career decision maturity among adolescents in relation to self concept and parental encouragement

Abstract

Education is a ladder of development, it dispels darkness and brings light, and it is the bare of all human resource development, a stepping stone for the onward munch of culture, the bed rock of human progress. Education can be considered as a system of instruction established to impart knowledge, develop skills and inculcate values in individuals especially in young people through varied practices. Education is the tool which helps in the process of socialization of individuals. Hence education is an inevitable aspect of the life of a person in the modern word. Main concern of teachers is to develop the capacity among the students for adjusting in the home, school, college and in the society. The adjustment is a lifelong process and continues till the end of life. newlineAdolescence is both an exciting and challenging stage of human life. Adolescence is a period of intense and rapid development and is characterized by numerous developmental tasks including gaining new and more mature relationship with others, achieving emotional independence from parents and the cognitive and psychological resources to face the challenges of adult life. newlineThe adolescents are experimenting, experiencing and expanding new horizons of knowledge. At this stage they need support and guidance in decision making, problem solving and managing emotions. Emotions change from time to time in this period. Therefore it is felt that there is need to understand the minds of these young people, to analyze the dynamics of their behavior, to help them to grapple with their changing life styles so that a correct appreciation of their potential, promise and problem could be made. newlineThe family is a dynamic network of interdependencies that exerts functional effect on the behaviour of an individual member. By the time the child starts to go to school, he/she has already acquired many of the social patterns, has developed a definite personality, has a body of habits and knowledge and also has an attitude that significantly influences his/her formal education in the school and their entire future adjustment in life. All aspirations, values and goals are indirectly influenced by the family situations in which he/she is moulded during the whole childhood period. As a child grows in the family, there is a need for parents to maintain an accurate and balanced perception of the child. Not only do parents influence their children s vocational and educational aspirations, but they also play a vital role in youngsters career planning and decision- making. Children need parents for encouragement, emotional support and behavioural guidance and to set ideal goals. While some teens make easily a career related choices however some face difficulties before or during entering the decision-making process. Moreover, lack of parents support, excess involvement of parents, lack of proper parent-child relationship etc. in result of this they prefer to transfer the responsibility for making the decision to someone else, delaying in a decision; in other cases difficulties lead to less optimum decisions and in result of this less optimum choices. newlineAnother important factor of adolescent life is Emotions. Emotions are serving as a motivating factor throughout the span of human life; affecting aspirations, actions and thoughts of an individual. Emotions provide capacity for an individual to face a particular situation. Emotions, in addition to cognitions is an essential factor in career choice and career behaviour. An emotionally mature person has ability to realize his potential for richness of living and has developed his ability to comprehend and tackle the situations. Emotionally mature person has an ability to make right choices and face the worse situation with a positive attitude. The relationship of Emotional Maturity and Career decision self-efficacy which showed the negative correlation between emotional maturity and career maturity which contradicted the previous results. It is apparent that no comprehensive studies have been conducted which can explain the whole picture of emotional maturity and parental encouragement role in adolescents career decision self-efficacy. Therefore the topic Career Decision Maturity Among Adolescents in Relation to Self-concept and Parental Encouragement has been chosen for research. newline newline