Self-concept and career maturity of urban vocational and traditonal high school students.

High school students are expected to make important decisions about career options. At the same time, their counselors are faced with the need for more information and resources to help students in this process more effectively. Using Super's Theory of Vocational Development, this study presents findings on some of the characteristics of students who select vocational-technical training and those who do not. Specifically, self-concept and career maturity attitudes are compared. These findings should help counselors, educators, and others. Five hypotheses were examined to determine if differences and relationships exist in levels of self-concept and career maturity. Additional dependent variables assessed include grade point average, parents' occupations, post-secondary plans, and reasons for enrolling or not enrolling in the vocational-technical centers. The Tennessee Self-Concept Scale, the Career Maturity Inventory, and a General Student Information Survey were used to gather data. The sample consisted of 139 students from grades ten through twelve enrolled at Detroit Southwestern High School. These students were divided into three groups: (1) vocational students, those who chose vocational technical training, (2) those who were eligible for vocational training but chose not to attend, and (3) those who were ineligible for admission. Two types of statistical procedures (i.e., descriptive and inferential) were used to analyze the data. Inferential procedures (e.g., T-Test, ANOVA, correlation, and chi-square) were employed to test all relevant hypotheses at the.05 level of significance. The major findings revealed that traditional students manifest better self-concept attitudes than do vocational students, and that vocational and eligible traditional students have attained a higher level of career maturity than have ineligible traditional students. The basic conclusion drawn is that self-concept and career development play an important role in the total growth and development of individuals. However, this study does not conclude how these processes affect the curriculum and career choices of students. Self-concept and career maturity may not influence the choices of the students, but they may help indicate characteristics that influence career choice.PhDEducationUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/103579/1/9332057.pdfDescription of 9332057.pdf : Restricted to UM users only