College expectations of rural Appalachian youth: an exploration of social cognitive career theory factors.

An examination of social cognitive career theory (SCCT; R. W. Lent, S. D. Brown, & G. Hackett, 1994, 2000) factors contributing to the college expectations of high school students (N = 87) in rural Appalachia was conducted. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed support for the role of SCCT variables in predicting expectations to attend college. Specifically, the SCCT variables of perceptions of parental support and self-efficacy beliefs independently predicted Appalachian youth's expectations to attend college. Results are discussed in relation to SCCT, and implications for counseling and future research are presented.

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In recent years, counselors, psychologists, and theorists have made attempts to understand the underlying factors that affect the vocational development of underserved populations (Fitzgerald & Betz, 1994; Fouad & Brown, 2000). Appalachia is a 200,000-square-mile highland region located between the eastern seaboard and the Midwest (deMarrais, 1998) with the Appalachian mountains extending from Maine to Georgia. The rural central part of the Appalachian region is characterized by a lack of educational and career opportunities; rising unemployment; a decline in the number of skilled workers; and extreme poverty, with the poverty rate in central Appalachia being twice the national average (deMarrais, 1998; Owens, 2000; Tickamyer & Duncan, 1990; U.S. Census Bureau, 2000). Historically, this region has been defined by a strong coal mining industry, the impact of labor unions, and unique sociocultural influences (Billings & Blee, 2000). These geographic, economic, and sociocultural factors are important context0ual considerations for vocational and educational development that have the potential to affect the educational and career plans of rural Appalachian youth. Youth living in rural central Appalachia represent a unique and underserved group in an environment that is culturally rich and facing severe economic challenges.

In central Appalachia, only 12.3% of the population older than 18 years holds a college degree, compared with the national average of 21% (U.S. Census Bureau, 2000). Furthermore, according to the National Center for Education Statistics (2001), young people whose parents did not attend college are less likely to plan to attend college and actually enroll in college. The low percentage of adults holding college degrees means that Appalachian youth are exposed to fewer role models with postsecondary education and have diminished access to information and fewer supports for postsecondary educational opportunities, which can potentially result in low confidence in their academic abilities. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to examine the relationships between these contextual and cognitive factors and expectations to attend college among a group of rural Appalachian high school students.

Sociocultural Factors and Educational Achievement

DeMarrais (1998) described the people of Appalachia as a distinct cultural group who share "a rich cultural heritage that includes a strong sense of kinship, a love of the land, a rich oral tradition, and a commitment to personal freedom and self-reliance" (p. 90). DeMarrais noted that often the commitment to personal freedom and self-reliance that is a prominent part of this culture can also lead to cultural and personal isolation. For example, Jones (1975/1987) acknowledged that

    We [Appalachian people] are inclined to try to do everything
    ourselves, find our own way when we are lost on the road, or suffer
    through when we are in great need. We don't like to ask others for
    help. The value of self-reliance is often stronger than the desire
    to get help. (p. 510)

This fierce sense of independence may serve as an important asset for Appalachian students who are planning to attend college. However, self-reliance to an extreme, along with cultural isolation, may serve to negatively affect the willingness of Appalachian students to seek help for their career-related concerns from teachers or counselors. Because of the strong sense of kinship, these students may also choose to rely solely on family members for assistance in career planning. This may be challenging for students who wish to attend college but whose parents and family members are unfamiliar with navigating institutions of higher education.

Moreover, deMarrais (1998) identified cultural characteristics of the rural Appalachian region that pose difficulties for youth trying to achieve educational goals. These include poverty, economic exploitation (e.g., exploitation by the coal mining industry prior to the establishment of labor unions), and inadequate schooling. It is the issues associated with poverty and inadequate schooling that serve to disadvantage Appalachian youth. For example, in rural Appalachian high schools, students are often faced with extreme conditions that impede their educational and vocational achievement, including long bus rides on treacherous roads, lower socioeconomic status (SES), and unemployed parents (Seals & Harmon, 1995). In addition, these students are more likely to receive special education services, less likely to be classified as gifted, more likely to have parents who did not graduate from high school, and more at risk for becoming a high school dropout (Seals & Harmon, 1995). Despite the limited resources of this group, vocational theorists and researchers have given very little attention to understanding the career development of Appalachian youth.

The Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT; Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994, 2000) model, which has recently received attention in the literature, has been used to explain the career development process of minority and underserved populations (Constantine, Wallace, & Kindaichi, 2005; Flores & O'Brien, 2002). This is a versatile theory that can be adapted to capture the cultural characteristics of specific environments, thus offering an ideal framework for understanding the unique vocational development of high school students living in rural Appalachia. Additionally, because the central constructs of SCCT are amenable to change, under standing the role of these variables in Appalachian youth's educational expectations may ultimately lead to interventions that broaden the postsecondary considerations of these youth and lead to greater economic stability and more satisfying careers.

General Overview of SCCT

Hackett and Betz (1981) applied Bandura's (1977) concept of self-efficacy to the career development of women. This important contribution served as a precursor to SCCT (Lent et al., 1994), which is an application of Bandura's (1986) social cognitive theory to career development and outlines the processes whereby (a) educational and vocational interests develop, (b) interests and other influences promote career-relevant choices, and (c) varying levels of career performance and persistence are attained. The specific mechanisms by which people develop, pursue, and modify their career-related interests over time include (a) self-efficacy beliefs, (b) outcome expectations, and (c) goal representations. Through repeated activity, modeling, and feedback from important others, children and adolescents develop specific skills, set their own performance standards, develop varying levels of confidence in specific types of activities and tasks, and form expectations about the future outcomes of their performance. According to SCCT, greater levels of interest are associated with domains in which the person has higher self-efficacy and outcome expectations, and these interests lead to the development of intentions or goals for further activity exposure (Lent et al., 1994). Person inputs, such as race, sex, SES, and intelligence, as well as proximal and distal contextual factors, such as cultural and gender role socialization, are also critical sources of influence on career development. Furthermore, Lent et al. (2000) suggested that contextual supports and barriers could be among the most powerful predictors of career choice behavior, because they are postulated to influence access to learning experiences (i.e., role models, vicarious learning opportunities, performance abilities), which in turn influence the development of self-efficacy beliefs and ultimately influence an individual's vocational and educational expectations.

Contextual Support

As mentioned previously, Lent et al. (2000) suggested that perceived supports for pursuing career plans could be one of the most powerful predictors of career choice behavior. Within the SCCT model, perceived support is considered to be a background contextual factor and is defined as aspects of an individual's environment and the individual's appraisal of the environment that facilitate career choice and development (Lent et al., 2000). Within vocational research, support for adolescents' career plans has been assessed from different sources, including parents, peers, and teachers (Kenny, Blustein, Chaves, Grossman, & Gallagher, 2003; McWhirter, Hackett, & Bandalos, 1998). Previous research has indicated that perceived support from parents and other significant others is associated with career outcomes for adolescents (Ferry, Fouad, & Smith, 2000; McWhirter et al., 1998; Turner & Lapan, 2002). Peterson, Stivers, and Peters (1986) found that low-income White youth from rural southern Appalachia frequently endorsed their parents as significant others who have influenced their career decisions.

Parental Education and Occupation

Although parental education and occupation are not specifically mentioned by Lent et al. (1994) in the SCCT model, SES is discussed as a person input variable that affects a person's access to learning experiences. In many studies, parental occupation and education are combined in order to provide an indicator of SES (Ali, McWhirter, & Chronister, 2005; McWhirter et al., 1998). However, in the present study, parental education and occupation were disaggregated from SES to allow for the possibility that either education or occupation may contribute more meaningfully to the expectations of Appalachian youth to attend college. Disaggregating these variables may yield more information about this population given the previously mentioned argument that young people whose parents did not attend college are less likely to plan to attend college and actually enroll in college.

The purpose of the present study was to investigate SCCT factors contributing to the college expectations of high school students living in rural central Appalachia. Specifically, the contribution of the SCCT predictor variables of self-efficacy, parental support, and parental education and occupation were examined in relation to expectations to attend college.

