Volume 33, Issue 1, October 2017, Pages 83–93
Syeda Tafseer Zahra1 and Anila Amber Malik2
1 Psychology, University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan
2 Department of Psychology, University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan
Original language: English
Copyright © 2017 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
The aim of the present study is to explore the factors/significant others that influence the decision making process of high school students concerning their career choice/subject selection and to find out the most suitable time for the implementation of career exploration program in the course of studies. For this purpose semi-structured interviews were done form 120 male and 80 female students (from high school, college and university), their parents (n=80) and teachers (n=100) through convenience sampling and four questions were asked from them. First question was open ended while remaining three had few choices and open response option. The data was collected from Pakistani government schools, colleges and universities. On the collected data thematic analysis was done along with the percentages. Results highlighted the role of parents as the most significant person in students’ life who influences their subject selection and this way determines the future career. Next the most recommended time for career counseling services is when students had passed their secondary school exams and just enrolled in high school and is going to choose subjects. On the basis of above findings it is concluded that career counseling should be done at high school stage and parents should be the part of counseling sessions.
Author Keywords: parents, career, high school, family involvement, peers, career decision making.
Syeda Tafseer Zahra1 and Anila Amber Malik2
1 Psychology, University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan
2 Department of Psychology, University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan
Original language: English
Copyright © 2017 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
The aim of the present study is to explore the factors/significant others that influence the decision making process of high school students concerning their career choice/subject selection and to find out the most suitable time for the implementation of career exploration program in the course of studies. For this purpose semi-structured interviews were done form 120 male and 80 female students (from high school, college and university), their parents (n=80) and teachers (n=100) through convenience sampling and four questions were asked from them. First question was open ended while remaining three had few choices and open response option. The data was collected from Pakistani government schools, colleges and universities. On the collected data thematic analysis was done along with the percentages. Results highlighted the role of parents as the most significant person in students’ life who influences their subject selection and this way determines the future career. Next the most recommended time for career counseling services is when students had passed their secondary school exams and just enrolled in high school and is going to choose subjects. On the basis of above findings it is concluded that career counseling should be done at high school stage and parents should be the part of counseling sessions.
Author Keywords: parents, career, high school, family involvement, peers, career decision making.
How to Cite this Article
Syeda Tafseer Zahra and Anila Amber Malik, “Role of significant others on high school students subject/career selection: An exploratory study,” International Journal of Innovation and Scientific Research, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 83–93, October 2017.
