ii AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMEN’S EXPERIENCES OF RACIST AND SEXIST EVENTS AND THEIR RELATION TO THE CAREER CHOICE PROCESS.

iii This current research studied the career development process of African American women utilizing Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory (1977). The sample included 108 African American women who ranged in age from 18 to 63 with a mean age of 25 years old. The study examined the Social Cognitive variables of learning experiences in the form of racist and sexist events (recent and lifetime) in relation to career decision-making self-efficacy and outcome expectancies and career indecision. Previous research indicated a significant inverse relationship between career decision-making self-efficacy and career indecision, but in this study found varying results depending upon whether age was not controlled or controlled. When age was not controlled, the relationship between career decision-making self-efficacy and indecision was not significant; yet when age was controlled a significant inverse relationship was found. Initially, it was hypothesized that African American women’s racist experiences (recent and lifetime) would have significant inverse relationships with career decision-making self-efficacy, yet only thei