J Child Fam Stud (2015) 24:762–771 DOI 10.1007/s10826-013-9887-y
ORIGINAL PAPER
Positive Parenting During Adolescence and Career Success in Young Adulthood Mellissa S. Gordon • Ming Cui
Published online: 5 December 2013 Ó Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013
Abstract Research findings suggested that positive parenting behaviors during adolescence continue to have lasting effects on children, even when they enter young adulthood; though few studies have investigated how positive parenting behaviors affect career success in young adulthood. Career success is central to young adults’ identity formation, life satisfaction, marital relations and mental health. In this study, we examine how positive parenting behaviors influence young adults’ career success. Using a large, nationally representative, and longitudinal sample, results from regression analyses suggested that positive parenting behaviors during adolescence were positively associated with young adults’ career outcomes, including career satisfaction, career autonomy, career commitment, and income. Furthermore, the association between positive parenting during adolescence and career success was mediated in part by education attainment in young adulthood. Keywords Career success Educational attainment Positive parenting Young adulthood Introduction Career success reflects an important developmental milestone for young adults (Arnett 2002; Shanahan et al. 2002),
M. S. Gordon (&) Department of Human Development and Family Studies, University of Delaware, 111 Allison Hall West, Newark, DE 19716, USA e-mail:
[email protected] M. Cui Department of Family and Child Sciences, The Florida State University, 216 Sandels Building, Tallahassee, FL 32303, USA
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as its benefits have been well documented in the literature. For example, those reporting career success also report greater life satisfaction (Khattab and Fenton 2009), less disruption to marital relations (Schoen et al. 2002), and better mental health (Paul and Moser 2009). For many, after receiving copious amounts of education, full-time employment is particularly challenging (Blossfeld et al. 2005). This difficulty is perhaps further enhanced when the economic climate is less than ideal (e.g., the current job market, Bureau of Labor Statistics 2011). However, regardless of economic conditions, there are variations in career success among young adults, with some being more successful in career achievement than others (Mortimer et al. 2008; Staff et al. 2010). According to Cuzzocrea (2011), several factors may contribute to successful career achievement; among them, family of origin (e.g., parenting) plays a rather distinct role in the career trajectories of young adult children. Few studies however, have explored the association between parenting in adolescence and young adults’ career success (Evans et al. 2001). Further, family researchers have examined and found support for the association between positive parenting during adolescence and various individual outcomes, such as externalizing and internalizing behaviors (Gopalan et al. 2009; Kim and Brody 2005), and academic achievement (Benner and Mistry 2007; Seyfried and Chung 2002). Relatively less attention, however, has been directed towards career outcomes for youth once they have entered young adulthood (Cuzzocrea 2011). Understanding the association between positive parenting during adolescence and young adults’ career success has significant implications for young adults (Hwang and Chang 2009; Franz et al. 1991). According to Bandura’s (1977) social learning theory, parents communicate to their children the importance of
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certain ideals, such as education and career, through parenting behaviors. The theory’s strong focus on the importance of parents in shaping the outcomes of their children provides an ideal platform from which to explore the association between parenting behavior during adolescence and the eventual career successes of young adults. As social learning theory suggests, children have the opportunity to learn from their parents, about the importance of education early on, and what it may mean for later successes in life, such as providing certain benefits in one’s career in young adulthood. Such positive attitudes and behaviors will likely render adolescence greater success in the workplace in young adulthood (i.e., higherpaying jobs, higher-status work). More broadly, the effect of positive parenting during adolescence on young adults’ career success is also consistent with the life course perspective, which suggests that individuals’ later life trajectories are influenced by earlier parenting behaviors (Elder and Giele 2009). The concept of ‘‘linked lives’’ suggests that parents and children are connected and that parenting affects various aspects of child adjustment. Such parenting effect cumulatively influences children over the life course (DiPrete and Eirich 2006). Therefore, based on social learning theory as well as the life course perspective, we propose that positive parenting during adolescence is positively associated with career success in young adulthood. Further, as social learning theory suggests (Bandura 1977), young adults are afforded the opportunity to observe and further internalize the beliefs and values of their parents as it relates to education. Indeed, it is likely that with positive parenting during adolescence, young adult children may achieve better educational attainment (Bureau of Labor Statistics 2011; Malanchuk et al. 2010). Educational attainment, in turn, promotes subsequent career success (Arum and Hout 1998). Therefore, based on social learning theory, we also propose that the effect of positive parenting during adolescence on career success could be mediated through educational attainment in young adulthood. Establishing career success is a salient feature of adulthood. As Arnett (2002) suggests, career establishment may in fact, be of higher importance than other demarcations of adulthood such as marriage and parenthood. Howard et al. (2010) examined factors that contribute to life satisfaction within a sample of young adults between the ages of 18 and 25. They found that career success and life satisfaction were highly correlated. Similarly, other researchers have established positive associations between career success and marital success as well as between career success and better mental health outcomes (Amato and Beattie 2011; Paul and Moser 2009). Given the important implications associated with career success, the current study explores the effects of positive parenting during adolescence on career success in young adulthood.
