TPC-Journal-V2-Issue1

The Professional Counselor \Volume 2, Issue 1 19 career decision-making anxiety if provided to upperclassmen. The present study adds to the literature by studying the different types of social support that make up the social support construct. The study also adds to the literature by examining the relationship between social support and career thoughts, which has not been studied previously. In addition, the examination of the differences in the social support/career thoughts relationship between groups in the sample population (i.e., athlete/non-athlete, male/female, upperclassmen/ underclassmen) adds an important dimension to the available literature. Limitations The main limitation of this study is with the convenience sampling because the extent to which the students were representative of the overall population of college students is unknown. The participants were not obtained by random sampling, but rather obtained because of availability. Therefore, it is difficult to know the extent to which the results of this study are generalizable beyond this sample. Implications The present study investigated the relationship between the five types of social support and the three constructs that comprise career thoughts. Although none of the types of social support were found to have a uniquely significant relationship with career thoughts, there was in fact a moderate relationship between the overall construct of social support and career thoughts. This study has important implications for practice. Coaches, athletic administrators, career counselors, mental health counselors, professors and other post-secondary administrators now have a better idea of what types of social support are deemed as having the greatest impact on how college students view their post-collegiate careers. Current literature only focuses on the overall social support construct and its positive effects, but the present study allows for the differentiation of the social support types, which provides additional information for practical purposes (Bianco & Eklund, 2001; Taylor & Ogilvie, 2001). Hopefully, this will increase the likelihood of college students actually receiving these types of social support based on their subgroup (i.e., athlete/non-athlete and upperclassmen/underclassmen). Also, college students now have the opportunity to be aware of what types of social support will lead to less negative career thinking. Regarding implications for research, it is evident that additional research needs to be done to gain a better understanding of the relationship between social support and career thoughts in college students. This is the first study that has examined these two constructs and more research is necessary. More and better social support measures need to be introduced into the field that better examine social support and its different types. Also, this study supports the literature on the importance of career thoughts during the career planning process (Peterson et al., 1991, 1996; Sampson et al., 1996b, 2009). An improved foundation is now available for additional research on the cognitive aspects of career planning and how it relates to social entities. Future Directions The present study provides an important foundation for future research. Since it is the first study to examine social support and career thoughts directly, additional examinations of these constructs are necessary per the practical and research implications previously stated. Other variables such as career maturity, self-efficacy, motivation, and personality characteristics should be included in future research to try and account for the remaining variance in career thoughts. Also, the negative aspects of social support, such as peer or parental pressures, should be examined. Since the present study only examines college students, other populations should be included in future research. In addition, it may be interesting to examine the differences between college students at private and public institutions. Other populations also can be researched, including adults on the verge of retirement or high school seniors trying to decide