C a n a d i a n J o u r n a l o f C o u n s e l l i n g / R e v u e c a n a d i e n n e d e c o u n s e l i n g / 1 9 9 9 , V o l . 33:1 3

Career Counse l l ing for the Academical ly Gifted Student

John B. Stewart University of New Brunswick

A b s t r a c t

T h i s a r t i c l e deals w i t h seven c a r e e r d e v e l o p m e n t a n d o c c u p a t i o n a l d e c i s i o n - m a k i n g d i f f i c u l t i e s e x p e r i e n c e d by a c a d e m i c a l l y g i f t e d s tudents : n a r r o w i n g the o c c u p a t i o n a l c h o i c e , i n d e c i s i o n , v o c a t i o n a l i d e n t i t y f o r m a t i o n , l a c k o f o c c u p a t i o n a l m e a n i n g f u l n e s s , e a r l y o c c u p a t i o n a l c h o i c e , p r e s s u r e f r o m s i g n i f i c a n t o t h e r s a n d the n e e d f o r o c c u p a t i o n a l r o l e m o d e l s . E a c h d i f f i c u l t y is d i s c u s s e d w i t h r e c o m m e n d a t i o n s f o r c o u n s e l l i n g i n t e r v e n t i o n s . T h e s e c a r e e r d e v e l o p m e n t a n d o c c u p a t i o n a l d e c i s i o n - m a k i n g d i f f i c u l t i e s are e x p l a i n e d w i t h i n s o c i a l l e a r n i n g theory .

R é s u m é

C e t a r t i c l e é t u d i e les sept di f f icul tés p r i n c i p a l e s a u x q u e l l e s d o i v e n t f a i r e face les é tudiants d o u é s l o r s d u c h o i x d ' u n e c a r r i è r e et s o n d é r o u l e m e n t . C e s dif f icultés p e u v e n t se d i v i s e r c o m m e sui t : l a s é l e c t i o n des c a r r i è r e s éventue l les , l ' i n d é c i s i o n , l a f o r m a t i o n d e l ' ident i t é p r o f e s s i o n n e l l e , l ' a b s e n c e d e t ravai l ayant u n sens, l e c h o i x d e c a r r i è r e p r é c o c e , l a p r e s s i o n e x e r c é e p a r les p e r s o n n e s - c l é d a n s l a v ie d e l ' é t u d i a n t et, finalement, l a nécess i té d e t r o u v e r u n m o d è l e p r o f e s s i o n n e l à é m u l e r . L e s a u t e u r s a b o r d e n t c h a c u n e des di f f icul tés et y assort issent des r e c o m m a n d a t i o n s p o u r l ' o r i e n t a t i o n p r o f e s s i o n n e l l e . Ils u t i l i s e n t l a t h é o r i e d e l ' a p p r e n t i s ­sage s o c i a l p o u r e x p l i q u e r les di f f icul tés i n h é r e n t e s a u c h o i x et a u d é r o u l e m e n t d ' u n e c a r r i è r e .

The myth persists that academically gifted students are able to do any­thing that they want to do i n life (Achter, Benhow, & Lubinski ; 1996, Hollenger, 1991 ). Many believe that academically gifted students should pursue educational and career programs which will enable them to make a contribution to society. Further, they believe that gifted students have a great deal of ability and a wide range of information which equips them to cope with all of life's demands. Perceptions such as these place pressure on gifted students, making their educational and career plan­ning difficult.

Recent research (Emmett & Minor , 1993; Hickson, 1992; Kelly, 1992; Kelly & Cobb, 1991) has suggested that as many as 53% of academically gifted students experience difficulties and want help with their career and educational planning. H e r r and Cramer (1996) indicated that the career decision-making concerns of academically gifted students include how values can be used i n career planning and decision making, how college major relates to a career choice, how to distinguish between their career aspirations and what others expect of them, how to select careers that satisfy their needs for challenge and continual skill development and generally how to make educational and career decisions.

In this article, the term academically gifted is used to denote individuals with a superior general intellectual ability. It does not specifically include or exclude individuals who have abilities i n leadership or i n the perform-

4 J o h n B . S tewart

ing and visual arts. Academically gifted students tend to earn high marks on teacher-made tests. Also, the term occupational choice is used to denote a process which is characterized by an opt imum degree of fit among personal philosophies, abilities, interests, and evolving vocational, occu­pational, and work parameters.

