Study of career development in children from a developmental-contextual perspective

Abstract

Career development is a longitudinal process, from childhood to adulthood, which is influenced by personal and contextual factors. Vocational literature has described childhood as a formative period for career development, as the bases of career exploration and vocational interests, values, attitudes and skills are established in the first years of life. This study starts with an overview of the major theoretical approaches and research trends in the study of children’s career development. A particular focus on the developmental-contextual approach to career development is adopted, as an integrative framework to capture the complexity of career developmental processes and results that occur in the first years of life. The application of such a perspective to the study of children’s career development leads to a discussion of the nature of change in the first years of life, of the child as a shaper of development and context, and of the impact of contexts on children’s development. Finally, we present implications of the adoption of a developmental-contextual approach to the study of children’s career development for future research.

Keywords: Career development, vocational guidance, childhood, contextual theories.