Adolescent Possible Selves as Jointly Constructed in Parent-Adolescent Career Conversations and Related Activities

The purpose of this research project is to describe the possible selves that parents and adolescents introduce and jointly adjust, adopt, maintain, or abandon in conversations about potential careers and related activities over an 8-month period. Data were gathered from 19 parent-adolescent dyads through observation of (a) parents and adolescents during videotaped conversations about the adolescent's career-related future, (b) parents and adolescents during video recall of conversations, and (c) logs and telephone monitoring. Findings reveal two broad sets of processes pertaining to the construction of possible selves: “exploring options” and “trying on a possible self.”

[1]  J. Smetana.  Parenting Styles and Beliefs about Parental Authority. , 1994 .

[2]  S. Marshall,et al.  Value socialization in a bidirectional context. , 1997 .

[3]  J. Smetana.  Parenting styles and conceptions of parental authority during adolescence. , 1995, Child development.

[4]  A Michael,et al.  Parents' roles in shaping early adolescents' occupational aspirations. , 2001, Child development.

[5]  C. Cooper,et al.  Patterns of interaction in family relationships and the development of identity exploration in adolescence. , 1985, Child development.

[6]  H. Markus,et al.  Possible Selves across the Life Span , 1991 .

[7]  L. Steinberg,et al.  Parenting styles, adolescents' attributions, and educational outcomes in nine heterogeneous high schools. , 1997, Child development.

[8]  H. Markus,et al.  Possible selves and performance : the power of self-relevant imagery , 1992 .

[9]  Daphna Oyserman,et al.  Gendered influence of downward social comparisons on current and possible selves , 2001 .

[10]  M. Savickas.  Toward a Comprehensive Theory of Career Development: Dispositions, Concerns, and Narratives , 2005 .

[11]  E.,et al.  Self-Discrepancy : A Theory Relating Self and Affect , 2022 .

[12]  W. Goldberg,et al.  Self and possible selves during the transition to fatherhood , 1999 .

[13]  J. L. Holland,et al.  Making vocational choices : a theory of vocational personalities and work environments , 1984 .

[14]  L. Lunsky.  Childhood and Society. , 1965 .

[15]  Richard A. Young,et al.  Career development in adolescence as a family project. , 2001 .

[16]  J. Marcia,et al.  The empirical study of ego identity. , 1994 .

[17]  H. Markus,et al.  Possible selves and delinquency. , 1990, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[18]  W. James.  Psychology: Briefer Course , 2020 .

[19]  L. Gottfredson.  Circumscription and Compromise: A Developmental Theory of Occupational Aspirations. , 1981 .

[20]  M. Chandler.  Self-continuity in suicidal and nonsuicidal adolescents. , 1994, New directions for child development.

[21]  H. L. Smith,et al.  Assessing future possible selves by gender and socioeconomic status using the anticipated life history measure. , 2001, Journal of personality.

[22]  Richard A. Young,et al.  The action-project method in counseling psychology. , 2005 .

[23]  Richard A. Young,et al.  Career Research from an Action Perspective: The Self-Confrontation Procedure. , 1994 .

[24]  K. Hooker,et al.  A Comparison of Personal Project Motives in Three Age Groups , 2001 .

[25]  J. Nurmi.  Adolescent Development in an Age-graded Context: The Role of Personal Beliefs, Goals, and Strategies in the Tackling of Developmental Tasks and Standards , 1993 .

[26]  J. Pittman,et al.  The instability of possible selves: identity processes within late adolescents' close peer relationships. , 2001, Journal of adolescence.

[27]  L. Malmberg,et al.  Adolescents' and parents' future beliefs. , 2005, Journal of adolescence.

[28]  J. Nurmi.  How do adolescents see their future? A review of the development of future orientation and planning , 1991 .

[29]  H. Markus,et al.  Possible Selves , 2001 .

[30]  Walter Mischel,et al.  The self as a psycho-social dynamic processing system: A meta-perspective on a century of the self in psychology. , 2003 .

[31]  A. Tesser.  Constructing a Niche for the Self: A Bio-Social, PDPApproach to Understanding Lives , 2002 .

[32]  I. Fras.  Identity: Youth and Crisis , 1968 .

[33]  Deborah Bybee,et al.  A possible selves intervention to enhance school involvement. , 2002, Journal of adolescence.

[34]  J. Valsiner,et al.  Co-construction of human development: Heterogeneity within parental belief orientations. , 1997 .

[35]  K. Hooker,et al.  Continuity and change in parenting possible selves: A longitudinal follow-up , 2001 .

[36]  K. Hooker,et al.  Possible selves among parents of infants and preschoolers , 1996 .

[37]  Marie F. Shoffner,et al.  African American Mothers' and Daughters' Beliefs about Possible Selves and their Strategies for Reaching the Adolescents' Future Academic and Career Goals , 2002 .

[38]  J. Eccles,et al.  Advice about Life Plans from Mothers, Fathers, and Siblings in Always-Married and Divorced Families during Late Adolescence , 2001 .

[39]  W. Collins,et al.  Parent and adolescent expectancies: individual and relational significance. , 1994, New directions for child development.

[40]  Christina C. Norman,et al.  Aspects of possible self that predict motivation to achieve or avoid it , 2003 .

[41]  Joel Ager,et al.  A Socially Contextualized Model of African American Identity: Possible Selves and School Persistence , 1995 .

[42]  S. Whiston,et al.  The Influences of the Family of Origin on Career Development , 2004 .