, ns). The majority of participants (62%) were 1st-year students, 22% were 2nd-year students, 9% were 3rd-year students, 6% were 4th-year-students, and 1% were of other statuses (e.g., continuing education student). The Asian American participants represented 15 different countries of national origin. Fifty-three percent (n = 96) of the Asian American participants reported they were U.S. citizens. Two of the European American participants reported they were not U.S. citizens. One was a citizen of Canada, the other a citizen of Great Britain. Materials Demographic questionnaire. A brief questionnaire regarding age, gender, class standing, family income, citizenship status, grade point average (GPA), and college
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major and career decision status (i.e., decided, uncertain, or undecided) was administered to all participants. Questions regarding family income and GPA were asked to examine betweengroups differences that might need to be included as covariates in subsequent analyses. Some early studies reported differences in career maturity based on socioeconomic status (SES) (e.g., Asbury, 1968), though more recent studies did not (e.g., Luzzo, 1992). Intellectual ability has also been reported to correlate strongly (r = .40, on average) with CMI Attitude Scale scores (Walsh & Betz, 1995). In the current sample, the average annual family income of the European Americans (M = $63,000) was higher than that of the Asian Americans (M = $52,000; t = 4.24, d f = 415, p < .001). However, in this sample, family income was not correlated with total career maturity scores (r = .07, ns), so family income was not included as a covariate. Since GPA was only weakly correlated with total career maturity scores (r = .12, p < .05) and did not differ between Asian Americans and European Americans (M = 3.20 and 3.15, respectively, t = .89, d f = 415, ns), GPA was not included as a covariate. Form B1 of the Attitudes Scale of the Career Maturity Inventory. The Career Maturity Inventory Attitudes Scale (CMI; Crites, 1978) measures the career choice process factor of career maturity. Form B1 of the CMI contains 75 items and provides five subscale scores (decisiveness, involvement, independence, orientation, and compromise) and a total career maturity score. Responses are dichotomous (“agree/true” and “disagree/false”) and are scored by counting the number of “correct” responses. Correct responses are scored 1, incorrect or omitted responses, 0. Raw total scores range from 0 to 50. Compromise subscale scores range from 0 to 7. The other four subscale scores range from 0 to 10. In all cases, higher scores represent higher career maturity. The latest version of the CMI (Crites & Savickas, 1995) does not provide subscale scores because they exhibit poor reliability and are not used in counseling (Crites & Savickas, 1995, 1996). In the current sample, reliabilities on the subscales ranged from .43 (Compromise) to .80 (Orientation) for the European Americans and from .40 (Compromise) to .77 (Orientation) for the Asian Americans (see Table 3). Reliability in the current sample for the total score is acceptable (α = .85). The Attitudes Scale has shown reasonable content validity, with career-mature attitudes found to be consistently correlated with other theoretically related variables (Savickas, 2000; Walsh & Betz, 1995). Suinn–Lew Asian Self-Identity Acculturation Scale (SL-ASIA). The SL-ASIA (Suinn, Rickard-Figueroa, Lew, & Vigil, 1987) was used to assess level of acculturation in the Asian American sample. The SL-ASIA consists of 21 multiplechoice questions about language (4 items), identity (4 items), friendship (4 items), behaviors (5 items), generation and geography (3 items), and attitudes (1 item). The questions assess actual behaviors and preferences or ideals. Responses are indicated on a 5-point scale. The final SL-ASIA score is an average of the 21 responses and ranges from 1 (low acculturation; i.e., high Asian identification) to 5 (high acculturation; i.e., high Western identification).