The following question guided the present study: Are the SCCT constructs of vocational/educational self efficacy, parental support, and parental education and occupation associated with rural Appalachian youth's expectations to attend college?

Method

Participants

Participants were 87 (51 boys, 36 girls) 10th- and 11th-grade high school students drawn from one high school in rural central Appalachia. The racial/ethnic composition of the sample was 95.4% White (n = 83) and 3.4% African American (n = 3); 1 participant did not identify his or her race/ethnicity. Mean age of the participants was 16.2 years (range = 16-19).

The high school population size was approximately 200 students and was located in a small rural town with a population of approximately 2,700 people. The unemployment rate in this area at the time of data collection was 6.7%, which was the highest in the nation, with the national unemployment figure estimated at 4.1% (U.S. Census Bureau, 2000). The estimated percentage of individuals younger than 18 years living in poverty in this area was 30%, and the estimated percentage of individuals of all ages living in poverty in this area was 19.9%. The average income for a family of four in this area was estimated to be $25,354 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2000).

Procedure

Passive informed consent forms were distributed to parents 2 weeks prior to administration of the measures; no parent refused consent. Instruments were administered to students in four English classes by the first author using a standardized administration procedure.

Instruments

Participant information. Using a background questionnaire, respondents indicated their age, sex, race/ethnicity, parent educational level, and parental occupation. Parent educational level was assessed by asking students to check the highest level of education each parent had completed, with response options ranging from 1 (some grade school) to 10 (finished graduate degree). Parental occupations were coded using Hollingshead's (1975) 9-point Four Factor Index of Social Status, ranging from 1 = unskilled labor position (e.g., baggage porter, farm laborer) to 9 = professional positions (e.g., lawyer, doctors, executives). Codes were assigned by the first author.

Vocational/Educational Self-Efficacy Scale (VESES; Ali et al., 2005). The VESES is a 21-item instrument designed to measure the confidence of students in their abilities to complete a variety of tasks pertaining to attending college, receiving vocational technical training, and obtaining a job after high school. Sample VESES items include "Find information about applying to colleges and universities" and "Find information about how to obtain certification in a technical career (example, certification as a medical transcriptionist [typist] or electrician)." Respondents rated their degree of confidence using a 9-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (no confidence at all) to 9 (complete confidence). A total score was calculated by summing all items for a possible score ranging from 21 to 189, with higher scores corresponding to higher vocational/educational self-efficacy expectations. Construction of the scale, initial validity, and reliability information were reported by Ali et al. (2005). In the present study, the number of response options was modified to a 9-point scale based on research findings examining the effect of the number of scale points on reliability and validity. Although results have been inconsistent and at times controversial, general recommendations are that scales provide response options consisting of 5 to 9 points (Pedhauzer & Schmelkin, 1991). An additional study was conducted to determine the validity of the modified measure of the VESES using a group of sixty seven 9th- to 12th-grade students living in rural Appalachia. To provide evidence of concurrent validity, the revised version of the VESES was correlated with the Vocational Skills Self-Efficacy Scale (McWhirter, Rasheed, & Crothers, 2000). The current version of the VESES yielded a correlation coefficient of .76 (p < .001) with the Vocational Skills Self Efficacy Scale. A Cronbach's alpha of.93 was obtained for the VESES for the current sample.