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Empirical findings relating to career success tend to be somewhat ambiguous because researchers differ in their conceptualizations of what exactly constitutes career success (Mahmood et al. 2011). For example, it is not uncommon for researchers to attempt to conceptualize this concept into a single variable of career satisfaction (Grandey et al. 2005). However, career satisfaction alone may fail to adequately capture the different dimensions of career success. Such operationalization may lead to misinterpretations of the findings relating to individual dimensions of one’s career. Therefore, it is imperative that the domains of career success are assessed adequately, which would involve assessments of various domains (Boerjan et al. 2010). One goal of the present study is to establish an association between positive parenting during adolescence and the specific aspects of career success in young adulthood. A review of the literature suggested that career success entails career satisfaction, career autonomy, career commitment, and income (Mahmood et al. 2011; Boerjan et al. 2010; Meyer and Allen 1991; Malanchuk et al. 2010). In this study, we will evaluate these four aspects of career success. Career satisfaction, by far, has been one of the most frequently assessed variable of career success in the research literature (Haihua et al. 2011; Mahmood et al. 2011; Cohrs et al. 2006). Defined broadly, career satisfaction refers to employees’ general emotional relatedness to matters relative to their place of employment (Mahmood et al. 2011). Career autonomy is another important aspect of career success. It pertains to the freedom that one has to self-govern as well as their ability to manage and organize important aspects related to their career (Boerjan et al. 2010; Morgeson et al. 2005). A higher level of career autonomy reflects the importance and flexibility of the nature of one’s career and is indicative of lower levels of career-related stress (Boerjan et al. 2010; Lee and Phillips 2006; de Rijk et al. 1998). Career commitment encompasses psychological and circumstantial (e.g., emotional and situational events) states that relate to specific commitment-related attitudes and behaviors to one’s career (Meyer and Allen 1991; Mowday et al. 1979). These attitudes and behaviors further reflect the individual’s desire to either maintain or discontinue their involvement with their place of employment (Meyer and Allen 1991). Finally, as adults enter paid employment with the intention of earning a wage, income conceivably serves as a demarcation of career success. Employees tend to perceive their earnings more favorably when they feel they are earning a wage comparable to that of their fellow employees (Ram and Prabhakar 2010). It is important to note that the four aspects of career success are inter-related. For example, those who have higher income tend to also display higher levels of commitment to their employers (Hwang and
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Chang 2009; Wang et al. 2010) and tend to also report higher satisfaction with their careers (Bozeman and Gaughan 2011; Pouliakas and Theodossiou 2010). However, these four aspects, though related, represent four different dimensions of career success. With many studies examining the association between parenting and various aspects of child outcomes, very few empirical studies have focused on career success in young adulthood (e.g., Rasdi et al. 2009). Weisner et al. (2003) found that individuals who reported greater parental involvement during childhood and adolescence were also likely to report being consistently employed and college educated in young adulthood. Hargrove et al. (2002) had similar findings relative to parent–child relationships and career success in young adulthood. These studies are limited, however, in that they focused on career choice, such as the level of parents’ approval towards one’s chosen career, rather than career success (Altman 1997; Heslin 2005). Given the implications associated with successful career outcomes, it is important to establish how positive parenting during adolescence may contribute to career success in young adulthood. In this paper, we will examine how positive parenting during adolescence influence career success in young adults. Based on social learning theory and the limited research evidence, we hypothesized a positive association between positive parenting during adolescence and career success in young adulthood. Further, such positive association between parenting in adolescence and young adults’ career