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ABSTRACT
This paper examines in-school adolescents and career choices in Ekiti State, Nigeria. The sample consists of two hundred randomly selected parents and in-school adolescents from four local government areas in Ekiti State. Two hypotheses were generated and tested at 0.05 level of significance using t-test statistical analysis. The results showed that there were no significant differences between parental influence, as well as gender influence of in-school adolescents in choice of career. The paper concludes that parents need to give adequate career information to their adolescents and have positive job values. Also, females need to decide whether to start their family first or settle on a career and start their family later.
Keywords: In-school, Adolescents, Career choice, Peers
INTRODUCTION
There are three main theories that describe the manners in which adolescents make choices about career development. These are: 1) Ginzberg's developmental theory, 2) Super's self-concept theory, and 3) Holland's personality type theory. The Ginzberg's developmental theory is Eli Ginzberg's theory that children and adolescents go through three choice stages; fantasy, tentative and realistic (Ginzberg, 1972; Ginzber, et al, 1951). When asked what they want to be when they grow up, young children may answer "a doctor", "an accountant", "a superhero", or "a sport star", but not many would say "a teacher". Ginzberg argues that, until about the age of 11, children are in the fantasy stage of career choice. From the ages of 11 to 17, adolescents are in the tentative stage of career development, while Ginzberg calls the period from 17 to 18 years of age through the early twenties the realistic stage of career choice.
The career self-concept theory is Donald Super's theory that an individual's self-concept plays a central role in his or her career choice. Super believes that it is during adolescence that individuals first construct a career self-concept (Super, 1967, 1976). Supers talks of the crystallization phase when the adolescent develops ideas about work that mesh with their already existing global self-concept. Next is the specification phase when the adolescents narrow down their choices and initiate behaviour that enables them to enter some type of career. The implementation phase is when the young adults complete their education or training and enter the world of work. The stabilization phase...