Racial/Ethnic Minority Community College Students' Critical Consciousness and Social Cognitive Career Outcomes

Germán A. Cadenas, Nathalie Lynn, Katherine Melo Li, Lian Liu, Elizabeth Angélica Cantú, Alissa Ruth, Sabrina Carroll, Simeon Kulp, Tameka Spence

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

11 Scopus citations

Abstract

A need exists to better understand how racial/ethnic minority students' critical consciousness development in response to marginalization may be involved in their educational and career development. We therefore examined the link between critical consciousness development and career decision self-efficacy and career outcome expectations among racial/ethnic minority community college students. Following social cognitive career theory's conceptual pillars, we developed a testable model integrating critical consciousness and social cognitive variables. This model was tested with 135 racially and ethnically diverse community college students. Data analysis included path analyses and tests of model fit using structural equation modeling. Results suggested that (a) higher critical agency is linked to higher career decision self-efficacy and outcome expectations and (b) critical action and reflection have a bidirectional link and predict higher critical agency. Implications for research and practice aiming to close educational and career gaps among racial/ethnic minorities are discussed.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)302-317
Number of pages16
JournalCareer Development Quarterly
Volume68
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2020

Keywords

  • career decision self-efficacy
  • career outcome expectations
  • community college students
  • racial/ethnic minorities
  • social cognitive career theory

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Applied Psychology
  • General Psychology
  • Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management

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