success could be explained through the cumulated educational attainment in young adulthood. Some studies have demonstrated an association between parenting and young adults’ educational attainment (Fass and Tubman 2002; Gordon and Cui 2012). For example, Weisner et al. (2003) reported that young adults whose parents were highly involved during adolescence were also more likely to report higher educational attainment in young adulthood. Findings were also consistent with those provided by Fan and Chen (2001). Additionally, researchers have demonstrated an association between educational attainment and career success in young adulthood. Weisner et al. (2003) suggested that young adults with greater levels of educational attainment were also more likely to report being consistently employed. Furthermore, Ng et al. (2005) reported that educational attainment in young adulthood was related to higher salaries and greater career satisfaction. Given the literature relating to the associations between positive parenting during adolescence and young adults’ educational attainment and between educational attainment and career outcomes, we proposed that the association between positive parenting during adolescence and young adults’ career success would be mediated through their educational attainment.
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In sum, the goal of the present study is to investigate whether there is an association between positive parenting during adolescence and young adults’ career success. We hypothesized that there was a positive association between positive parenting during adolescence and career success among young adults (H1), and that such an association would be partially mediated through young adults’ educational attainment (H2). Several family and individual characteristics will be controlled for, as earlier studies suggests that they may influence career success, including gender (e.g., Mahmood et al. 2011), age (e.g., Cheung and Tang 2010), race/ethnicity (e.g., Guillory 2001), parental education (e.g., Gibbons et al. 2011), and family structure (e.g., Louis and Zhao 2002).
Method Participants Data utilized in this study came from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), in which data was collected in four waves (Wave I in 1994/5, Wave II in 1995/6, Wave III in 2001/2, and Wave IV 2007/8). Add Health is a nationally representative school-based sample and is funded in part by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). Because parenting measures were collected in Wave I and young adults’ career outcomes were available in Wave IV, the current study used Wave I and Wave IV of Add Health. There were N = 18,749 participants included in the analyses at Wave I, due to 1,282 excluded because of invalid sampling weights, and an additional 714 excluded due to missing data on the variables of interest. Of the 15,701 participants who complete follow-up interviews at Wave IV, only 9,291 had valid sampling weights. Of those with valid sampling weights, 8,770 provided data on the variables of interest. Therefore, N = 8,770 were included in the analyses (Biemer and Aragon-Logan 2010; Chantala 2006; Tourangeau and Shin 1999). The final sample sizes varied slightly by each career outcome variable. Based on attrition analyses, males, African American, and those in lower grades in previous waves were more likely to have dropped from the study. Attrition bias is further minimized by longitudinal weights, which were provided by the Add Health investigators. Procedure Wave I of the Add Health project went under way during the 1994–1995 school years, and data were collected from 20,745 adolescents in grades 7 through 12, attending 132 schools. Participants completed in-home interviews
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relating to demographic information, family structure, parenting, parent-adolescent relationship, peer relations and adolescent adjustment. Follow-up interviews for Wave IV is the most recent data collected to date. Interviews were completed in 2007 and 2008 and included 15,701 participants. The participants’ ranged from 24 to 32 years of age at Wave IV. Detailed descriptions of sampling procedures provided by Harris and colleagues (2008) can be found at the following website: http://www.cpc.unc.edu/ projects/addhealth/design. Measures Positive Parenting Behavior During Adolescence Positive parenting behavior during adolescence variable was assessed in Wave I and included three sub-scales. The first is parental involvement. Adolescent participants were asked about their parents’ involvement in their schoolrelated