Encouraging Career Exploration among Adolescents - Essay Example

Encouraging Career Exploration among Adolescents In spite of educational and occupational discrepancies, career exploration is a determinant of a successful future. Poor career choice often exposes people to problems forcing them to engage in unlawful activities. It is this regards that people remain encouraged to make proficient choices to avoid later complications in life. Nurturing careers are among things encouraged from a tender age, to ensure people get the right skills from a minimal age. In as much as career exploration is vital at a tender age, the adolescent age has remained a challenge. Adolescent age varies depending on gender, with girls experiencing it at an earlier age than boys. It is the age where risk behaviors appear through experimentation among the youths. During the experience, both sexes get a ray of decisions and pressure from all the sides interfering with their choices. Based on this regards, various factors affect career exploration among the adolescent. To start, career choices remain guided by the nature of jobs in the later life. When young, children tend make decisions on future jobs depending on inspiration from their surroundings. This, however, changes during the adolescent stage where people often look for ideal jobs. This gets influenced by economic and social contextual factors forcing them to occupy new occupational paths (Nilsson, Schmidt, & Meek, 2002). The remarked transition according to psychological expert Doctor Bandura is because of new perceptions brought by ranging choices caused by many factors. This is the stage where many people feel they want to do more than expected hence engaging in things which go against societal expectations. They filter jobs to come up with the ideal jobs; they want to shape their careers based on job appropriateness (Hobbs & Stoops, 2002). Career decision making is a process that should be completed right from high school; however, the adolescent stage calls for a revision showing career immaturity. Consequently, the inability to make decisions also contributes to poor career choice during the adolescent stage. This is because many people in the adolescent stage feel they have the whole world in front of them. Settling on careers, therefore, remains a difficult activity which requires guidance (Gardner & Steinberg, 2005). Subsequently, migration plays an influential factor in adolescent career decision making. For instance, out-migration of rural adults creates a function of ruralist hence creating a feeling of limited job opportunities. Students in the adolescent stage found in rural areas, therefore, have problems making career choices for fear of job insecurity. The conflicting dilemma experienced by the rural youths is faced by adolescent youths, with many youths unable to judge the difference between urban employment and rural places. In this regard, youths tend to make career decisions which see urban employment guided by high income and more opportunities (Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 2002). Adolescent youths, for instance, argue rural jobs pay peanuts, and so they make the wrong decision of moving to towns while, in the real sense, urban employment pays high but is accompanied with many expenses. Apart from decisions based on rural or urban locations, career choice among the adolescent also faces other barriers. This includes qualification as well as financial obstacles. For instance, many adolescent youths hope for grandiose dreams with some wishing to be doctors while some hoe to be engineers (Gardner & Steinberg, 2005). In as much as these are possible, many youths in the adolescent ages fail to acquire the qualification for such careers. Pursuing medical careers requires hard work and dedication accompanied by straight grades; however, exploring such professions poses a challenge to adolescent youths. This is because they aspire to gain such positions while not working hard to warrant them the same career choices (Flores & O'Brien, 2002). Consequently, the society remains composed of varied social classes. This makes access to various institutions difficult for certain social classes. Some adolescent youths make the right choices scoring the right grades; however, they remain unable to explore their careers due to financial constraints. According to Gottfredson (2001), gender differences remain a key factor that influences career exploration. From research, girls normally pursue careers from a narrow perspective. Their set of career options remains based on what they cannot explore rather than what they need to explore. Boys and girls have equal chances of exploration at an early age, but girls experience diminishing hopes as boys gain confidence. This is partly due to traditions and beliefs, which subject the woman gender to house more than work place. The women, for instance, remain obligated to bear children while men do not face the same predicament (Hobbs & Stoops, 2002). Girls in adolescent, therefore, realize the fact and tend to shy away from career, which might require commitment and might deny them the chance of staying with their families. This, therefore, remains a key determinant in career