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41
Reported internal consistency reliabilities for the 21 items are high, ranging from .88 (Suinn et al., 1987) to .91 (Suinn, Ahuna, & Khoo, 1992). Reliability in the current sample was good (α = .92). Suinn et al. (1987) reported consistent differences based on generation level, with first-generation Asian Americans scoring lowest and fourth-generation Asian Americans scoring highest. These results are consistent with acculturation theory and attest to the validity of the SL-ASIA. In the current sample, SL-ASIA scores for the Asian American participants who were not U.S. citizens (M = 2.37) were lower than those of the U.S. citizens (M = 3.24; t = −11.29, d f = 180, p < .001). Self-Construal Scale (SCS). The Self-Construal Scale (Singelis, 1994) measures an individual’s independent and interdependent self-construals, as defined by Markus and Kitayama (1991). Consistent with the idea that independence and interdependence are two separate dimensions, rather than opposite ends of a single continuum, the SCS provides separate scores for the strength of an individual’s interdependent and independent self-construals. Reliabilities for the 15-item scales are somewhat better for the European Americans (Independence, α = .73; Interdependence, α = .64) than for the Asian Americans (Independence, α = .69; Interdependence, α = .61). In the current sample, reliabilities were comparable to reliabilities reported elsewhere (Singelis, 1994; Singelis, Bond, Sharkey, & Lai, 1999). Although these reliabilities were low, they were comparable to those reported for other measures of self-construal and individualism–collectivism. For example, Cross (1995) obtained αs of .72 and .62 for Asian and European American students, respectively, on a measure of independent self-construal [The Private Ego-Task Subscale from the Breckler, Greenwald, & Wiggins (1986; cited in Cross, 1995) Ego-Tasks Subscales]. Cross also obtained αs of .78 and .68 for Asian and European Americans, respectively, on a measure of interdependent self-construal (items from a measure of group-oriented collectivism; Yamaguchi, 1994). Respondents indicate their agreement with each of the 30 statements on a 7-point Likert-type scale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). Previous factor analysis revealed that all the items loaded positively on their respective subscale (Singelis, 1994). There are no reverse-scored items on the SCS. An example of an independent item is, “I’d rather say ‘No’ directly, than risk being misunderstood.” An example of an interdependent item is, “I should take into consideration my parents’ advice when making education/career plans.” Responses on each subscale are averaged to give separate independent and interdependent scores that may range from 1 to 7, with higher scores indicating a higher self-construal. Singelis (1994) reported good face validity for the scale as well as evidence for the construct, content, and predictive validity of the scale. Procedure All measures were administered in single sessions to groups of 5 to 30 participants. European American and Asian American participants were recruited and tested separately. European American participants received the demographic
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questionnaire, Form B1 of the CMI Attitudes Scale, and then the SCS. The Asian American participants received the demographic questionnaire, followed by Form B1 of the CMI Attitudes Scale, the SL-ASIA, and the SCS. The initial 54 participants (14 Asian Americans and 40 European Americans) did not receive the SCS. RESULTS Given the large number of comparisons made, an α level of .01 was set as the level of significance for all analyses. It was expected that Asian Americans would have higher Interdependent and lower Independent self-construals than the European Americans. The means and standard deviations for both dimensions of the SCS (Independence and Interdependence) are presented in the top two rows of Table 1. Consistent with the hypothesis, Asian American participants exhibited a higher Interdependent self-construal than the European Americans (M = 4.88 and 4.55, respectively, t = 5.11, d f = 362, p < .001). Contrary to expectations, however, the Asian American and European American participants did not differ in the strength of their Independent self-construals (M = 4.94 and 4.96, respectively, t = −.29, d f = 362, ns). Thus, the Asian American and European American participants were equally Independent, while the Asian Americans were at the same time more Interdependent than the European Americans. As seen in the bottom rows of Table 1, there were no gender differences in self-construal (Independence, t = −1.13, d f = 362, ns; Interdependence, t = .48, d f = 362, ns). Self-construal was expected to vary as a function of acculturation among the Asian American participants. Specifically, it was hypothesized that more acculturated Asian Americans would have higher Independent and lower Interdependent TABLE 1 Mean SCS and CMI Total Scores as a Function of Gender and Acculturation SCS factor
Group
Independence
Interdependence
CMI total score
n
M(S D)
n
M(S D)
n
M(S D)
Ethnicity European American Asian Americans High Acculturation Medium Acculturation Low Acculturation Gender Women Men
195 169 29 88 52
4.96(.67) 4.94(.69) 5.04(.77) 5.01(.67) 4.75(.66)
195 169 29 88 52
4.55(.63) 4.88(.60) 4.71(.58) 4.86(.56) 5.01(.66)
235 182 30 96 56
33.77(4.88) 30.86(5.36) 32.97(5.27) 31.42(5.08) 28.79(5.30)
197 167
4.98(.67) 4.90(.69)
197 167
4.69(.61) 4.72(.67)
224 193
32.85(5.60) 32.10(4.89)
Total
364
4.95(.68)
364
4.71(.64)
417
32.50(5.29)
Note. Maximum total score on both SCS dimensions is 7. Maximum CMI total score is 50. Fifty-three participants did not complete the SCS.
