Qualitatively Assessing Family Influence in Career Decision Making

Assessing influential factors in the family relative to career decision making is consistent with evolving postmodern approaches to career counseling. However, the challenge of measuring family influence is technically demanding considering the ongoing revolutionary changes in the structure of the family. Moreover, while measuring the impact of families on children, researchers may be inadvertently measuring the effects of children on the family. Nevertheless, currently available assessment methods are described and evaluated. Retrospective questionnaires, career genograms, Career-O-Grams, and critical incident techniques are reviewed. Although clinicians will find that qualitative assessment methods can be applied to career counseling, the tools are time consuming and demand a high level of clinical skill to use effectively. Researchers will discover that making generalizations from current qualitative methods may be difficult.