Chapter 4: Career Counseling 1990 To Present

Existing career development theories have been revisited, evaluated, updated and broadened in the past decade and several new concepts have been introduced. Where new theories and applications flourished in the 1980s, the decade that followed has seen significant economic, social and cultural factors challenge the established theoretical base. Theoretical concepts of vocational choice and vocational adjustment have become more complicated with factors of racial/ethnic diversity, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic influences, and the aging work force. Sharf (2002) has categorized career development theories by trait-factor type (Dawis & Lofquist, 1984; Holland, 1997), lifespan theories (Ginzberg, Ginsburg, Axelrad, & Herma, 1951; Gottfredson, 1981, 1996; Super, 1957, 1990), constructivist approaches (Neimeyer, 1992; Savickas, 1997; Young, Valach, & Collin, 1996), social learning (Krumboltz, 1996), career decision-making approach (Tiedeman, 1979; Tiedeman, Miller, & Tiedman, 1990), social cognitive (Hackett & Betz, 1981) and family focus/ parental influence (Roe & Lunneborg, 1990). A concept referenced in the 1990s was the connection between career counseling and personal counseling in terms of the prominence of personal issues that are a part of career counseling and vice versa. Personal identity, whether it is relative to gender, ethnic or racial affiliation, social status, sexual orientation or age is a significant component of an individual’s career development (Croteau & Thiel, 1993; Davidson & Gilbert, 1993; Krumboltz, 1993).