Applying Social Cognitive Career Theory to predict Interests and Choice Goals in Statistics among Spanish Psychology Students

Author(s):

Ángeles Blanco

Conference:

ECER 2009

Network:

23. Policy Studies and Politics of Education

Format:

Poster

Session Information

MC_POST, Main Conference Poster Session and Lunch Break

Posters will be displayed throughout the conference and submitters are asked to be present in both Poster Sessions to answer questions. Poster Session I: Tuesday, 12.15 - 13.30 Poster Session II: Wednesday 12.15 - 13.30

Time:

2009-09-29

12:15-13:15

Room:

Otkogon

Chair:

Contribution

Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) was developed by Lent, Brown and Hackett (1994) to explain and predict the process by which vocational and academic interests are developed, vocational and academic choices are made and academic performance is attained. From then on numerous empirical studies have tested interest, choice and performance models derived for SCCT at secondary and higher education levels, mainly in the United States (for a review, see Blanco, in press). Current evidence about SCCT has been summarized in various meta-analyses (Brown et al., 2008; Rottinghaus, Larson and Borgen, 2003; Sheu et al., 2006). As findings generally support the SCCT propositions, in the last years researchers have been testing social cognitive hypotheses in different cultural contexts and educational systems, including Japan (Adachi, 2004), Italy (Lent et al., 2003) or Turkey (Özyürek, 2005). Then, this study aimed to contribute to this field through testing the social cognitive career approach in the Spanish university context. Specifically this research examined the utility of the SCCT in predicting related-statistics interest and intentions among undergraduate students, all of them pursuing for a bachelor's degree in Psychology. As it is known, the negative attitude of Social and Behavioural Sciences students towards statistics is a common and often reported problem across countries (e.g. Carmona, Martínez y Sánchez, 2005; Chiesi and Primi, in press; Nasser, 2004; Onwuegbuzie, 2003). So, because one of the strengths of SCCT is that is linked to intervention, this approach could offers insights to improve the outcomes in statistics education.

Method

Participants were 1036 students enrolled at five Spanish universities (public and private ones). All participants completed statistics-related self-efficacy, outcome expectations, interests and goals measurements. In addition, participants provided demographic data, academic information and perceived personal performance accomplishment in the general Mathematic area. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) methodology was used for tested the fit of the social cognitive choice model to the data. Theory’s basic predictions about self-efficacy, outcome expectations, interests and goals relations were included in a general model. In addition, two alternative models about learning experiences-intentions relation were examined. Learning experiences were defined as mastery experiences in the Mathematic-Statistics area. Goals referred to intentions to apply statistics knowledge and skills to the professional and academic career. In A model the effect of mastery experiences was fully mediated by self-efficacy. B model was a partially mediated model in which mastery experiences affected goals/intentions both directly and indirectly through self-efficacy.

Expected Outcomes

Models tested (A and B) produced good fit to the data for the full sample. But the comparison between measurement and structural models suggested that B model explained better the relations among factors. So, a multiple-group analysis for the B model was carried out to examine structural paths across: a) universities, b) years in the major. The structural relations were found invariant across groups. Taken as a whole, results indicate support for the social-cognitive career model as a way to predict the relations between mastery experiences, self-efficacy, outcome expectation, interest and intentions of students to incorporate statistics skills in professional career. Collectively, the predictors accounted for 50% of variance in interest and for 75% of the variance in intentions/goals. Intervention implications derived from SCCT included developing and modifying student self-efficacy perceptions and expanding interests in statistics area.

References

Adachi, T. (2004). Career self-efficacy, career outcome expectations and vocational interests among Japanese university students. Psychological Reports, 95(1) 89-100 Blanco, A. (in press). Modelo Cognitivo Social del Desarrollo de la Carrea: revisión de más de una década de investigación empírica [Social Cognitive Career Model: a review of more than a decade of empirical research]. Revista de Educación, 350. Brown, S.D., Tramayne, S., Hoxha, D., Telander, K., Fan, X. & Lent, R.W. (2008). Social cognitive predictors of college students´academic performance and persistence: a meta-analytic path analysis. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 72 (3), 298-308. Carmona, J., Martínez, R.J. & Sánchez,M. (2005). Mathematical background and attitudes toward statistics in a sample of Spanish college students. Psychological Reports, 97 (1), 53-62. Chiesi, F. & Primi, C. (in press). Assessing statistics attitudes among college students: psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Survey of Attitudes toward Statistics (SATS). Learning and Individual Differences (2008), doi: 10.1016/j.lindif.2008.10.008. Lent, R.W., Brown, S.D. & Hackett, G. (1994). Toward a unifying social cognitive theory of career and academic interest, choice and performance. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 45(1), 79-122. Lent, R.W., Brown, S.D., Nota, L. & Soresi, S. (2003). Testing social cognitive interest and choice hypotheses across Holland types in italian high school students. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 62(1), 101-118. Nasser, F. (2004). Structural model of the effects of cognitive and affective factors on the achievement of Arabic-speaking preservice teachers in Introductory Statistics. Journal of Statistics Education, 12(1). Retrieved January 9, 2005, from: http://www.amstat.org/publications/jse/v12n1/nasser.html. Onwuegbuzie, A.J. (2003). Modeling statistics achievement among graduate students. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 63(6), 1020-1038. Özyürek, R. (2005). Informative sources of math-related self-efficacy expectations and their relationship with math-related self-efficacy, interest, and preference. International Journal of Psychology, 40(3) 145-156 Rottinghaus, P.J., Larson, L. M. & Borgen, F.H. (2003). The relation of self-efficacy and interests: A meta-analysis of 60 samples. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 62 (2), 203-388. Sheu, H.B., Miller, M., Lent, R.W., Brown, S.D., Hennessy, K. & Duffy, R. (2006). The social cognitive choice model: comparison of two meta-analytic approaches. Presented at the symposium “Testing social cognitive career theory with diverse methodological tools”. American Psychological Association, New Orleans, LA.

Author Information

Ángeles Blanco

Complutense University of Madrid

Educational Research Methodology

Madrid

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