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self-construals than their less acculturated peers. To examine differences in selfconstrual as a function of acculturation, the Asian American participants were divided into Low, Medium, and High Acculturation groups based on their SL-ASIA scores. These groups were defined by trichotomizing the 5-point scale into roughly equal intervals. Low acculturation Asian Americans (n = 56) have SL-ASIA scores less than 2.38. Medium acculturation Asian Americans (n = 96) have SL-ASIA scores between 2.38 and 3.62. High acculturation Asian Americans (n = 30) have SL-ASIA scores above 3.67. Means and standard deviations for both dimensions of the SCS for the acculturation groups are presented in the middle section of Table 1. To test the hypothesis that High Acculturation Asian Americans would have higher independent and lower interdependent self-construals than their less acculturated peers and would not differ in self-construal from the European Americans, a one-way MANOVA was conducted with the SCS scores as dependent variables and the three acculturation groups and the European Americans as the four levels of the independent variable. The MANOVA revealed a main effect on the Interdependence scale only [F(3, 360) = 10.27, p < .001, η2 = .08]. Post hoc Tukey tests indicated that the Low (M = 5.01) and Medium (M = 4.86) Acculturation Asian Americans have significantly higher SCS Interdependence scores than the European Americans (M = 4.55; p < .001). No differences were found between groups on the Independence scale [F(3, 360), = 1.85, ns], indicating that regardless of acculturation, all participants hold similarly Independent self-construals. The third hypothesis was that, as a group, Asian Americans would exhibit lower career maturity than the European Americans, but that this difference would largely be a function of acculturation and self-construal. To examine the effects of acculturation, a 2 (gender: male vs female) × 4 (ethnicity/acculturation: European Americans vs High, Medium, and Low Acculturation Asian Americans) ANOVA was conducted with CMI Total scores as the dependent variable. There was a significant main effect of acculturation [F(3, 409) = 16.46, p < .001, η2 = .11]. Post hoc Tukey tests revealed that the Low (M = 28.79) and Medium Acculturation (M = 31.42) Asian Americans had significantly lower CMI Total scores than the European Americans (M = 33.77). The Low Acculturation Asian Americans also had significantly lower CMI total scores than the Medium and High Acculturation (M = 32.97) Asian Americans (all ps <.01). The High Acculturation Asian Americans did not differ from the European Americans in CMI Total Scores ( p > .8). Self-Construal and Career Choice Attitudes To examine the relationship between self-construal and career choice attitudes, participants were divided into groups based on their Self-Construal Scale (SCS) scores. For each factor, a median split was used to dichotomize SCS scores for the total sample. High Independence participants are those with SCS Independence scores in the upper half of the total sample (>4.61, M = 5.5), and Low Independence participants are those with scores in the lower half of the
44
HARDIN, LEONG, AND OSIPOW TABLE 2 CMI Total and Subscale Scores as a Function of Self-Construal
SCS dimensions Interde- Independpendence ence
CMI subscale [M(SD)] n
CMI total M(SD)
Compromise
Decisiveness
Independence
Involvement
Orientation
Low
Low High Total
94 32.77(5.18) 5.18(1.38) 4.80(2.24) 8.51(1.76) 8.36(1.62) 7.01(2.48) 88 33.89(4.98) 5.27(1.42) 4.80(2.56) 9.05(1.45) 8.98(1.03) 7.77(2.38) 182 33.31(5.10) 5.23(1.40) 4.80(2.39) 8.77(1.64) 8.66(1.40) 7.38(2.45)
High
Low High Total
88 31.35(5.54) 4.72(1.34) 4.66(2.54) 7.93(1.66) 8.10(1.67) 7.03(2.93) 94 30.90(5.13) 4.66(1.44) 4.21(2.32) 8.13(1.77) 7.90(1.80) 7.30(2.40) 182 31.12(5.32) 4.69(1.39) 4.43(2.43) 8.03(1.72) 8.00(1.73) 7.17(2.67)
Note. Maximum total CMI score is 50; maximum score on the Compromise subscale is 7; maximum score on the Decisiveness, Independence, Involvement, and Orientation subscales is 10.
