Relational influences on career paths: Siblings in context.

This investigation examined participants' perceptions of sibling relational influence on career exploration and decision making. Career path influence on sibling relationships and times when these relationships were most important also were explored. Individual interviews were conducted with urban commuter college students, and narrative data were analyzed using consensual qualitative research methods as described by C. E. Hill, B. J. Thompson, and E. N. Williams (1997). Consistent with attachment theory (J. Bowlby, 1982) and literature on social support (C. E. Cutrona, 1996), one of the most prominent factors associated with relational influence was multidimensional social support. Predictable differences were found in relational influence between participants' most important siblings and other siblings.