Factors influencing the educational and vocational transitions of Black and Latino high school students.

This article discusses individual, structural, and cultural factors that shape the educational and vocational transitions of graduating high school Black and Latino students. Implications of such factors for school counselors who wish to facilitate these adolescents' career development also are presented.

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For Black and Latino students who are advancing toward high school graduation, the decision to pursue higher education or the world of work can be fraught with conflicting emotions, pressures, and expectations. For many of these individuals, the movement away from high school is a transition in terms of role adjustment and an entrance into adulthood (Blustein, Juntunen, & Worthington, 2000). Graduating Black and Latino youth are in the midst of formulating their sense of self in numerous spheres, such as among their peers, families, schools, and communities. They are also in the midst of formulating their sense of their own race and ethnicity. Further, as Black and Latino adolescents progress through high school, they are assessing their likelihood of attending and excelling in college (Kao & Tienda, 1998), exploring the world of work through vicarious and personal academic and vocational experiences (Constantine, Erickson, Banks, & Timberlake, 1998), and developing their vocational identities (Blustein et al.). Thus, their transition away from high school is shaped by myriad factors.

Over the past several years, research has encouraged greater exploration of the educational and vocational transition processes in Black and Latino adolescents. According to recent statistics (National Center for Education Statistics [NCES], 2004a), the total number of high school graduates and graduate equivalency diploma recipients in the United States exceeded 2.5 million people, 61% of whom entered college within a year of obtaining their diploma. Compared to approximately 65% of White high school graduates who entered college during 2001, only 55% of African American and 52% of Latino students enrolled in college (NCES, 2004a). Furthermore, over 54% and 66% of African American and Latino high school graduates, respectively, between 16 and 19 years of age were employed or were seeking employment in 2001 (NCES, 2004b).

Despite the numbers of Black and Latino adolescents who obtain their high school diploma and enter the world of higher education or work, literature that examines the educational and vocational transitions of Black and Latino youth has been limited (Ladany, Melincoff, Constantine, & Love, 1997). For Black and Latino youth, the transition is dependent on varied internal factors and external contexts, including prior educational experiences, cultural and familial experiences, and perceptions of barriers to educational and vocational goals (Constantine et al., 1998; Gloria & Hird, 1999). In this article, we discuss various individual, structural, and cultural factors that shape the educational and vocational transitions of graduating high school Black and Latino students. Furthermore, we identify implications of these factors for school counselors who wish to facilitate these adolescents' career development.

INDIVIDUAL FACTORS

School Engagement and Academic Achievement

Black and Latino high school students who do not view education as relevant to their future are more likely to become academically and socially disengaged from school (Worthington & Juntunen, 1997). Ogbu (1990) asserted that students who are members of "involuntary" minority groups (i.e., groups who historically were introduced to the United States through enslavement and oppression) may have conceptions of how to progress in society that run contrary to the belief that academic performance translates directly into future successes and may exhibit distrust of mainstream educational institutions. These beliefs are thought to be a function of personal and vicarious experiences with personal and institutional racism. That is, Black and Latino adolescents may experience challenges to academic engagement resulting from the lack of perceived relevance of academic content to their personal experiences. In the words of a Latina who dropped out of high school due to an overarching sense of apathy regarding her education, "I just didn't want to go ... I just hated school. I had no interest in it at all" (Romo & Falbo, 1996, p. 236).

Many Black and Latino adolescents contend with the expectation that they will not succeed. They may feel pressured to dissociate themselves from these expectations, particularly when the domain of academic success is important to their self-concept. As a result, some Black and Latino students who identify strongly with academic achievement may feel anxiety to perform in a way that counteracts and distinguishes them from negative stereotypes. Moreover, as a result of their awareness of the potential impacts of racism and discrimination, Black and Latino adolescents may anticipate having to prove repeatedly their belongingness in academic settings (Brown & Jones, 2004). In addition, some Latino high school students may anticipate barriers to future academic prospects as a result of limited exposure to important others who have college experiences or who have been able to attain their career goals (Constantine et al., 1998). However, positive racial and ethnic messages from parents, siblings, teachers, and peer groups could diffuse the anxiety that they can face in predominantly White institutions and can promote their academic and social self-concepts.

Educational and Vocational Aspirations

Factors that contribute to the career aspirations of Black and Latino students clearly have relevance to their decisions to pursue higher education or enter the workforce. Among Latino adolescents, for example, challenges to translating aspirations into academic achievement have been found to be a function of numerous psychosocial factors, including acculturative stress and language barriers, incongruity between cultural values and the values of educational institutions, anticipated and experienced academic isolation, and socioeconomic inequities that preclude the likelihood of seeing college as an attainable option (Niemann, Romero, & Arbona, 2000). Individual differences also may play a role. Challenges to career and educational aspirations may dampen the career decision-making process for some Black and Latino adolescents but not for others. These challenges may facilitate greater resilience and coping self-efficacy in some, but not in others (Flores & O'Brien, 2002). Although Black and Latino adolescents generally report academic and vocational aspirations that are comparable to White adolescents from high socioeconomic classes (Arbona, 1990; Evans & Herr, 1991), the long-term maintenance of these aspirations is less clear (Kao & Tienda, 1998).