total sample (<4.61, M = 4.4). Similarly, High Interdependence participants are those with SCS Interdependence scores in the upper half of the total sample (>4.41, M = 5.20), and Low Interdependence participants are those with scores in the lower half of the sample (<4.41, M = 4.20). Table 2 presents the means and standard deviations for the self-construal groups on the CMI. It was expected that participants who have higher interdependent and lower independent and self-construals would have the lowest career maturity, and those with the opposite pattern (higher independent and lower interdependent self-construal) would have the highest career maturity. To test this hypothesis, a 2 (ethnicity) × 2 (gender) × 2 (level of independence) × 2 (level of interdependence) ANOVA was conducted with CMI Total scores as the dependent variable. There was a significant main effect of ethnicity [F(1, 348) = 22.36, p < .001, η2 = .06], indicating that, as predicted, European Americans (M = 33.77) had significantly higher CMI Total scores than the Asian Americans (M = 30.86; see Table 1). There was also a small main effect of interdependence [F(1, 348) = 7.24, p < .01, η2 = .02], indicating that participants who were low in interdependence (M = 33.31) had significantly higher CMI Total scores than participants who were high in interdependence (M = 31.12). Neither of the other main effects (for gender or independence) reached significance, indicating that CMI Total scores did not significantly vary as a function of either gender or independence. Subscale scores. Means and standard deviations on the five CMI subscales for the self-construal groups are presented in Table 2; means and standard deviations for the gender and ethnicity groups are presented in Table 3. The fourth hypothesis was that the Asian Americans would have significantly lower subscale scores than the European Americans and that differences in subscale scores would vary as a function of self-construal. To test this hypothesis, a 2 (ethnicity) × 2 (gender) × 2 (level of independence) × 2 (level of interdependence) MANOVA was conducted with the five CMI subscale scores as the dependent variables. There were main effects of ethnicity on the Compromise [F(1, 348) = 17.49, p < .001, η2 = .05],
SCS Independence SCS Interdependence CMI Total CMI Compromise CMI Decisiveness CMI Independence CMI Involvement CMI Orientation
169 169 182 182 182 182 182 182
n
M(SD)
n
α M(SD)
1
.69 4.94(0.69) 195 .73 4.96(.67) —(—) .61 4.88(.60) 195 .64 4.55(.63) .10(−.10) .72 30.86(5.36) 235 .71 33.77(4.88) .23∗ (−.08) .40 4.64(1.42) 235 .43 5.34(1.34) .15(.01) .64 4.46(2.32) 235 .70 4.84(2.45) .14(−.10) .58 7.90(1.81) 235 .62 8.89(1.45) .18(.13) .52 7.91(1.72) 235 .53 8.73(1.39) .12(.03) .77 7.04(2.54) 235 .80 7.67(2.48) .29∗ (.05)
α
European Americans
—(—) −.27∗ (−.17) −.12(−.09) −.11(−.08) −.30∗ (−.16) −.14(−.17) −.14(.01)
2
—(—) .61∗ (.58∗ ) .59∗ (.72∗ ) .50∗ (.35∗ ) .62∗ (.61∗ ) .75∗ (.74∗ )
3
5
6
7
8
—(—) .34∗ (.51∗ ) —(—) .21∗ (.21∗ ) .11(.10) —(—) .37∗ (.25∗ ) .16(.32∗ ) .33∗ (.30∗ ) —(—) .37∗ (48∗ ) .61∗ (.62∗ ) .26∗ (.24∗ ) .30∗ (.36∗ ) —(—)
4
Asian Americans (European Americans)
Correlations:
Note. Maximum score on either SCS dimensions is 7; maximum total CMI score is 50; maximum score on the Compromise subscale is 7; maximum score on the Decisiveness, Independence, Involvement, and Orientation subscales is 10. ∗ p < .01.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
Scale
Asian Americans
Reliabilities, means, and standard deviations
TABLE 3 Means, Standard Deviations, Reliabilities, and Correlations on the CMI and SCS as a Function of Ethnicity
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HARDIN, LEONG, AND OSIPOW
Independence [F(1, 348) = 24.10, p < .001, η2 = .07], and Involvement [F(1, 348) = 16.67, p < .001 η2 = .05] subscales. On all subscales, the European Americans had higher subscale scores (see Table 3). There were also main effects of interdependence on two subscales: Independence [F(1, 348) = 10.28, p = .001, η2 = .03] and Involvement [F(1, 348) = 9.83, p < .01, η2 = .03]; the main effect of Interdependence approached significance on the Compromise subscale [F(1, 348) = 5.35, p < .05, η2 = .02]. On all subscales, participants low in interdependence had higher scores. Neither of the other main effects (for gender or independence) reached significance. The only significant interaction was between independence and interdependence on the Involvement subscale only [F(1, 348) = 5.58, p < .01, η2 = .02]. Post hoc tests revealed that for participants high in interdependence, there were no differences in CMI Involvement scores as a function of Independence (Ms = 8.10 and 7.90 for the High and Low Independence participants, respectively). However, among participants low in interdependence, those high in Independence (M = 8.98) had significantly higher CMI Involvement scores than participants low in Independence (M = 8.36; p < .01). In addition, the High Independence/Low Interdependence participants (M = 8.98) had significantly