activities, such as how often the parent had talked about their schoolwork or grades, talked about other things they were doing in school, and worked with them on a project for school (0 = no and 1 = yes). There were three items asked for mothers and fathers; the scores for mothers and fathers were averaged across parents. The alphas were .59 for mothers and .59 for fathers. The correlation between scores for mothers and fathers were .64 (p \ .00). The second sub-scale of parenting was parental expectation. Adolescent participants were asked to report how disappointed their father or mother would be if they did not graduate from college (one item) and high school (one item). The response ranged from 1 = low to 5 = high. The two items for mothers (r = .45, p \ .00) and for fathers (r = .50, p \ .00) were averaged across parents (r = .57, p \ .00 between fathers and mothers). The last sub-scale of parenting was parental support. Adolescent participants were asked of each parent, how close they feel to their parents, and how much they think their parents care about them. The response ranged from 1 = not at all to 5 = very much. The two items were asked about mothers (r = .61) and fathers (r = .53), and the items were combined to create an average across fathers and mothers (r = .43). Finally, the three subscales were standardized and then averaged together to create a score of positive parenting during adolescence. The overall alpha was .73. Career Success in Young Adulthood Career success was assessed in Wave IV with four separate outcome variables, career satisfaction, career autonomy, career commitment, and income. Career satisfaction was created by asking the target participant how satisfied (are/ were) you with this job, as a whole. Responses ranged from
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1 = extremely satisfied to 5 = extremely dissatisfied. Scores we reverse coded so that higher scores indicated higher satisfaction. Career autonomy was created by asking target participant, overall, how often (do/did) you have the freedom to make important decisions about what you (do/did) at work and how you (do/did) it? Responses ranged from 0 = none to 3 = all the time. Career commitment was created by asking target participants, ‘‘Which one of the following best describes your (current/most recent) primary job?’’ Possible responses were, 1 = it is part of my long-term career or work goals, 2 = it is preparation for my long-term career or work goals, 3 = it is not related to my long-term career or work goals, and 4 = I do not have a long-term career or work goals. Scores were reverse coded so that higher scores indicated higher career commitment. Finally, income was created by asking participants the following question, ‘‘In the previous year, how much income did you receive from personal earnings before taxes, that is, wages or salaries, including tips, bonuses, and overtime pay, and income from selfemployment?’’ Participants reported a dollar amount corresponding to their income. Due to the skewness of the data, amount in dollars was quintiled (i.e., divided into five equal categories), then categorized as follows: 1 = less than or equal to 12,000; 2 = greater than 12,000 and less than or equal to 25,000; 3 = greater than 25,000 and less than or equal 35,000; 4 = greater than 35,000 and less than or equal to 50,000; and 5 = greater than 50,000. Educational Attainment in Young Adulthood Educational attainment in young adulthood was also assessed in Wave IV. Respondents were asked to report the highest level of education they had completed. The coding listed various degrees completed (e.g., 8th grade or less, completed college, completed a doctoral degree, etc.). The list was then converted to a continuous variable of educational attainment level, ranging from 8 = eighth grade or less to 20 = complete doctoral or other equivalent degree. Covariates Family and individual covariates were assessed at Wave I. Adolescent age was measured in years. Adolescent gender was coded as 0 = male and 1 = female. Race and ethnicity were assessed by five dummy variables, including White (reference category), African American, Hispanic, Asian, and others. Parents’ education was assessed by four dummy variables: college education or more, some college education, high school graduation (reference category), or less than a high school education. Last, family structure was assessed by five dummy variables: two-biological parents (reference category), stepfamilies, single-mother
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families, single-father families, and other families (Cui et al. 2012).
