Impacts of campus experiences and parental socialization on undergraduates' career choices

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to assess the impacts of selected aspects of the collegiate experience on changes in undergraduates' occupational preferences and personal goals. It focuses on two general aspects of the undergraduate student's participation in a 4-year college or university environment — the social structure, particularly its normative aspect, as defined by the orientations of faculty and students toward the purposes of a college education; and the individual student's perceptions of the institution's capacity for facilitating the attainment of personal goals. The latter aspect of the college experience is reflected in such things as satisfaction with college, the individual's sense of social integration into the campus environment, and assessments of the extent to which experiences within a particular college have contributed to the attainment of desired personal ends (e.g., occupational training and personal growth). A departure from much of the existing research on college impact is that close attention is paid to the concomitant influences of parental socialization that are present throughout the student's college days. Specific aspects of parental socialization processes are considered, notably those reflected in modes of parent-child relationships and family life-style that contribute to adult development. An important aim of the research is to investigate the extent to which college effects on students' occupational orientations and preferences are mediated by parent-child relationships maintained, in many instances, through continued contacts with parents during the student's college years.