Career Exploration and Planning

Participation in future-oriented career behavior, such as career exploration and planning, can promote many individuals' career decision-making processes (Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 2000). For example, career planning, vocational skill development, and an orientation to the adult world have been shown to facilitate school-to-work transitions (Phillips, Blustein, Jobin-Davis, & White, 2002). The degree to which many Black and Latino high school students engage in future-oriented career behavior may be tied somewhat to their perceptions of career barriers and their potential adherence to career myths. For example, literature has shown that although Mexican American adolescents have high vocational aspirations, they have low expectations to achieve these goals (Arbona, 1990). As a result, they may exhibit less commitment and planfulness toward career goals, possibly because they perceive their paths toward their career goals to have barriers beyond their control (Swanson, Daniels, & Tokar, 1996). In addition, the perception of career barriers and adherence to career myths have been related to the tendency for some Mexican American college students to foreclose on career options without deliberate exploration (Ladany et al., 1997). Exposure to positive racial socialization messages and possessing high cultural self-esteem might lessen the influence of perceived barriers on career-related outcomes, such as career indecision and premature foreclosure on career options.

Role Models and Mentors

The degree to which Black and Latino adolescents interact with adults who can help guide their career exploration could influence their readiness to transition from high school to the world of work or college (Phillips et al., 2002). Formal and informal mentorship opportunities could provide these adolescents with vicarious learning experiences that, in turn, might promote career-related and/or academic self-efficacy (Constantine et al., 1998; Lent et al., 2000). For example, Linnehan (2001) reported that participation in a work-based mentoring program for more than 6 months improved urban African American adolescents' academic performance and behavior. Grant-funded bridge programs, such as Upward Bound, also seem to enhance readiness for transitions among Black and Latino youth, particularly for higher-education settings (Fashola & Slavin, 2001).

Black and Latino high school students may be influenced by role models and mentors who are similar to them by race, ethnicity, or gender. Adolescents of color note the presence or absence of others who are similar to them in these regards and develop beliefs about their available career opportunities by observing similar others in various professional positions. In addition, gender- and race-matched role models may provide adolescents of color with the belief that they have a place of value in college settings or in professional work positions, despite racist and sexist stereotypes that may communicate otherwise. However, some Black and Latino high school students may not have access to matched role models in positions that require more advanced college degrees (Constantine et al., 1998).

STRUCTURAL FACTORS

Structural or environmental factors, such as poverty and racial discrimination, may have direct implications for educational and vocational resources that are available to graduating Black and Latino high school students (Constantine et al., 1998; Ladany et al., 1997), as well as psychological implications for career-related outcomes such as perceptions of career and educational barriers and career self-efficacy (Lent et al., 2000).

Poverty

Poverty has been suggested to influence various aspects of career development, including occupational attainment, access to work opportunities, and definitions of work within the worldviews and value systems of individuals (Brown, Fukunaga, Umemoto, & Wicker, 1996). For some Black and Latino high school students living in large urban areas, poverty and factors related to poverty, such as familial unemployment, exposure to crime and violence, and poor health care, are among the environmental stresses that could affect their academic and vocational attainment (Constantine et al., 1998). Further, Black and Latino parents in lower-socioeconomic families may have great difficulty in providing instrumental support, such as information about career-related opportunities, to foster their children's career development (Blustein et al., 2000). It follows that Black and Latino adolescents from lower-socioeconomic classes experience a greater level of incongruence between their career aspirations and expectations than do their White and higher-socioeconomic-class peers (Arbona, 1990).

Anticipated Racial Discrimination

Because the U.S. workforce, particularly within higher-paying occupations, is dominated by White people, some Black and Latino students may not believe that their career decisions will result in placement in their desired occupations, despite having competitive qualifications (Gloria & Hird, 1999). Brown, Minor, and Jepsen (1991) found that adults of color were more likely than their White counterparts to report challenges in their career development, including finding employment, wishing they had more knowledge about careers, racial discrimination in the workplace, and not having their skills used well in their work settings. Brown et al. (1991) also indicated that African American adults were more likely than their White and Latino peers to report taking the only job available. As a result, the workforce, for both Black and Latino adolescents who transition to work or college, may seem inhospitable, especially in higher-paying professions. The perception of career barriers by some Black and Latino adolescents might contribute to career indecision and possibly result in ambivalent or turbulent transitions from high school to postsecondary schooling or work. Conversely, even in the face of anticipated or experienced racial discrimination, many Black and Latino adolescents who are prepared to deal with such challenges may have heightened coping and career self-efficacy (Hackett & Byars, 1996).