Parent Support Index (PSI). The PSI is a 32-item measure developed specifically for this study and assesses students' perceptions of the degree to which students experience support from their mother and father (or guardians). Specifically, the PSI measures support in activities associated with each of the three types of classes available to students in this school (college preparatory, vo-tech, and general education). The 32 items are grouped into three sections: The first section contains 15 items that specifically address support from the student's mother, the second section is composed of the same 15 items as in first section but are directed toward the student's father, and the last section contains 2 items that address the amount of anticipated parental financial assistance and parents' attitude toward assisting the student in finding alternative funding sources for future vocational/educational plans. Respondents rated their perceived degree of support using a 5-point Likert-type scale, with response options ranging from 1 (strongly discouraging) to 5 (strongly encouraging). Sample items (15 per parent) include "Your father's attitudes towards choosing an occupation that ... pays you a lot of money" and "Your mother's attitudes towards the following activities: You taking the SAT [Scholastic Assessment Test] or ACT [American College Test] during your junior or senior year." A total score was obtained by summing the scores for all responses. Scores can range from 17 to 160, with higher scores corresponding to higher levels of perceived parental support. For example, if one parent is deceased or not in contact with the student, the lowest possible score for this student would be 17 (15 points for the items addressing support from the involved parent and 2 points for the funding items). Evidence of concurrent validity for the PSI was measured by correlating it with the Parent Support Scale (Farmer et al., 1981), which yielded a correlation coefficient of r= .50 (p= .01). Evidence of concurrent validity may actually be even stronger when correlated with a measure in which the response options are consistent between the two measures. That is, the response options for the PSI ranged from strongly discouraging to strongly encouraging, and the response options for the PSS ranged from strongly disagree to strongly agree, which may have contributed to the moderate correlation between the two measures. A Cronbach's alpha of .89 was obtained for the entire PSI scale for the present sample.

Vocational/Educational Expectations Scale (VEES). The College Expectations subscale of the VEES is a two-item instrument designed for the purpose of this study to measure students' expectations to attend college, given constraints such a lack of support or financial barriers. Respondents rated their agreement with two statements using a 5-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (very unlikely) to 5 (very likely). The College Expectations subscale asked students to rate how likely they were to (a) complete a 4year degree after high school and (b) complete a 4-year degree after high school and then complete an advanced degree (master's degree, PhD, MD, or JD). The two items for this scale are summed to yield a total score of expectations to attend college. In the present sample, a Cronbach's alpha of.79 was obtained for the College Expectations subscale.

Results

Zero-order correlations, means, standard deviations, and score ranges of the SCCT variables in this study are presented in Table 1. The mean for father's education was 4.66 (SD = 1.78), and the mean for mother's education was 3.65 (SD = 2.69). In this sample, 55.3% of the students reported that their fathers obtained a high school degree but had no further education, and 18.3% indicated that their fathers attended some high school but did not graduate. On the basis of student report, 43% of the mothers in this sample finished high school, and 23.3% of the mothers attended some high school but did not graduate. As expected, examination of the correlation matrix revealed a number of significant relation ships between the SCCT variables, such as relationships between (a) father's education and vocational/educational self-efficacy, (b) father's education and parental support, and (c) parental support and vocational/educational self-efficacy. There was a significant correlation between father's education and college expectations but no significant correlation between mother's education and college expectations.

To address the research questions posed in this study, we conducted a hierarchical multiple regression with college expectations serving as the criterion variable. Predictor variables included mother's education and occupation, father's education and occupation, vocational/educational self-efficacy, and parental support. Hierarchical regression is used to explore relationships between variables that have been chosen on the basis of logical or theoretical considerations (Tabachnick & Fidell, 1996). Furthermore, Tabachnick and Fidell suggested that variables with greater theoretical importance may be given early en try. For this study, the analysis was guided by SCCT (Lent et al., 1994), which suggests that self-efficacy and support may be more influential in attaining career goals than status variables such as parent's education or occupation.

The hierarchical regression analysis (see Table 2) examined the contribution of the SCCT predictor variables to the criterion variable of expectations to attend college after high school. In the first step, vocational/educational self-efficacy was entered into the regression equation, F(1, 75) = 16.86, p < .001, accounting for 18.4% of the variance. After Step 2, with parental support in the equation, the amount of variance accounted for was 36.5% ([DELTA][R.sup.2] = .18), F(2, 74) = 21.23, p < .001. After Step 3, the addition of parental occupation and education did not account for unique variance of college expectations ([DELTA][R.sup.2] = .04), F(4, 70) = 1.15, p > .05. In other words, 36.5% of the variance associated with college expectations was accounted for by the SCCT predictor variables of vocational/educational self-efficacy and parental support. Thus, participants who indicated having high levels of vocational/educational self-efficacy beliefs and high levels of perceived parental support indicated strong expectations to attend college after high school.

