African-American Women's Career Development: Predicting Nontraditional Educational and Career Choices Educational and Career Aspirations and Career Salience

The purpose of the current research was to develop and to test a model pertaining to the unique career development experiences of African-American women. The model concentrates on African-American women's educational and career aspirations, educational and career choices, and their career salience. A sample of 183 female African American undergraduate and graduate students from three local universities supplied data for the study. Results of the hierarchical block regression analyses conducted to test the proposed model were mixed. The proposed predictor sets, self-perceptions, career exposure, and relational support, were more strongly related to educational aspirations, career choice, and career salience, than career aspirations and educational choice. The following conclusions can be made: (1) Strong relational support is related to educational and career aspirations; (2) African-American women who perceive their minority status as an opportunity are more likely to make nontraditional career choices; (3) High self-esteem and liberal sex-role orientation are related to greater career salience. The limitations of the study, as well as overall conclusions and implications for future research, are discussed.