Psychological Distress, Perceived Family Conflict, and Career Development Issues in College Students of Color

Abstract

We tested a hypothesized path model that examined the relationships among psychological distress, perceived family conflict, and various career-related constructs in a sample of 329 African American, Asian American, and Latino/Latina American college students. Across each subsample of participants, we found that greater levels of psychological distress predicted higher levels of career indecision, which in turn was associated with lower career certainty and greater perceived family conflict. Lower levels of perceived family conflict predicted high career aspiration for all three subgroups. Higher career certainty predicted greater career aspiration for Asian American students, but this relationship was not significant for African American and Latino/Latina American students. Implications of the findings for career counseling practice and research are discussed.