Establishing a Career: Developmental Tasks and Coping Responses.

Abstract The present study identified coping responses that effectively address the six developmental tasks in the career establishment stage. The critical incident technique was used to make explicit the tacit knowledge about task coping used by fifty workers who were successfully coping with the developmental tasks of the establishment stage. The workers were systematically selected to represent different phases in the establishment stage and diverse occupational fields and levels. The workers described the major coping behaviors that they used to deal with each of the six development tasks of the establishment stage. Personnel specialists identified and principal component analysis organized the pattern of coping responses pertinent to each of the developmental tasks. This information is useful in designing anticipatory guidance and psycho-educational programs for students about to face the school-to-work transition and for workers in different phases of establishing their careers.