The purpose of this article is to review seven career development and occupational choice difficulties which may be experienced by academi­cally gifted students and to suggest strategies for helping them move beyond each difficulty. These seven difficulties were chosen for two reasons: first, as a school counsellor the author worked with academically gifted students who displayed some of these characteristics; and sec­ondly, the author wanted to support these seven difficulties through a content analysis of the literature.

C A R E E R D E V E L O P M E N T C H A R A C T E R I S T I C S O F G I F T E D I N D I V I D U A L S

academically gifted individuals have a wide range of abilities and inter­ests that open a variety of career options to them (Achter, et al . , 1996; Fox, T o b i n & Brody, 1981; Mil ler , 1981). Perrone and Van Den Heuvel (1981) suggested that gifted students are more likely to pursue career patterns that are outgrowths of academic subjects in which they excelled dur ing college. Kelly (1992) found that young gifted adolescents tended to choose occupations f rom the following categories (ranked for their popularity of choice): Applied^Physical Science (architect, engineer, system analyst); Writ ing and Law; Biological and Medical Science; and Research Physical Science.

Academically gifted students explore occupations broadly and with depth at a young age. Kelly and Cobb (1991) and Kelly (1992) reported that gifted 11- to 14-year-olds have more knowledge of factors relevant to career decision-making, the world of work in general, and their chosen occupation than that typical of much older people. Dunnel l and Bakken (1991) found that gifted 12th grade students indicated a higher number of occupations they might consider than d i d 9th grade gifted students.

There appears to be gender differences relative to the breadth and depth of occupational exploration among gifted academic students. Gifted female students complete more extensive career p lanning (Gassin, Kelly, & Feldhusen, 1993) and have higher amounts of informa­tion (Kelly & Cobb, 1991 ), but are more likely to view their giftedness as less helpful i n career decision making (Leung, Conoley & Scheel, 1994) than gifted males. D u r i n g grades 7 to 12, gifted girls tend to demonstrate less career certainty than do gifted boys (Gassen et al., 1993). Gifted boys express a greater need for occupational information than gifted girls and indicate a broader range of occupational aspirations (Kelly, 1992). Gifted boys tend to choose occupations which are higher paying than gifted girls (Kelly, 1992); however, gifted females consider more

C a r e e r C o u n s e l l i n g the G i f t e d 5

occupations than gifted males (Dunnel l & Bakken, 1991 ). Gifted girls are more likely than boys to consider 4-year college and master's degree, however they are less likely than boys to consider doctoral or professional degrees (Leung et al. , 1994).

W h e n compared to their peers in regular curriculum classes, gifted students are not higher in vocational identity and do not need greater amount of occupational information (Kelly, 1992). O n the other hand, gifted students perceive fewer barriers to career achievement than do students not identified as gifted (Kelly, 1992). Gifted boys and girls do not differ i n their levels of vocational identity (Kelly, 1992), nor in their l ike l ihood to consider high prestige occupations (Leung et al., 1994).

In summary it appears that academically gifted students are preco­cious i n their career development. They possess a great deal of occupa­tional information and ideas about how to engage i n extensive career planning from an early age. O n e of the difficulties with such literature is the manner in which it treats the gifted population. This literature appears to view the academically gifted population as homogenous. The problem with such an assumption is that the presence of subtypes may be masked. Such possible subtypes may have unique characteristics which hinder their career decision making. While the gifted population have characteristics which may be considered as strengths, these strengths may actually contribute to many of the occupational decision-making difficulties experienced by them. This author contends that there are subtypes within this populat ion and when their career decision-making difficulties are viewed from the perspective of social learning theory (Mitchell & Krumboltz, 1996), counsellors are better able to help them advance i n their vocational decision making.

S O C I A L L E A R N I N G T H E O R Y O F C A R E E R D E C I S I O N M A K I N G

The social learning theory of career decision making (Mitchell & K r u m ­boltz, 1996) identifies four kinds of variables which influence career decision making: genetic endowment and special abilities, environmen­tal conditions, learning experiences and task approach skills. The theory recognizes that individuals are born with unique potentials which in ­clude special abilities that affect an individual's ability to acquire certain educational and occupational preferences. The theory also recognizes that individuals are born into a context shaped by social, cultural, polit i­cal, and economic forces that affect career decision making. These contexts include geographical environments which provide such things as a number and variety of available jobs, and/or opportunities for special training; and human environments which provide such things as economic and social status within a family, and access to an educational system. Learning experiences include two types: instrumental and asso­ciative. Instrumental learning includes those experiences i n which an

6 J o h n B . S tewart

individual acts on the environment to produce certain consequences; while associative learning include those experiences in which the individ­ual perceives a connection between stimuli or events by observing real or fictitious models. Task-approach skills are the result of interactions be­tween learning experiences, genetic characteristics, special abilities and environmental influences. Examples of task-approach skills include work habits, and processes as attending, selecting, symbolic rehearsing, and coding. The use of these skills affects the outcomes of each task and they are modif ied by the results.

