Current Projects

CLINICAL TRAINING STUDIES

Training Study 2: Motivational Factors and the Development of Multicultural Self-Efficacy

The need for multicultural competence has gained much attention in the field of psychology over the years with research on how to integrate diversity themes into training programs. Studies reveal that implicit and explicit stereotypes exert influence over counselors’ perceptions of clients from different racial-ethnic backgrounds, which often perpetuate oppression against clients in the course of therapy. This study examines the necessary preconditions to build multicultural competence in training programs, including trainees’ self-efficacy and motivations in developing greater awareness of the macro and micro dimensions of discrimination.

CAREER DEVELOPMENT STUDIES

General Career Adaptability 

This study is an empirical investigation of the Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) with middle and high school students. SCCT has primarily focused on the self, experiential, and contextual factors that influence cognition in promoting the pursuit of particular career paths. However, scholars have recently emphasized the need to incorporate the construct of self-management or factors that lead individuals to engage in behaviors that propel their educational and occupational progress (Lent & Brown, 2013). This study examines the role of career adaptability and career self-efficacy as well as their relationship to career exploration behaviors among students. We further examine students’ perceptions of their career barriers, their beliefs about gender roles, and the impact of their ethnic identities.

LATINE STUDIES

Latine Studies 2: Cultural Resources and Career Development in Latinx Young Adults

This study focuses on the career development of Latinx college-aged individuals. Specifically, it examines how cultural resources may be related to recently proposed career constructs of career adaptability and self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and career search behavior. Broadly, we aim to understand how cultural wealth can be valued to bolster success, not just survivorship (Yosso, 2006).

Latine Studies 3: Latine Young Adults’ Cultural Resources and Academic Success

Cultural/racial disparities in income and employment in the United States continue to persist (US Census, 2016; BLS 2017). Recently, authors (Mejia-Smith & Gushue, 2017; Bonifacio, Gushue, Mejia-Smith, 2018) have explored the career development of college-aged Latines, including the importance of cultural resources (e.g., ethnic identity). Latine college students employ numerous cultural resources, like navigational and familial capital (Yosso, 2005), as they manage their academic and career lives.  This study will be informed by Psychology of Working Theory (Duffy et al., 2016), a contemporary model of career development. It will consider social context (both society and university) and examine how cultural resources (support, cultural identification and endorsement of cultural values, and awareness of social inequities) may serve to bolster Latine students’ sense of belongingness in the university community and their persistence and engagement in their studies.  Finally, it will explore how that academic engagement may be related to their career development, specifically their career decision self-efficacy and their belief in their capacity to secure decent work.

Latine Studies 4: Strengths and Barriers in Latine College Students in the Pursuit of Decent Work

Vocational research is one of the foundational hallmarks of the field of Counseling Psychology. Noting racial and cultural disparities in employment and income, vocational research has increasingly examined issues related to racial-cultural influences and equity.  . For example, in 2021, the median salary of Hispanic workers, on average, was about 75% of White workers’ earnings (Bureau of Labor Statistics [BLS], 2023). Recent investigations have stressed the importance of structural and contextual factors on career development, from the formation of career interests and making career decisions to the ability to obtain work. Moreover, in the context of a gig economy, the field of Counseling Psychology has become concerned with individuals’ ability to secure not only work, but “decent work” as defined by the International Labor Organization (2012, OECD, 2015) – that is to say, work that provides adequate income, safe working conditions, legal safeguards, and adequate free time and rest, medical care, etc. 

The Psychology of Working Theory (PWT) is a contemporary model of career development that considers both contextual and individual level factors that predict one’s ability to secure decent work, as well as the outcomes of decent work, including psychological well being (Duffy et al., 2016). Building on our prior vocational research with Latinx college students (Mejia Smith & Gushue, 2018, Bonifacio et al., 2019) we are interested in further examining the ways in which the predictor variables of the PTW model may influence the career development and choice of Latinx college students. In particular, following the model, we will examine the influence of microaggressions and economic constraints on participants’ perceptions of freedom and flexibility in career choice, and ultimately, on students’ aspirations for decent work.  We will also examine potential moderators suggested by the model that buffer the impact of microaggressions and economic constraints: awareness of structural injustice, connection to one’s ethnicity, adaptation to the dominant culture and support from family and peers.