higher CMI Involvement scores than the Low Independence/High Interdependence participants (M = 7.90, p < .01). To further investigate the relationship between self-construal and independence in career choice attitudes, two five-item subsets of the CMI Independence subscale were analyzed. One subset, Parental Guidance, includes items that reflect parents as a source of decision-making expertise. The other subset, Self-Reliance, includes items that reflect reliance on oneself in making career decisions (M. Savickas, personal communication). Reliabilities for the Parental Guidance subset were .56 for the Asian Americans and .59 for the European Americans. Reliabilities for the Self-Reliance subset were lower (α = .31 for the Asian Americans and α = .47 for the European Americans). A 2 (ethnicity) × 2 (Independence) × 2 (Interdependence) MANOVA was conducted with the two subset scores as the dependent variables. There was a significant main effect of ethnicity on the Parental Guidance subset [F(1, 356) = 32.28, p < .001, η2 = .08]. European Americans (M = 4.53, SD = .89) scored higher than the Asian Americans (M = 3.78, SD = 1.26). On this subset, higher scores indicate less reliance on parental guidance, which is considered more mature. The main effect of ethnicity approached significance at the α = .01 level on the self-reliance subset [F(1, 356) = 6.38, p < .02, η2 = .02]. European Americans (M = 4.37, SD = .92) scored higher than Asian Americans (M = 4.11, SD = .93). On this subset, higher scores indicate more reliance on oneself, which is considered more mature. There was also a main effect of Interdependence on the Parental Guidance subset only [F(1, 356) = 14.40, p < .001, η2 = .04]. Participants high in Interdependence (M = 3.90, SD = 1.24) had significantly lower Parental Guidance scores (indicating greater reliance on parental guidance) than participants low in Interdependence (M = 4.46, S D = .99). There were no differences in Self-Reliance scores for the High Interdependence (M = 4.13, SD = .88) and Low Interdependence
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47
(M = 4.31, SD = .97) participants. The main effect of Independence was not significant, nor were any of the interactions. DISCUSSION Consistent with previous research (Leong, 1991; Luzzo, 1992), the Asian American participants in the present study exhibited less mature career choice attitudes, as measured by the CMI, than their European American counterparts. However, the acculturation and self-construal findings indicated that the observed group differences in career maturity may reflect degree of acculturation. High Acculturation Asian Americans did not differ from the European Americans in career choice attitudes. High Acculturation Asian Americans also did not differ from the European Americans in self-construal. In this sample, High Acculturation Asian Americans had similar levels of both independence and interdependence compared to the European Americans. Although levels of independence were similar across all participants, the High Acculturation Asian Americans and the European Americans exhibited less interdependence than the Low and Medium Acculturation Asian Americans. These results suggest that acculturation to Western culture is associated not with an increase in independence (or individualistic orientation), but rather with a decrease in interdependence (or collectivistic orientation). Similarly, interdependence, not independence, was found to be most associated with career choice attitudes. Those participants who had high Interdependent selfconstruals, regardless of the level of their Independent self-construals, had less mature career choice attitudes, as measured by the CMI, than those participants who had lower Interdependent self-construals. No differences in maturity of career choice attitudes were observed based on level of Independence. Further, the three subscales on which the Asian Americans were found to exhibit less mature career choice attitudes than the European Americans (Compromise, Independence, and Involvement) were also the three subscales found to be most related to Interdependence. Specifically, those participants who were high in Interdependence had lower scores on these subscales than participants who were low in Interdependence. Together with the acculturation results discussed above, this pattern of results suggests that as Asian Americans become more acculturated, they tend to “lose” their traditional collectivistic orientation (i.e., interdependent self-construal) and will be characterized by the CMI as possessing mature career choice attitudes. Those Asian Americans who have not acculturated will hold on to their collectivistic orientation and will tend to be characterized by the CMI as possessing less mature career choice attitudes. This is most clearly reflected in the analysis of the two subsets of items in the Independence subscale of the CMI. In order to obtain a high score (indicating high career maturity), one must demonstrate low openness to parental guidance and a strong reliance on oneself. Indeed, some of the items in the self-reliance subset even suggest a refusal to consider outside advice (e.g., “Choosing an occupation is something you have to do on your own” and “I don’t want my parents to tell me which occupation I should choose”). Not taking into account the wishes of one’s
