Arbona, Consuelo2011-12-122011-12-122014-06-062011-12-122011-12-122014-06-062010-122011-12-12December 2http://hdl.handle.net/10657/172Due to the significant role that careers play in the lives of many individuals, understanding the career developmental process is of particular importance. Interests and goals are key components in the process of career choice and implementation. Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT; Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994) proposes that under optimal conditions, career interests give rise to congruent career choice goals; goals, in turn lead to actions directed at implementing the chosen goals. Among college students, having established goals that correspond to their interests has been associated with desired career and academic outcomes, such as college achievement in terms of GPA (Tracey & Robbins, 2006) and college major persistence (Allen & Robbins, 2008; Schaefers, Epperson, & Nauta, 1997). Original hypotheses of SCCT state that contextual barriers have a direct relation to goals. However, studies have shown that contextual barriers are more likely to relate to goals indirectly through self-efficacy (Lent, Brown, Nota, et al., 2003; Lent, Brown, Schmidt, et al., 2003; Lent et al., 2001; Smith, 2001) suggesting that SCCT may need some modification (Lent, Brown, Nota, et al., 2003; Lent et al., 2001). It has also been proposed that self-efficacy related to coping with barriers, or coping efficacy, may moderate the barrier-goal relation (Lent, Brown, and Hackett, 2000). In other words, there may be a direct correlation between barriers and goals only when coping efficacy is low. It has also been suggested that contextual barriers may moderate the relation of interests to goals; that is, the relation of interest to goals will be stronger when perceived barriers are low. The purpose of this study was to examine these moderation and mediated effects. Specifically this study examined (1) if barriers moderate the relation of career interests to career goals, (2) if coping efficacy moderates the relation of barriers to career goals, and (3) to what extent coping efficacy mediates the relation of barriers to career goals. Hierarchical regression analyses were used to examine these effects in the relation of interests, perceived barriers, and coping efficacy to academic and career goals. Participants in the study were community college students. The following instruments were used to assess the constructs of interest: (1) Perception of Barriers scale (Luzzo and McWhirter, 2001), (2) Coping with Barriers (CWB) scale (Luzzo and McWhirter, 2001), (3) a measure of career interest developed by Lent, Brown, Nota, et al. (2003), (4) and a measure of career consideration (goals) developed by Lent et al. (2003). For the overall sample, coping efficacy was not found to moderate or mediate the relation of educational barriers to choice goals. Also, educational barriers did not moderate the interest/goal relation. However, there was a direct positive correlation between educational barriers and academic goals for Holland’s Artistic, Social, and Conventional themes. Because the primary analyses offered very few findings as expected, exploratory analyses were conducted with career barriers and coping efficacy that are specifically relevant for females and African Americans. Analyses with only the African American females and with both African American and Caucasian females revealed that coping efficacy did not have a moderating or mediating effect on the career barrier/ goal relation nor was there evidence for a moderating effect of career barriers on the interest/ goal relation. For the African American participants (both male and female) no evidence was found for a mediating effect of coping efficacy on the career ethnic discrimination barrier/ goal relation. However, coping efficacy moderated the relation of career ethnic discrimination barriers to choice goals only for the Social theme. Also, career ethnic discrimination barriers moderated the relation of interests to goals only for the Enterprising theme.application/pdfengcareer developmentcareer barrierseducational barrierssocial cognitive career theorythesis2011-12-12