Results Add Health data collection incorporates a complex approach, which includes the oversampling of certain groups. This was done in order to generate a nationally representative sample and to account for the possible influence of subsequent attrition rates. Using the statistical software package Stata, ‘‘svy’’ estimation, and the weighting variables determined based on the wave that was used at each stage of the analysis (Chantala 2006; Tourangeau and Shin 1999), Stata is most appropriate for addressing the stratified and clustering design of the Add Health data. For such reasons, the current study uses Stata to analyze the data. Descriptive statistics were provided in Table 1. The mean for positive parenting was .31 (SD = 2.31). Participants reported a mean career satisfaction of 3.86, a mean of 1.89 for career autonomy, and a mean of 2.98 for career commitment. The majority of participants reported an income less than $35,000. The mean for educational attainment in young adulthood was 14.67. Participant’s average age was 15.76 in Wave I, and approximately half were females. Most identified as White (70.6 %), while, 13.8 % identified as Black, 11.3 % as Hispanic, .03 % as Asian, and .01 % as other race and ethnicity. Most parents reported having completed college (35.4 %), 21.7 % reported they had come college experience, 31.5 % of the parents completed high school, and 11.4 % reported they had obtained less than a high school diploma. About 59 % of the participants reported belonging to a two-biological parent household. H1 proposed that positive parenting during adolescence would have a significant positive relationship with career success (i.e., career satisfaction, autonomy, commitment, and income). To test this hypothesis, multiple regressions were used. Before testing the final models, we tested the associations between positive parenting and career success separately by gender. Results (not shown) suggested that parenting was significantly and directly related to each individual dimension of career success similarly for both males and females. For example, for the career satisfaction outcome, the coefficient from parenting was .091 (p \ .05) for males and .106 (p \ .05) for females. Given that parenting works in similar ways across gender, we tested the model using the whole sample. Specifically, positive parenting during adolescence was included as a predictor, and career success variables (i.e., career satisfaction, career autonomy, career commitment, and income) were included as separate outcomes. In addition, covariates were also
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J Child Fam Stud (2015) 24:762–771 Table 1 Summary of descriptive variables (N = 8,770) Variable
Mean or %
SD
Min
Max
Career satisfaction
3.86
.94
1
5
Career autonomy
1.89
.94
0
3
Career commitment
2.98
.98
1
4
Income \12,000
21.9 %
12,000–25,000
21.8 %
25,000–35,000 35,000–50,000
20.2 % 18.9 %
[50,000
17.2 %
Positive parenting
.31
2.31
-6.66
14.67
2.20
8
Age
15.76
1.57
Female
50.1 %
Educational attainment
4.47 20
Covariates 11.56
21.14
Race and ethnicity White (reference)
70.6 %
Black
13.8 %
Hispanic
11.3 %
Asian
2.96 %
Other race/ethnicity
1.34 %
Parental education Less high school High school (reference)
11.4 % 31.5 %
Some college
21.7 %
College
35.4 %
Family structure Two-biological parents (reference)
59.0 %
Step families
16.1 %
Single-mother families
19.2 %
Single-father families
2.8 %
Other families
2.9 %
included. Table 2 shows the results. For all parameter estimates, unstandardized parameters were reported. The results in Table 2 displayed several important findings. First, as was hypothesized, positive parenting during adolescence was positively and significantly associated with each dimension of young adults’ career success, including career satisfaction (b = .10, p \ .01), career autonomy (b = .08, p \ .01), career commitment (b = .13, p \ .01), and income (b = .18, p \ .01). The R-squares for the models were 2 % in career satisfaction, 2 % in career autonomy, 4 % in career commitment, and 12 % in income. In addition, regarding the covariates, compared to their male counterparts, female participants reported significantly lower career autonomy, commitment, and income. Compared with Whites, Blacks reported