Given the finding that the VESES and parental support independently predicted college expectations, additional analyses were conducted to further examine the relationships between these variables. Two multivariate multiple regressions were conducted. The first regression examined the relative contributions of parental support and parental education and occupation to the VESES. The second multiple regression examined the con tributions of parental education and occupation to parental support. The first regression equation, which examined predictors of the VESES, was significant, F(5, 73) = 2.41, p < .05, and accounted for 14.2% of the variance. Examination of the beta weights indicated that the only significant predictor of the VESES was parental support ([beta] = .28, p < .05; see Table 3). The second regression equation, which examined predictors of parental support, was not significant, F(4, 74) = 1.91, p > .05.

Discussion

The results of this study provide important information regarding the application of SCCT to the career development of an underserved and often ignored cultural group, rural Appalachian youth. Findings suggest that for the rural Appalachian high school students in this sample, vocational/educational self-efficacy beliefs and perceptions of parental support play a key role in their expectations to attend college more so than their parents' education or occupational status. This finding is consistent with the tenets of SCCT and previous research, which suggests that self-efficacy and support may be more influential in the development of career goals than status variables such as parent's education, occupation, or SES (Ali et al., 2005; Lent et al., 2000). Although Lent et al. (2000) acknowledged that objective environmental factors such as lower SES and parent's occupational status have the potential to greatly affect an individual's career development, they also argued that "how individuals construe the environment and themselves also affords the potential for personal agency in one's career development" (p. 37). For example, in the present study, students who endorsed high levels of vocational/educational self-efficacy beliefs (which are a mechanism of personal agency) also endorsed strong expectations to attend college. This finding is consistent with aspects of the Appalachian culture such as a strong sense of self-reliance, which may have influenced the self-efficacy beliefs and personal agency of Appalachian students.

The finding that perceptions of parental support predicted expectations to attend college is also consistent with previous research suggesting that parents are often endorsed by rural Appalachian students as significant others who have the potential to influence career goals (Peterson et al., 1986). Although there are several benefits to perceiving parents as sources of support, potential disadvantages exist because of the rural isolation and a dearth of a wide range of employment opportunities to which parents living in this area are exposed. Furthermore, the majority of adults living in this particular area of Appalachia lack personal experience with the college exploration and application process. Thus, an overreliance on parents as sources of information may put these youth at a considerable disadvantage in gaining admission to college.

One possible explanation for the lack of predictive utility of parent's education and occupational status may have to do with the lack of information gleaned from simply asking students to list their parents' occupation and education. Although parent's education and income were disaggregated from SES in the present study, occupation, education, and income are the most commonly used variables in counseling psychology to assess social class and SES (Liu, Ali, Soleck, Hopps, & Pickett, 2004). Liu and colleagues (Liu & Ali, 2005; Liu et al., 2004) have recently argued that the use of these types of objective social class measures or status variables (i.e., occupation, education, and income) is not likely to be sufficient in capturing the meaningfulness of social class in a person's life. Consequently, these measures often do not have predictive utility in career outcomes. They further argued that subjective social class measures (i.e., measures that assess the experiences of a person within his or her particular social class group) appear to be better predictors of career outcomes (Liu & Ali, 2005). This proposition warrants further investigation with the Appalachian population.

Because vocational/educational self-efficacy and perceived parental support emerged as the only significant predictors of college expectations, additional analyses were conducted. Results revealed that parental support independently predicted vocational/educational self-efficacy, lending support for the SCCT proposition that contextual variables such as perceived support from parents can be an important component of the development of self-efficacy beliefs. This finding is consistent with the Appalachian cultural mores of strong family support and self-reliance and suggests that parental support may be a strong component in the development of personal agency mechanisms such as self-reliance or self-efficacy.

