Collectivism and Perceived Congruence With Parents as Antecedents to Career Aspirations: A Social Cognitive Perspective

Abstract

Cultural orientation and perceived career congruence with parents are potentially important influences on adolescent career development in collectivist contexts, but few studies have integrated these variables in a social cognitive-based model. We surveyed 337 Grade 10 students (53% girls, mean age = 15.9 years) from Central Java, Indonesia, and examined a model that consisted of vertical collectivism (VC) and horizontal collectivism (HC), perceived congruence with parents, self-efficacy, and career aspirations. After controlling for socioeconomic status and school achievement, HC was more strongly associated with perceived congruence with parents than VC, and VC and HC were indirectly associated with aspirations via congruence and self-efficacy. These two patterns of collectivism were directly and indirectly associated with self-efficacy via congruence, and perceived congruence was indirectly associated with aspirations via self-efficacy. This study underlined the effects of VC, HC, and perceived adolescent–parent career congruence on career decision-making self-efficacy and aspirations of adolescents from a collectivistic country.