exploration shaping the nature of career an adolescent chooses. The present adolescent age falls within the generation Y youths who rely on technology for everything preying on social media. Bases on this, current adolescents have a ray of activities in the process of exploring their careers. For instance, career decision making should be based on self-efficacy. This is extremely vital for career development; however, this is not the case for current adolescents. They rely on technology for making decisions seeking advice from social media like Facebook and Twitter. As opposed to traditional adolescents who relied on advice from elder people, current adolescents rarely have time for elder people (Flores & O'Brien, 2002). They have misinterpreted self-efficacy, making decisions based on career-related self-efficacy. According to research, decisions arrived at due to efficacy interests pose negative results to the society. The reliance on social media, therefore, remains an activity among the current adolescents that contribute to their career exploration. According to the adolescent exploratory and risk behavior rating scale (AERRS), 51% of world deaths are in the age of 11 to 14 years. These are deaths mainly caused by suicides and homicides, not forgetting the unintentional injuries adolescent face. Consequently, many adolescents engage in drinking activities either due to influence from their peers of self-decisions (Hobbs & Stoops, 2002). For instance, according to Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 26% have been reported for drinking more than five drinks in a row for the past thirty days. This shows what adolescent youths engage in in order to show their masculinity or the power to follow the crowd. Apart from holding the drinking burden within them, current adolescents also have the quench for fights. For instance, in the year 2005, 36% of adolescents reported physical injuries arising from physical fights (Eamon & Mulder, 2005). This shows the nature of energy adolescent youths have and use at any small trigger. Current youths, apart from the heavy gadgets and machines with fashioned clothes, also make use of their power. The adolescents change with changing fashions and would do anything to have the new designs. In as much as some of the risk activities can result in constructive outcomes, it is evident that most of the activities often lead to negative outcomes (Hobbs & Stoops, 2002). For example, in the year 2002, 47% of adolescent youths have cases of reported sexual intercourse. This is a dangerous activity because it can lead to spread of diseases like HIV/AIDS. In as much as it is understandable to accept these activities, it is the role of teachers and parents to discourage such acts (Nilsson, Schmidt, & Meek, 2002). Schools remain one place where career exploration starts; however, the current adolescent youths have a different perspective. Many youths at the adolescent stages have a hard time accepting their social background. Youths from the poor backgrounds, for instance, may engage in dangerous activities leading to problems that are more social. For example, many adolescent youths in the current world dropout of schools to seek employment with some resulting in criminal activities (Eamon & Mulder, 2005). This gets accompanied by lower academic achievements evidenced by the lower academic results. Some apply dubious means of passing examinations such as cheating a current trend among the many adolescents. With the advanced technology, many adolescents use either their phones or other devices to evade being caught or failing examinations. All the experience arises to the fact that adolescent youths view risk as microscopic rather than macroscopic. It, therefore, is the role of teachers, parents and all stakeholders to make use of adolescents’ stages and model the children into responsible people (Flores & O'Brien, 2002). This ensures career exploration remains in the right course while at the same time it helps develop creative, curious, adventurous and independent youths. This does not only ensure they remain in the right path but also guarantees a bright future for the youths. The current digital society has heightened thirst for accomplishment of various tasks. The social cognitive career theory is an explanation of various factors that affect proficient exploration of careers. According to the social cognitive career theory, personal efficacy remains a leading factor that influences career exploration. Some of the factors that influence personal efficacy include vicarious learning, mastery experiences, affective states and social persuasion. In this regard, personal efficacy remains a determinant factor since it gets created by learning experiences as well as available knowledge (Bandura, Barbaranelli, Caprara & Pastorelli, 2001). Adolescent youths mainly use this as a form of judgment while making career choices. While making such decisions, they base their arguments mainly on three pillars. These include the environmental, behavioral and personal factors. Environmental factors, according to the social cognitive theory, include curriculum interactions as well as experience with various fields of interest. A student at the adolescent stage who has