Limitations

Although the results of this study provide support for the SCCT tenet that self efficacy and perceived parental support may have more influence on the development of educational goals than status variables such as parent's education or occupation, there are several limitations that warrant further discussion. First, the results of the hierarchical regression analysis predicting college expectations indicated that the SCCT predictors chosen in this study explained only a modest amount of variance associated with the college expectations, indicating that important predictors may have been excluded in this research. For example, other SCCT constructs, such as outcome expectations or perceptions of barriers, may have increased the amount of variance associated with college expectations and thus provided further clarification of the role of SCCT variables in the development of educational goals for these youth.

Second, measurement issues may have been a problem in this study. Although this was an exploratory study that used measures that were developed for the sole purpose of assessing this specific environment, a couple of these measures require further validation. For example, the College Expectations subscale of the VEES lacked validity evidence and in future studies should be appropriately validated.

Third, the findings from this study are correlational, and as such, no causal inferences can be made. The generalizability of these findings is also limited. This study was conducted in rural Appalachia, which has unique features and characteristics specific to this community (i.e., the major industry is this area is coal mining). Caution should be exercised in generalizing our findings to other rural communities in which agriculture, for example, is the primary economic base.

Implications for Counseling

Despite the limitations, this study does provide some important information that may help teachers, school counselors, and vocational researchers better understand the career development process of rural Appalachian students. The results of this study are largely consistent with the major tenets of SCCT and provide support for using SCCT to understand the development of educational goals of rural Appalachian youth. Consistent with previous studies (Farmer, 1985; Kenny et al., 2003; McWhirter et al., 1998), the findings from this study indicate that attention to building and accessing support from significant others (e.g., parents) may be a key component of helping high school students achieve their career goals. For the Appalachian students, parents may be the critical support that assists students in deciding to pursue a college education. School personnel (e.g., school counselors, guidance counselors, teachers) involved with providing guidance to Appalachian students about future career decisions and educational or employment opportunities may want to consider ways to actively engage parents in conversations about their children's educational goals.

However, it might be especially important to also provide support to parents so that they can better support their children. It may be possible that parents living in this area do not have access to information about the process of applying to and succeeding in college. School personnel and vocational psychologists may try providing workshops for parents that offer information about potential funding sources, career development milestones, college application procedures, and demands of college life. This may serve to bolster parents' self-efficacy beliefs in their ability to guide their children through the process of obtaining a college education. Additionally, students may benefit from workshops that not only focus on providing information about college applications but also focus on information related to ways they can maximize support from significant others.

Results from this study provide further evidence for the well-supported idea that self-efficacy is an important component of academic goal setting and achievement. For Appalachian students, one way that self-efficacy can be increased is through involving parents in their career planning. Additionally, career education classes that are core curricular elements for all students and that provide exposure to both vocational and educational information and skills for accessing career information on an ongoing basis may be another way to increase self-efficacy. There is some evidence that these types of classes can increase the vocational skills self-efficacy of secondary students (McWhirter et al., 2000). However, one principal of a high school in rural Appalachia noted that sometimes students in his high school held expectations of college life that were not necessarily realistic. For example, when asked how many students in his high school pursue a college degree, he answered "on a good day approximately 20%" but also indicated that 10% of those students drop out of college in their 1st or 2nd year because of social and academic problems (D. Severt, personal communication, September 2000). Therefore, career education classes also need to focus on providing realistic information about college life and the demands of pursuing a college degree while also preparing students to deal with potential obstacles to successful college completion. It may also be important for colleges and universities that have large populations of Appalachian students to try to identify those at risk for attrition and provide necessary academic and social support to retain these students.

Future Research

In this study, one type of contextual support was examined in relation to college expectations. Given that Appalachian culture is characterized by strong kinship ties, it might be interesting to investigate whether other sources of support outside of the family system, such as teachers and peers, influence the college expectations of Appalachian youth. As noted previously, important SCCT predictor variables were not included in this study, such as outcome expectations and perceptions of barriers. Future research studies should focus on investigating how these components of SCCT increase the amount of explanatory power in relation to college expectations.