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Table 2 Association between Parenting during adolescence and career success in young adulthood Variables
Career satisfaction N = 8,770
Career autonomy N = 8,767
Career commitment N = 8,767
Income N = 8,471
b
SE
b
SE
b
SE
b
SE
.10**
.02
.08*
.03
.13**
.03
.18**
.04
Age Female
.01 -.02
.01 .03
.01 -.13**
.01 .03
.02* -.13**
.01 .03
.08** -.62**
.02 .04
Hispanic
-.06
.05
-.11*
.05
-.06
.05
.16
.08 .07
Positive parenting Covariates
Black
-.25**
.05
-.13*
.04
-.20**
.04
-.29**
Asian
-.11
.08
.05
.06
.01
.09
.09
.14
Other race and ethnicity
-.40**
.12
-.15
.12
-.25
.14
.23
.18
Less than high school
.02
.05
-.03
.05
-.10
.05
-.26**
.07
Some college
-.02
.04
.05
.05
.11**
.04
.17**
.05
College
-.04
.03
.09**
.03
.18**
.03
.42**
.05 .06
Step families
-.06
.04
.03
.04
-.06
.04
-.09
Single-dad families
-.12
.09
.17*
.09
.04
.08
-.07
.12
Single-mom families
.07
.05
.04
.05
-.01
.05
-.04
.07
-.03
.09
.03
.10
-.08
.08
-.09
.11
Other family structure Constant
-.12
-.11
2.68
1.89
F (14, 115) = 6.10**
F (14, 115) = 5.40**
F (14, 115) = 22.82**
F (14, 115) = 41.80**
R2 = 2 %
R2 = 2 %
R2 = 4 %
R2 = 12 %
Unstandardized coefficients reported. * p \ .05. ** p \ .01
significantly lower career satisfaction, autonomy, commitment, and income. Finally, parents’ higher education was positively associated with young adults’ career autonomy, commitment, and income. H2 proposed that the effect of positive parenting during adolescence was partially mediated through educational attainment. In order to test this hypothesis, multiple regressions were used where positive parenting in adolescence at Wave I, along with young adults’ educational attainment at Wave IV, were included to predict career success at Wave IV. In addition, covariates were also included. Table 3 shows the results. First, educational attainment was strongly related to all career success variables: career satisfaction (b = .09, p \ .01), career autonomy (b = .06, p \ .01), career commitment (b = .08, p \ .01), and income (b = .11, p \ .01). The R-squares for the models were 2 % in career satisfaction, 2 % in career autonomy, 10 % in career commitment, and 18 % in income. Second, though the significance was reduced, positive parenting during adolescence still had a significant effect on all career success outcomes. Separate analyses (not shown) indicated a significant association between positive parenting during adolescence and educational attainment. Formal tests of mediating effects (Baron and Kenny 1986; Kenny et al. 1998; Shrout and Bolger 2002) suggested that educational
attainment in young adulthood partially mediated the association between positive parenting and each measure of career success (i.e., 3.32, p \ .05 for career satisfaction, 2.30, p \ .01 for career autonomy, 3.91, p \ .01 for career commitment, and 4.15, p \ .01 for income). Finally, regarding covariates, compared to young men, young women reported lower levels of career autonomy, commitment, and income. Compared to Whites, Blacks reported lower levels of career satisfaction, autonomy, commitment, and income.
Discussion Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), the present study is among the first of its kind to examine the association between positive parenting during adolescence and young adults’ career success. Based on social learning theory and life course perspective, we hypothesized that positive parenting during adolescence was positively associated with young adults’ career success (H1). Using multiple regression analyses, findings support the association between positive parenting during adolescence and each domain reflecting career success in young adulthood.