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HARDIN, LEONG, AND OSIPOW
parents when choosing a career is completely contrary to the sense of self and the value system of interdependent individuals with a more collectivistic orientation. The results of this study are interesting for two reasons. First, it is interesting that self-construal related not only to independence in career choice attitudes but also to involvement and compromise in career choice attitudes. Perhaps because more interdependent individuals perceive the career decision-making process as less of an individual choice, their attitudes reflect less personal involvement. More interdependent individuals presumably consider the wishes of significant others in addition to their own and may therefore be less willing to make compromises. However, given the low reliability of this subscale (α = .40), which is likely due to the fact that the Compromise subscale is 30% shorter than the other four subscales, it is difficult to draw conclusions about these results. The second reason these results are interesting is because it is interdependence, not independence, that is related to maturity of career choice attitudes. Participants high in Interdependence, regardless of their level of Independence, displayed less mature career choice attitudes. These results suggest that the CMI may in fact not be able to accurately distinguish between independence, interdependence, and dependence. In other words, consistent with earlier suggestions (Leong, 1991), Asian Americans may appear to exhibit less mature career choice attitudes because their greater collectivist orientation (i.e., interdependent self-construal) is misconstrued as a lack of independence. Independence and Interdependence are conceptualized as separate dimensions (Markus & Kitayama, 1991). Empirical data have supported this assertion that Independent and Interdependent self-construals, as operationalized by the SCS, are indeed separate dimensions (Singelis, 1994). Thus, the presence of high interdependence (or collectivism) does not imply a lack of independence (or individualism). Indeed, regardless of their level of interdependence, participants in this study did not have significantly different levels of independence. Further, analysis of the subsets of items within the CMI Independence subscale revealed that those participants who were high in Interdependence demonstrated a greater reliance on Parental Guidance in approaching the career choice process, but did not exhibit a lesser reliance on themselves. Crites’ theory of career maturity posits independence, not interdependence, is important to mature career choice attitudes. If the CMI were able to accurately distinguish between the separate dimensions of independence and interdependence, one would expect CMI scores to be related to SCS Independence scores, but not to Interdependence scores. In particular, one might have expected scores on the Self-Reliance subset of the Independence subscale to have been related to Independence while scores on the Parental Guidance subset to have been related to Interdependence. However, this was not the case. The poor reliabilities of these short subsets of items makes it difficult to draw firm conclusions about their relationship with Interdependence and Independence. However, the observed relationship between the more reliable CMI subscales and SCS Interdependence scores suggests that the operationalization of independence in career maturity reflects the
CAREER MATURITY, ACCULTURATION, AND SELF-CONSTRUAL
49
common Western perception of independence as unidimensional, with the only alternative to independence being dependence (Markus & Kitayama, 1991). In other words, the CMI only provides choices of “independent” or “not independent” (i.e., dependent) career choice attitudes. With this cultural blindspot, the CMI is apparently unable to detect the alternative interdependent style. Although this reflects common Western conceptualizations of the self, it may bias the CMI against Asian Americans who are lower in acculturation and who tend to have a more interdependent self-construal (Markus & Kitayama, 1991; Singelis,1994). As initially suggested by Leong (1991; Leong & Gim-Chung, 1995), the construct and measurement of career maturity seem to be culturally relative. Counselors who formally use the CMI or more informally use Crites’ theory to assess career maturity should be aware of the potential cultural bias inherent in including independence in career choice attitudes as a key criterion of career maturity. As Leong (1991) noted in referring to his finding that Asian Americans preferred a more dependent decision-making