Social learning theory suggests that individuals constantly encounter learning experiences which produce four consequences. The first conse­quence is termed a self-observation generalization, which is an observa­tion resulting f rom the evaluation of one's own performance i n relation to learned standards, which may or may not be accurate. For example, if an individual places first i n a piano recital competition, he or she may aspire to a future as a concert pianist. Further, as a result of learn­ing experiences, people make generalizations about the environment, termed world-view generalizations and use these generalizations to make predictions about the future and other possible environments. For exam­ple, individuals may believe that to be successful in life they must have an occupation which matches their interests. Such generalizations may or may not be accurate. Thirdly, task-approach skills are learned abilities that are used to deal with the environment, to interprete it i n relation to self-observations and world-view generalizations and to make predictions about future events. Such skills are important in career decision making and include, for example, the ability to recognize an important decision situation, define a task realistically, examine and accurately assess self-observations and world-view generalizations. Fourthly, actions are imple­mentations of behaviour such as applying for a j o b or changing a major field of study.

One of the advantages of viewing difficulties in career decision making from a social learning perspective is its emphasis on learning. Due to faulty learning, individuals may experience difficulties in their career decision making. From a counsell ing perspective, interventions aimed at correcting faulty learning will help to remediate the difficulties and enable individuals to make career decisions appropriate to their context.

O C C U P A T I O N A L D E C I S I O N - M A K I N G D I F F I C U L T I E S A N D S T R A T E G I E S F O R I N T E R V E N T I O N

Narrowing the Occupational Choice

Generally when individuals are seeking to narrow their occupational choices, they begin by processing information about their interests, values and abilities along with information about the world of work (Peterson, Sampson, Reardon, & Lenz, 1996). O n e difficulty experi-

C a r e e r C o u n s e l l i n g the G i f t e d 7

enced by academically gifted individuals is the presence of many inter­ests and abilities, each characterized by some degree of strength (Pyryt, 1992). Gif ted students want to keep their options open and experience stress in making a decision which precludes other attractive options (Emmett & Minor , 1993). Such cognitive and emotional dispositions may influence the development and use of task-approach skills.

As opposed to focusing on mult i interests and abilities, career plan­ning activities should explore the values, life-goals and leisure activities ( including activity commitment and persistence) as a basis for decision making with academically gifted students (Hong, Whiston, & Mi lgram, 1993; Mil ler , 1981; Montgomery & McKay, 1992; Perrone & Van D e n Heuvel , 1981). Some values gifted students are likely to espouse include the following: self-realization/self-actualization, self-expression, interde­pendence, and l iving ful l lives (Rodenstein, Pfleger, & Colangelo, 1977). O n e starting point for counsellors is to have gifted students list their values, interests, and leisure activities and highlight the occupations which embody these i n their role description (Brown & Brooks, 1991). Next, counsellors could help students identify the occupations which utilize the skills inherent i n their abilities and leisure activities. In addi­t ion, counsellors could encourage gifted youth to maintain a L i f e L o n g Notebook (Montgomery 8c McKay, 1992) i n which students record ideas, dreams, quotes, questions, goals, people they have met, and experiences. The purpose of the notebook is to gain an understanding through reflection of the values, goals and life-style components gifted youth would like to express i n their chosen occupation.

Indecision

Gifted individuals may possess faulty ideas about occupational decision making, such as having to make the perfect choice, and the necessity of pleasing significant others as opposed to self (Emmett & Minor , 1993). These irrational ideas often result i n stress and anxiety and may cause gifted students to be indecisive. This perceptual disposition may result from faulty self-observations as well as a cognitive and emotional disposi­tion which influence the appropriate use of task-approach skills.