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Table 3 Association between parenting in adolescence and career success in young adulthood, mediated by educational attainment Variables
Career satisfaction N = 8,770
Career autonomy N = 8,767
Career commitment N = 8,767
Income N = 8,471
b
SE
b
SE
b
SE
b
SE
Positive Parenting
.09**
.02
.06**
.03
.08**
.03
.11**
.04
Educational attainment
.02**
.01
.03**
.01
.12**
.01
.18**
.01
Covariates Age
.01
.01
.01
.01
.02
.01
.07**
.01
Female
-.03
.03
-.15**
.03
-.20**
.03
-.72**
.04
Hispanic
-.06
.05
-.11*
.05
-.05
.05
.17*
.08
Black
-.24**
.05
-.12**
.04
-.17**
.04
-.27**
.06
Asian
-.13
.08
.03
.06
-.07
.10
.00
.14
Other race and ethnicity
-.40**
.12
-.14
.11
-.23
.12
.24
.17
Less than high school
.04
.05
-.01
.05
-.01
.05
-.13
.07
Some college
-.03
.04
.02
.05
.02
.04
.03
.05
College
-.08*
.04
.04
.04
-.01
.03
.12*
.05
Step families
-.06
.04
.04
.04
-.04
.04
-.06
.05
Single-dad families
.12
.09
.17
.09
.02
.09
-.10
.11
Single-mom families
.07
.05
.03
.05
-.04
.05
-.08
.06
Other family structure
-.02
.09
.04
.09
-.02
.08
-.01
.12
Constant
-.41
-.53
1.15
-.48
F (15,114) = 6.62** R2 = 2 %
F (15,114) = 7.32** R2 = 2 %
F (15,114) = 35.93** R2 = 10 %
F (14, 115) = 66.83** R2 = 18 %
Unstandardized coefficients reported. * p \ .05. ** p \ .01
Such findings were consistent with both Bandura’s social learning theory as well as the life course perspective. By examining positive parenting during adolescence and its effect on young adults’ career success, the findings have important implications. First, as Erikson (1959) suggests, establishing a career is a major aspect of identity formation, especially as individuals move into adulthood. As such, young adults’ career success increases their success in other domains of development (e.g., Hargrove et al. 2002). Second, the findings of this study also supported previous literature suggesting that early parenting influences individual career outcomes, namely career satisfaction, career autonomy, career commitment, and income in young adulthood (e.g., Flouri 2006, Haihua et al. 2011). As Bandura’s social learning theory (1977) would imply, parents’ behavior towards their adolescent becomes an embedded feature of the adolescents’ value system passed down to them from their parents. For example, if parents consider earning a high income as a demarcation of career success, their adolescent may be brought up in a way that reflects this value, and as such, parents would likely raise their adolescent to evaluate their career success on the basis of earning a high income. Adolescents, once they reach young adulthood, would then in turn, come to appraise their career success in a similar way.
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Additionally, as previous studies tend to measure job satisfaction as being the sole contributor of individuals’ career success (e.g., Grandey et al. 2005), findings from this study suggests that, perhaps, different aspects of career success should be addressed individually, given that they may in fact contribute in very different ways to an individuals’ idea of what they regard as successful. For example, even though positive parenting during adolescence had a direct and positive influence on all aspects of young adults’ career success, it seemed to have the strongest effect on income. The overall income model accounted for approximately 12 % of the variance explained (though both direct and indirect effects were relatively small, Wilkinson 1999). We further examined whether positive parenting during adolescence was indirectly associated with young adults’ career success through young adults’ educational attainment (H2). Regarding the mediating effects of educational attainment on the association of positive parenting and career success, results from this study suggested that educational attainment served as a significant mediating mechanism for all four career outcomes with similar magnitudes. Such findings suggested that educational attainment is equally important in influencing the various aspects of career success (i.e., career satisfaction, career
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autonomy, career commitment, and income). Results were consistent with several other studies (Ng et al. 2005; Weisner et al. 2003). For example, the significant mediating effects of educational attainment on positive parenting during adolescence and income, suggests that perhaps young adults who perceive earning a high income to be a demarcation of career success would perform exceptionally well in school in an effort to place themselves in the best position possible in an effort to attain an high income career. The finding added support to the current literature suggesting that positive parenting during adolescence affected young adult children’s career success, at least partially, through young adults’ educational attainment. The significant direct association between positive parenting during adolescence and young adults’ career success held, even after adding educational attainment, suggesting that, despite the effect of education on career success, early positive parenting remained a powerful factor directly affecting young adults’ career success. Future studies may consider other potential mechanisms that explain the association between positive parenting during adolescence and young adults’ career success, such as adolescent adjustment, interpersonal relationships, and career motivation (e.g., Day and Allen 