style, the words independent and dependent may themselves be biased: “. . . the labels for these cultural differences seem to be biased toward White Americans and may be used inadvertently to perpetuate a deficit model of Asian Americans. It is conceivable that Asian Americans’ preference for a dependent style may reflect their culture’s greater emphasis on collectivistic rather individualistic orientation in decision making” (p. 227). In other words, counselors need to recognize the cultural blindspot within the CMI and remember the differences between independence, interdependence, and dependence in career decision making. An Asian American client who appears to lack independence may be demonstrating culturally appropriate interdependence, not career-immature dependence. Rather than counseling a client to consider his or her personal goals above those of the family, the counselor should respect the client’s consideration of the desires of important others. It is also important for counselors to assess an Asian American client’s levels of acculturation and self-construal, attending both to the client’s interdependent and independent selves. Specifically, counselors need to recognize that interdependent clients are more likely to be open to parental guidance in their career decision making. For example, asking the client to clarify the occupational values of his or her parents in addition to the client’s own values provides an opportunity to show respect for parents and to discuss and identify important similarities and differences in the client’s and parents’ values. Doing so may allow highly interdependent clients to feel that they are adequately considering the wishes of their parents and also allows the counselor to communicate appropriate cultural understanding and respect, thereby enhancing the therapeutic alliance. For a more acculturated client who is likely to be less interdependent and therefore to feel more conflict between satisfying both his or her own and parents’ desires, a discussion of occupational values may help the client focus less on specific jobs and more on potential areas of compromise. For example, rather than being focused on the presenting problem (e.g., “My parents want me to be a doctor,
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but I would like to be a teacher”), the client and counselor can identify together the values most important to the parents (e.g., prestige). Doing so may then allow the client to investigate alternate career possibilities that satisfy the same parental occupational values and are more satisfying to the client. It should be noted that interdependent self-construal relates positively to openness to parental guidance but not to self-reliance in the CMI Independence subscale. Therefore, it should not be assumed that a client with an interdependent self-construal will automatically be less self-reliant due to his or her openness to parental guidance. The present study was limited by the small numbers of Asian American participants within some acculturation and self-construal groups. Generalizibility is limited because the total sample included only undergraduate college students. Therefore, the findings presented should be accepted with caution and replicated with larger and more diverse samples. Replication with less diverse samples would also be informative. Due to the small numbers of participants within each nationality group in the present study, it was necessary to combine all Asian American participants into one group. The gain in power came at the expense of homogenizing a very heterogeneous group. Examining differences in acculturation, self-construal, and career maturity between and within single nationality groups would provide greater insight into the unique cultural experiences of each group and would appropriately acknowledge the heterogeneity of Asian Americans. It would be useful to investigate possible differences among European Americans, as well. Future research should include multiple measures of vocational development to better assess which measures are more or less valid across cultural groups. Including multiple measures would allow replication of earlier findings (Leong, 1991; Luzzo, 1992) that Asian Americans and European Americans do not differ on other indices of vocational development, strengthening the argument that a higher Interdependent self-construal is not a detriment to vocational development. The present study was an initial attempt to investigate the cultural relativity of theories of career maturity. The findings suggest that theories that rely on a unidimensional definition of independence may be culturally relative because they fail to acknowledge interdependence, which tends to be higher among Asian Americans. By recognizing such culturally relative theories and interventions in counseling and by investigating more culturally valid alternatives, counselors will be able to work more effectively with Asian American clients.
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