Career counsellors can help gifted students to correct such faulty learning by using rational analysis (Corey, 1996) and to replace it with more facilitative thinking such as focusing on pleasing themselves, and the realization that there is no one perfect choice. In addition, counsel­lors should focus on the affective components of decision making to help gifted individuals overcome their anxiety associated with indecision (Marshall, 1981). Counsellors can help gifted individuals to cope with anxiety through relaxation training and self-monitoring techniques. Fur­ther, by providing encouragement counsellors can help gifted students

8 J o h n B . S tewart

develop self-confidence and autonomy i n their occupational decision making (Fox, T o b i n , & Brody, 1981).

Vocational Identity Formation

Academically gifted students tend to achieve high grades across the curr iculum, which may lead to a difficulty in developing a sense of identity, i.e., a self-observation which includes their abilities and interests and the implications each has for vocational choice (Kerr & Erb, 1991). The resulting vocational identity diffusion may express itself i n delayed decision making, experiencing frustration with their multi interests and abilities, and tending to change majors more often than their aca­demically average students.

Counsellors need to focus on both the gestalt of vocational identity as well as its component parts. If counsellors focus on the frustration, the delayed decision making and/or the shifting choice of a major, they might miss the larger picture of vocational identity. Counsellors should plan interventions which utilize value clarification and match these values to occupations which allow for their expression (Kerr & Erb, 1991) . For example, ho ld ing the value of the dignity and worth of the individual suggests that the decision maker might examine occupations in social work environments.

Lack of Occupational Meaningfulness

Gifted individuals tend to express the desire, i.e., a self-observation for a life style which permits them to raise personally meaningful questions and combine diverse interests (Emmett & Minor , 1993; Perrone & Van Den Heuvel , 1981). Often finding occupations which allow them to express this lifestyle may be difficult. Also, gifted students may not be entrepreneurial enough to create thesejobs. Counsellors can help gifted academic to "create" such occupations by having them engage i n diver­gent thinking strategies to combine interests and life-style issues into a meaningful occupational choice (Pyryt, 1992). For example, journalists are able to combine an interest and skill in writing with several other interests such as sport, science, or politics and are able to work out of their homes, maximizing the time spent with their family. Also, counsel­lors can encourage gifted youth to study megatrends and to discuss the implications of these trends o n future careers (Montgomery & McKay, 1992) . Such an occupational option might be space medicine.

Early Emerger

Academically gifted individuals may make an occupational decision very early in life and pursue it through a long educational route (Achter et al . , 1996; Kelly & Colangelo, 1990). Such an early decision may influence the

C a r e e r C o u n s e l l i n g the G i f t e d 9

development of a well-rounded world-view generalization about the world of work as well as the task-approach skill of communicating with one's peers. Often they pursue accelerated programs and enter ad­vanced programs earlier than their academically average peers (Achter et al., 1996). This pattern often limits exploring other occupational opportunities. Gifted individuals may spend long hours developing a talent, such as music, thus l imi t ing the time spent with their peers. They may identify with adults due to the long hours spent with an adult developing their talent. While gifted and talented individuals may com­municate at adult levels, it is important to allow them also to behave in age appropriate ways (Miller, 1981).

Career counsellors might ask gifted students when they first consid­ered their career choice. If the choice was made early in life, then counsellors should be alert to the possibility of a l imited knowledge of the world of work. If gifted students have spent long hours alone, counsellors should attend to their affective needs (Van Tassel-Baska, 1981; Marshall , 1981). Counsellors could use small group or one-on-one counselling to develop communicat ion skills and meet the affiliation needs of gifted students.

Gifted students may choose occupations which could require up to 10 years of post-secondary schooling (Hägen, 1982; Pyryt, 1992). This im­plies that they delay personal gratification, and engage in long-term planning. Counsellors need to provide gifted students a preview of the milestones which lay ahead as well as help them understand the invest­ment of time and energy inherent in such occupational choices.

Pressure from Others

Gifted youth often sense a conflict between their personal goals and the societal expectations for them. They may experience pressure from their parents and teachers to succeed and excel at everything they do (Emmett & Minor , 1993; Kelly, 1992; Marshall , 1981; Pyryt, 1992). Gifted students are often labelled as the leaders of tomorrow which sets a high expecta­tion to succeed, sometimes focusing on giftedness as a burden rather than something to be developed. These pressures may lead to faulty self-observations. These expectations leave gifted students with the percep­tion that they need to choose careers to satisfy others instead of their personal interests and values (Hägen, 1982).

