台灣大學生父母期待對發展、焦慮未定向之影響：生涯自我效能的中介效果

The Impact of Parental Expectations on Taiwanese College Students’ Career Indecision: The Mediating Role of Career Decision Self-Efficacy

本研究旨在探究台灣大學生父母期待對發展、焦慮未定向的影響，和生涯自我效能在父母期待與未定向 間的中介效果。以台灣北、中、南和東部共九所大學院校633名大學生為研究對象，採用階層迴歸分析 考驗研究假設。茲將研究結果分述如下：（1）發展未定向僅能被「自覺期待之表現」與「達到父母期 待」所預測，且大學生自覺對父母期待做愈多，或達到父母期待程度愈高，其發展未定向程度愈低； （2）「知覺的父母期待」、「自覺期待之表現」與「達到父母期待」三者皆可預測焦慮未定向。且大 學生自覺對父母期待做愈多，或達到父母期待程度愈高，其焦慮未定向程度愈低。但「知覺的父母期 待」程度愈高，焦慮未定向程度亦愈高；（3）生涯自我效能的各個面向對於父母期待（自覺期待之表 現與達到父母期待）和發展或焦慮未定向之間關係多有完全中介或部份中介效果。根據研究結果，父母 期待不同層面之涵義，對發展、焦慮未定向具有不同預測效果。另一方面亦證明在華人文化下的台灣社 會可佐證社會認知生涯理論（SCCT）的論述，環境脈絡因素都需透過自我效能而對定向、未定向產生 間接影響。

 

When probing into career issues in Taiwan, it is imperative to understand that in terms of social norms, Taiwan is a Chinese collectivist culture, where Taiwanese parents are deeply concerned about their children’s career development and heavily involved in their career choices. Therefore, compared to the influence of family in Western individualist culture, the influence of family on career decision-making in Chinese collectivist cultures is worthy of further exploration. To date, very few studies have evaluated the influence of parental expectations on the career decisions of Taiwanese students; therefore, the present study elucidated the effects of parental expectations on children’s career indecision.
This study examined the impact of parental expectations on developmental indecision and indecisiveness of college students and the mediating effect of career decision self-efficacy. Employing measures of ""Living up to Parental Expectations"", ""Career Decision Self-Efficacy Scale"", ""Career Developmental Indecision Questionnaire"", and ""Career Indecisiveness Questionnaire"" as research tools, the researchers used stratified random sampling to select 9 colleges/universities in Taiwan. The questionnaires were administered to 633 university students in eastern, northern, central, and southern Taiwan. The retrieved data were analyzed using hierarchical regression analysis to test the research hypotheses. Findings were as follows: (1) Both ""perceived self-performance (PSP)"" and ""living up to parental expectations (LPE)"" of parental expectation were significant predictors of developmental indecision. The greater the PSP and LPE, the less developmental indecision sampled college students experienced. (2) All the PSP, LPE and PPE of parental expectation were significant predictors of indecisiveness. More PSP and LPE was associated with less indecisiveness among the college students. More ""perceived parental expectation (PPE)"" was associated with higher indecisiveness. (3) Both the relation between PSP and career indecision and the relation between LPE and career indecision were completely or partially mediated by career decision self-efficacy. This corroborated the discourse of Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) and suggests that social context, in this case Chinese culture in Taiwanese society, exerts indirect impact on career decision/indecision, mediated by self-efficacy.
This study found that PPE, PSP and LPE produced different predictive results for developmental indecision and indecisiveness, which can be used to reinterpret the previous divergent findings on career indecision. In particular, the results of this study demonstrated that parental expectation could be a double-edged sword, being good and bad at the same time. An individual may need to compromise self needs and repress oneself to meet the expectations of parents, leading to the inability to make career choices and being trapped in indecision. On the other hand, parental expectations may also reflect attentiveness and affirmation towards the children, or be seen as a kind of understanding and care. In the latter case, the attainment or fulfillment of parental expectations is a form of recognition, encouraging and motivating the moving-forward of this parent-child consensus.
The present study found that career decision self-efficacy plays a mediating role between parental expectations and career indecision. Hence, career counselors are suggested to assist students by enhancing their career self-efficacy, which appears to be effective in reducing career indecision. According to Bandura (1977), the formation of self-efficacy is rooted in four reference points: performance accomplishment, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, and emotional arousal. Therefore, when a counselor is meeting with a client, the positive impacts of past successes can be particularly highlighted in the conversation, while exploring important influencers outside the family, such as school teachers or older club members, as these exemplary figures often make up part of the missing function of parents in a child’s career development.