Future Orientation and Career Development for Culturally Diverse At-Risk Youth: Qualitative Insights

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Adolescence is a pivotal stage in career development, when youth begin to shape skills and adult identities. However, limited opportunities for at-risk youth, intensified for minorities facing cultural and structural barriers, often disrupt these processes. To address these challenges, we implemented a school-to-work transition program in seven schools with 11th-grade students from diverse cultural backgrounds. It was delivered in two versions: Successful Pathways to Employment for Youth at Risk (SUPER) for Jewish Hebrew-speaking students, and Young People Succeed at Work (BALASHNA) for Arabic-speaking students. Interviews with 24 participants were analyzed using qualitative content analysis guided by social-cognitive career theory (SCCT). Interview data were analyzed and organized into themes using the six categories of the SCCT framework. The findings highlight personal and social factors underlying gaps between participants’ perceptions and actual experiences and their evaluation of the STWT program’s contribution to career development.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)60-80
Number of pages21
JournalJournal of Career Development
Volume53
Issue number1
DOIs
StateAccepted/In press - 2025

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2025. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).

Keywords

  • Druze society
  • adolescents
  • career education
  • social-cognitive career theory
  • transition program

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Education
  • Applied Psychology
  • General Psychology
  • Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management

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