These attitudes and expectations may cause gifted students to l imit opportunities for career exploration. Counsellors should help gifted students determine the criteria they use in making a career choice. T o help deal with the expectations from others and the pressure associated with these expectations, counsellors could use group strategies to allevi­ate the social isolation and perceived pressure of the gifted. O n e such group activity is termed strength bombardment (Montgomery & McKay,

10 J o h n B . S tewart

1992), dur ing which students share self-disclosures and offer feedback about their perceptions of their peers' strengths. Paradoxically, gifted individuals may feel some sense of freedom from their giftedness when interacting with their gifted peers. In the group setting, gifted students have the freedom to explore personal career preferences without undue pressure from other (Miller, 1981 ). Assertiveness and leadership training may help the gifted select and maintain high levels of career aspirations based o n personal criteria and not those coming f rom significant others (Marshall , 1981).

Lack of Occupational Role Models

Gifted youth have extensive knowledge i n many areas but may lack wisdom, i.e., task-approach skills in using this information (Miller, 1981). They need assistance i n learning what questions to ask i n order to plan and act effectively. Mentorships and internships are helpful i n providing them with the opportunity to experience a relationship with an adult who has similar interests and abilities (Beck, 1989; Brown, 1993; Van Tassel-Baska, 1981). This relationship could be a source of realistic information concerning the details about work which are not readily available i n printed form. Further, counsellors could have gifted youth study the autobiographies of gifted people (Montgomery & McKay, 1992). From such study, gifted students would learn how the personal interests, hob­bies, mental and physical characteristics of famous people influenced their career choice and paths.

S U M M A R Y A N D C O N C L U S I O N S

This article summarized seven difficulties which academically gifted students may face i n their career development and occupational deci­sion making. Most of these difficulties are not unique to the gifted population. A l l individuals may experience difficulty i n narrowing their choice, indecision and pressure f rom others. They may lack significant role models, knowledge of meaningful occupational choices, as well as clarity i n their vocational identity. Perhaps the one difficulty most unique to gifted students is the early emerger. Due to participation i n acceler­ated programs and entry into advanced programs at an early age, such gifted students may have a l imited knowledge of the world of work. As with the general population, counsellors should be aware that there is much diversity within the gifted student population. Not all gifted stu­dents will experience difficulties i n career decision making. Counsellors need to assess the relative influence of these difficulties and use this assessment i n planning for interventions both i n individual , group and/ or program contexts.

It is the author's contention that these seven difficulties can be ac­counted for within the social learning theory of career decision making.

C a r e e r C o u n s e l l i n g the G i f t e d 11

Gifted individuals may have learned a number of faulty notions that have influenced their self-observations, world-view generalizations and/or their task approach. For example, individuals may have learned that they should begin the decision-making process by matching their self-attributes to occupations and narrow their choices, or that they must make the perfect choice. Further, they may lack clarity i n their vocational identity, i.e., self-observations resulting f rom their mult i talents and interests. Also, as a consequence of special abilities and instrumental learning experiences, gifted individuals may have made a decision about their futures early i n life without an adequate exploration of other possible occupational goals.

From a contextual perspective, gifted students may not have had access to a variety and number of different occupations, adequate role models, nor educational opportunities to develop certain task approach skills. Consequently, they may lack significant learning which influences their ability to consider all the factors necessary in making appropriate career decisions.

It is evident that more research is necessary on the career development and occupational decision-making difficulties of this population. With a strong empirical base, counsellors will be i n a better position to deal with the career development and occupational decision-making needs of the academically gifted student.

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About the Author D r . J o h n B . Stewart is a P r o f e s s o r o f C o u n s e l l i n g i n t h e D e p a r t m e n t o f E d u c a t i o n a l F o u n d a t i o n s at t h e U n i v e r s i t y o f N e w B r u n s w i c k . H i s r e s e a r c h interests i n c l u d e c a r e e r d e v e l o p m e n t a n d the a p p l i c a t i o n o f p s y c h o l o g i c a l t h e o r y to v o c a t i o n a l d e c i s i o n - m a k i n g d i f f i c u l t i e s .

A d d r e s s c o r r e s p o n d e n c e to: D r . J o h n Stewart , D e p a r t m e n t o f E d u c a t i o n a l F o u n d a t i o n s , U n i v e r ­sity o f N e w B r u n s w i c k , F r e d e r i c t o n , N B E 3 B 6 E 3 .