Abstract
Previous research has found that attending a traditionally Black college can be beneficial to the intellectual, psychological, and social development of African American students (Fleming, 1984). While agreement on this point is not universal, the majority of researchers in this area assert that traditionally Black colleges make some unique contributions to African Americans who attend them which are less likely to be found at predominantly White colleges. The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between attending a traditionally Black institution (TBI) or a predominantly White institution (PWI) and the career maturity of African American college students. Specifically, the study sought to compare the scores of TBI and PWI students on the college form of the Career Development Inventory (Super, Thompson, Lindeman, Jordaan, & Myers, 1981). A further purpose of this study was to investigate the career maturity of African American college students in general. Specifically, the study sought to examine the relationship between African American students' career maturity and the variables of gender, year in college, academic achievement, mother's educational level, father's educational level, mother's occupational level, and father's occupational level. A sample of 236 students, approximately divided in half by gender and by freshmen and seniors, enrolled at two TBIs and two PWIs was administered the Career Development Inventory (CDI). Findings support the notion that TBI and PWI students differ in some important ways in career maturity. The TBI students were more likely than PWI students to have higher levels of career mature attitudes. The PWI students were more likely than TBI students to have higher levels of career mature knowledge. The latter finding, however, was mitigated by the fact that TBI freshmen were much lower in career maturity knowledge than TBI seniors, who were similar to PWI freshmen and seniors. Furthermore, findings indicated that seniors scored higher than freshmen in almost all aspects of career maturity. In regard to gender, no differences were found. In general, parental variables and academic achievement were not strongly related to career maturity. The implications of these findings are discussed and recommendations for future research are made.
Neece, Janis Grimes (1994). Career maturity of African American college students at traditionally Black and predominantly White institutions. Texas A&M University. Texas A&M University. Libraries. Available electronically from
https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /DISSERTATIONS -1551997.