Family Interaction Patterns and College Student Career Development

Abstract

We examined whether and how family interaction patterns relate to role salience and vocational identity in a predominantly Anglo-American college student sample (107 women, 65 men). Results indicated significant links between perceived emotional closeness and structural flexibility in the family-of-origin and higher levels of participation in, commitment to, and value expectations for home and family roles. Levels of work-role salience and vocational identity were not significantly related to family-of-origin interaction patterns. Appraising and attending to family-of-origin dynamics may be useful in career assessment and counseling that involves helping clients understand and fit family into their life-careers. Ultimately, determining with more certainty the precise degree of transportability of the family circumplex model to the vocational domain will require continued research in this vein.