CULTURAL FACTORS

An emphasis on family support and responsibility may be consonant with values of communalism and close family ties, which tend to be characteristic of the worldviews and cultural norms of many Blacks and Latinos. In particular, cultural values of communalism and obligation to family could pressure Black and Latino adolescents to adhere to parental expectations in the context of transitioning into work or higher education. It is possible that the degree of complexity and possible conflict regarding adherence to values consonant with their families' culture of origin and individualistic values may be reflected in the educational and vocational transitions of Black and Latino youth. Alternatively, it is possible for schools to develop curricula and vocational programs that better integrate the cultural values of their student populations, which can mitigate such conflicts and facilitate both engagement in education and developing a positive vocational identity based on these cultural values.

For some Black and Latino adolescents, the decision to pursue college could result in physical as well as emotional distance from families and communities (Niemann et al., 2000). For example, African American adolescents who attended racially diverse and/or predominantly Black high schools, or lived among communities of color, might anticipate challenges at predominantly White institutions, such as distance from peer groups of similar racial backgrounds (D'Augelli & Hershberger, 1993). Additionally, urban Black and Latino adolescents may experience a sense of disloyalty to their peer group and community in pursuing college (Constantine et al., 1998). That is, Black and Latino youth who have strong feelings of ethnic loyalty may anticipate and experience profound social costs in the pursuit of higher education (Niemann et al., 2000).

IMPLICATIONS FOR SCHOOL COUNSELORS

High school counselors are in unique positions to shape and facilitate the transition experiences of Black and Latino adolescents into higher education and vocation. By acknowledging, normalizing, and directly attending to the factors that could affect these adolescents' transitions, high school counselors might enhance Black and Latino adolescents' sense of overall identity as well as vocational and academic identity. Furthermore, the need to develop culturally relevant interventions to address and improve the occupational expectations of these youth of color has been underscored (Brown et al., 1991).

School counselors should be aware of how the confluence of cultural (e.g., acculturation, gender, ethnic and racial identity, and values), familial (e.g., parental education attainment), and environmental (exposure to poverty, violence, and crime) factors contribute to Black and Latino adolescents' perceptions of attainable careers (Constantine et al., 1998). For example, some Black and Latino youth might experience normative sociocultural, familial, and psychological conflicts as they make choices about their transitions from high school. It is vital that high school counselors assess the degree to which the career development struggles of Black and Latino adolescents are developmentally appropriate, related to the perception of barriers or limited career-related information, or a combination of multiple psychological, environmental, and structural factors (Ladany et al., 1997). Moreover, school counselors working with Black and Latino adolescents might wish to acknowledge the potential conflicts that could arise for them between wanting to succeed academically and vocationally and feelings of loyalty to their families and communities (Constantine et al.).

Further, school counselors might encourage these students to explore their career and academic identities. For example, Blustein, Phillips, Jobin-Davis, Finkelberg, and Roarke (1997) identified several ways in which youth of color might be encouraged to make successful school-to-work transitions, including fostering a purposeful approach to employment and self-exploration with respect to educational and vocational contexts; being aware of the continuous development of a crystallized sense of self; promoting the involvement of important and supportive others at home, school, and/or work in adolescents' career exploration and decisions; and seeking vocational and educational opportunities that offer growth and skill development. These suggestions highlight how the career identity development process moves in tandem with adolescent identity development. That is, fostering increased awareness and sense of purpose regarding career identity development among Black and Latino adolescents may foster similarly increased awareness and sense of purpose regarding their overall identity.

Collaboration and consultations with adolescents and their families may be crucial in fostering positive transitions for graduating Black and Latino adolescents. Career counselors could facilitate these students' vocational development processes by reinforcing positive elements of familial support for career development. School counselors could engage Black and Latino students and their families in identifying coping strategies that may be effective in dealing with potential discrimination in academic and vocational settings (Lent et al., 2000). School counselors might wish to collaborate with teachers and school administrators as well to foster coping and resilience strategies to help these adolescents address discrimination, racism, and prejudice as they pursue their career goals, as well as include vocational information relevant to these students throughout the curricula (Constantine et al., 1998).

Finally, school counselors could provide financial aid and scholarship information focusing on Black and Latino adolescents who are college-bound. These counselors also could liaise with professional organizations devoted to certain vocational fields to provide school-to-work Black and Latino students with mentoring and support networks once they enter a vocation (Linnehan, 2001). Other programs might emphasize visits to college and university campuses, including meetings with university officials, to help orient students to higher-education settings. Additionally, school counselors could liaise with local business leaders to provide work apprenticeships, develop work-based mentorship programs, and/or provide meaningful part-time jobs that may influence the career development of Black and Latino adolescents (Linnehan).

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Madonna G. Constantine is a professor, Mai M. Kindaichi is a doctoral student, and Marie L. Miville is an associate professor, all in the Department of Counseling and Clinical Psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University, New York. E-mail: [e-mail]