Model testing that includes comparisons of multiple rural Appalachian samples with varying economic, cultural, and geographic characteristics may also provide greater insight into the contextual influences of rural Appalachian settings on adolescent vocational and educational expectations. Such efforts might incorporate important macrosystemic influences (e.g., Bronfenbrenner, 1979) that are typically excluded from vocational psychology research, such as (a) students' perception of the structure of economic opportunity in the Appalachian area and (b) the impact of labor unions on the social class values and educational goals of adolescents living in this area.

Summary and Conclusion

This study contributes to the SCCT research base through the application of SCCT constructs to explain the college expectations of a rural Appalachia high school sample. Attention to and assessment of specific sources of support (e.g., parents) add some breadth to the examination of the role of supports in adolescent career development. The results indicate that for Appalachian students, parental support is an important component of their decision to pursue postsecondary education. Additionally, this study provides evidence of the importance of self-efficacy beliefs in the development of expectations to attend college. Because Appalachian culture is characterized by a strong sense of self-reliance, this finding is especially notable and suggests that attention to helping these students increase and maintain high levels of self-efficacy beliefs may be crucial in the achievement of their educational goals.

Finally, although Appalachia may be characterized by poverty and economic hardship, the application of SCCT to understanding the career development of this population highlights the delicate balance of paying attention to building supports while still not minimizing the very real economic conditions and potential barriers that exist for students living in Appalachia. Future research on this population is critical in assisting rural Appalachian youth to achieve their full potential in spite of the numerous economic and geographic challenges they may face.

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Saba Rasheed Ali, Counseling Psychology, University of Iowa; Jodi L. Saunders, Rehabilitation Counseling, University of Iowa. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Saba Rasheed Ali, Counseling Psychology, 361 Lindquist Center, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242 (e-mail: [e-mail]).

TABLE 1 Correlations, Means, Standard Deviations, and Score Ranges for
SCCT Predictor Variables

Variable         1         2         3       4       5       6     7

1. VE self-      --
   efficacy
2. Parental         .27*   --
   support
3. Mother's         .14       .05    --
   education
4. Father's         .25*      .26*    .46**  --
   education
5. Mother's        -.03       .12     .47**   .32**  --
   occupation
6. Father's         .12       .15     .30**   .50**   .42**  --
   occupation
7. College          .48**     .36**   .12     .26*    .17     .21  --
   expectations
Scale [alpha]       .93       .89                                   .79
M of scale       134.14    130.21    5.02    4.66    3.65    3.99  6.64
SD of scale       30.93     16.21    2.04    1.78    2.69    1.95  2.45
Range             21-189    71-154   3-10    2-10    1-8     1-9   2-10

Note. SCOT = social cognitive career theory; VE = vocational/
educational.
*p < .05, two-tailed. **p < .01, two-tailed.

TABLE 2 Hierarchical Regression Analysis of College Expectations

                                          [DELTA]
Step and Variable      B    SE B  [beta]  [R.sup.2]  [R.sup.2]  F

Step 1                                    .184       .184       16.86*
  VE self-efficacy     .04  .009  .43*
Step 2                                    .181       .365       21.23*
  VE self-efficacy     .03  .009  .31*
  Parental support     .07  .016  .44*
Step 3                                    .039       .404        1.15
  VE self-efficacy     .02  .009  .29*
  Parental support     .06  .016  .41*
  Mother's education   .05  .143  .05
  Father's education   .10  .156  .08
  Mother's occupation  .07  .096  .09
  Father's occupation  .07  .129  .06

Note. n = 77. VE = vocational/educational.
*p < .01.

TABLE 3 Regression Analysis of Vocational/Educational Self-Efficacy

(n = 79)

Step and Variable      B      SE B  [beta]  F     [R.sup.2]

Step 1                                      2.41  .142
  Parental support      0.51  0.20   .28*
  Mother's education    2.2   1.75   .17
  Father's education    1.8   2.06   .12
  Mother's occupation  -1.2   1.27  -.10
  Father's occupation  -0.02  1.75   .00

*p < .05.