Chapter 10: Career Family Trees: The Use of Genograms in Career Counseling of Students in K-12 Settings

Genograms have been used successfully in career counseling with adults. However, there has been limited use of genograms in career counseling with elementary, middle, and high school children. This chapter focuses on the benefits of using genograms or career family trees and the reasons for them to be integrated into the comprehensive developmental guidance programs utilized by professional school counselors.

The emergence and implementation of comprehensive developmental guidance programs in this country has reemphasized the developmental nature of career education, which is more integrated now in elementary and middle schools (Murrow-Taylor, Folz, Ellis, & Culbertson, 1999). The conceptual foundation of the comprehensive developmental guidance program is life career development, which is defined as “self-development over a person’s life span through the integration of the roles, settings, and events in a person’s life” (Gysbers & Henderson, 2006, p. 49). This emphasis on career education is timely, considering that research indicates children may identify with adult workers in their lives, specifically identifying more with the mother’s occupation (Trice & Knapp, 1992). Hence, occupational aspirations may be forming early in a child’s life. Additionally, Hossler and Maple (1993), Mau (1995), and Ramos and Sanchez (1995) have found that parental expectations and support are key variables influencing college aspirations among students of color, as early as junior high school in many cases.