2004). There were several demographic variables that were found to have a significant relationship with young adults’ career success, a few of which are particularly noteworthy. For one, Blacks consistently scored lower than Whites across all career success dimensions (Mau and Kopischke 2001). The literature suggested that this is likely a result of perceived discrimination reported by Blacks in the workplace (Mau and Kopischke 2001). Findings were also similar for young women, with females scoring lower on three out of four career success variables. The present study certainly fills a much-needed gap in the current literature, as it suggests that positive parenting during adolescence continues to influence young adult children’s career success. However, the current study is not without limitations. First, our study used participants’ selfreports. Self-reports are often problematic in that they pose threats to the measure’s reliability and validity (Schwartz 1999). Additionally, the fact that the same respondent used to assessing both the independent and dependent variable introduces problems associated with shared method variance (Marsiglio et al. 2000). Future studies need to incorporate reports from others (e.g., parents, observers) with a multi-informant approach to gain a better understanding of the association between parenting and young adult career outcomes. Second, as indicated earlier, other possible mechanisms could account for the association between positive parenting during adolescence and young adults’ career
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success. For example, future studies could investigate the extent to which career motivation and career self-efficacy influences career success (e.g., Hargrove et al. 2002). Third, this study only included a few positive parenting measure; future studies should include more items that capture a broader range of positive parenting behaviors. At the same time, future studies should also include negative parenting with positive parenting to examine their effects simultaneously and interactively. Finally, even though the findings were statistically significant, the effect sizes are relatively small (though small effects do not mean trivial effects) (Wilkinson 1999). Despite the limitations, this study improved upon previous studies in several ways. First, it among the first to examine the association between positive parenting during adolescence and young adult children’s career success. Second, unlike previous studies assessing career outcomes using a single aspect of career success (e.g., Grandey et al. 2005), this study evaluated the multiple dimensions of career success, including career satisfaction, career autonomy, career commitment, and income. Third, unlike previous studies examining successful career outcomes within a specific career context (e.g., career success among secondary school teachers, Mahmood et al. 2011), this study used the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), a large, nationally representative, and longitudinal sample, to reflect the overall working population. Lastly, various individual and parental characteristics are included, as suggested by the literature as possibly having an effect on successful career outcomes. Employment is becoming more and more of a scarce commodity, even though it is such an important contributor to an individuals’ livelihood. Findings from this research suggests that the lasting effects of positive parenting during adolescence can help to solidify successful outcomes for children above and beyond their secondary and even postsecondary years. As such, positive parenting should be encouraged during the formative years as this helps to establish the foundation for successful child outcomes later on in life. Epstein (1995) suggests some ways in which parents can learn to establish such positive parenting behaviors during adolescence. Suggestions include parents making an effort to be directly involved with their adolescent children’s schooling, taking part in programs and workshops that encourage positive parenting, and maintaining a relationship with other individuals who may potentially influence their children in significant ways (i.e., teachers and peers). Furthermore, with the help of online resources such as Harvard FINE (Harvard’s Family Involvement network of Educators, an online resource supported by Harvard university’s graduate school of education), parents can have access to useful resources that further support and encourage positive parenting.
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770 Acknowledgments This research was supported by a Grant (1R03HD064836) from the Eunice Kenney Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. This study uses data from Add Health, a program project directed by Kathleen Mullan Harris and designed by J. Richard Udry, Peter, S. Bearman, and Kathleen Mullan Harris at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and funded by a Grant P01-HD31921 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, with cooperative funding from 23 other federal agencies and foundations. Special acknowledgement is due Ronald R. Rindfuss and Barbara Entwisle for assistance in the original design. Information on how to obtain the Add Health data files is available on the Add Health website (http://www.cpc.unc.edu/addhealth). No direct support was received from Grant P01-HD31921 for this analysis.
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