a difficulty in a given subject discipline will tend to shy off from making career choices applying the subjects (Eamon & Mulder, 2005). Consequently, personal issues, according to the social cognitive theory, also contribute to decisions concerning future well-being such as careers. The intellectual ability, for instance, is a key determinant that guides career exploration. In order to arrive at such decisions, adolescent youths accept their social status, after which the decisions they make are guided by the social status. In addition, the skills as well as knowledge significantly contribute to career exploration (Hobbs & Stoops, 2002). This gets facilitated by the willingness and ability of the student to learn not forgetting the learning activities and environment. The social, cognitive theory also points out self-evaluation and self-directedness as a guiding factor towards career exploration. This remains guided by factors created by uniqueness of learners and interest to pursue varied directions ((Lent, Brown & Hackett, 2002). The social cognitive career theory of interest development also plays a key role in career exploration. From this perspective, the affinity to explore varied fields relies on the vicarious exposure to certain activities. This is achieved through skill refinement brought by personal efficacy development. Interest development encourages the establishment of goals, which ultimately lead to career exploration. According to Albert Bundura, the founder of social cognitive career theory, an inevitable take on careers relies on environmental influence from role models as well as successful professions (Bandura, Barbaranelli, Caprara & Pastorelli, 2001). This dictates the behaviors, thinking and expectation of adolescents. Consequently, other factors such as race as well as physical disabilities also play a significant role in shaping career development, according to the social cognitive theory. Last but important, the highest level of achievement in career exploration relies on the ability of adolescents. Adolescents with proficient abilities pose strong efficacy realizing and performing better towards career exploration. It is, however, essential to note that social cognitive career theory does not cater for various determinants. For instance, it does not take into account explanations on personality, innate decision on career choices as well as faulty cognition (Nilsson, Schmidt, & Meek, 2002). The adolescent youth remain characterized by many problems. The main people who feel the weight of these problems remain teachers since adolescent youths spend most of their time in schools. As such, implications for teachers, as well as tertiary institutions, are long-lasting as compared to parents (Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 2002). In as much as parents are also obligated to ensure their children behave appropriately, it is the role of teachers in various institutions to instill discipline. In the larger societal context, various extraneous factors are associated with adolescent career exploration. The aspect of gender in most tertiary institutions, for instance, remains a considerable challenge for teachers. Females in the adolescents have fear for various disciplines driven negative interest inventories. It is, hence, the role of various teachers to encourage such students and ensure they pursue the right dreams (Hobbs & Stoops, 2002). Peer influence also remains a significant challenge to teachers with many adolescents engaging in immoral activities. Because of peer influence, adolescents engage in sexual activities, which often expose them to diseases. It is the role of teachers to guide and counsel such students giving them moral support towards career exploration. Apart from providing guidance, teachers are obligated to act as role models for adolescents. Majority of tertiary institutions remain termed as bureaucratic organizations full of rules and regulations (Bandura, Barbaranelli, Caprara & Pastorelli, 2001). According to Weber (2001), the rational bureaucracies offer a dichotomous structure, which every student is obligated to follow. Despite the laws, split of decisive actions, as well as tension, usually arises causing problems in schools (Kenny et all., 2003). An example are strikes in school, which are mainly caused by students in the second year. This, therefore, relies on the organization structure as well as the ability to identify problems in time for solutions. In conclusion, career exploration remains surrounded with many problems; however, proficient planning accompanied by dedication often leads to success. In as much as the adolescent stage remains a risk-exposing arena, youths have to develop various mechanisms to evade such activities. The adolescent stage gets characterized by various negative results such as dropouts, pregnancies and teenage fights. These activities are normal for people in the adolescent stage; however, is vital for varied mechanisms as well as strategies to be in place in order to ensure the youth remain in line even as they pass the stage. This will lead to a successful career exploration while at the same time realizing academic propensity. 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