Download pdf - The family career development project in Chinese Canadian families

The family career development project inChinese Canadian families

Richard A. Young,a,* Jessica Ball,b Ladislav Valach,c

Hayley Turkel,a and Yuk Shuen Wonga

a Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology and Special Education,

University of British Columbia, 2125 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z4b School of Child and Youth Care, University of Victoria, P.O. Box 1706, Victoria, BC, Canada V8W 2Y1

c Psychiatric Clinic, University of Zurich, Lenggstrasse, 21, P.O. Box 68, 8029 Zurich, Switzerland

Received 26 November 2001

Abstract

Based on an action-theoretical conceptualization, this research examined the family career

development project in Chinese Canadian families. Six families, each composed of a parent

and adolescent, participated in a videotaped conversation to determine a family career devel-

opment project that was subsequently monitored over a 6-month period and followed up with

a second videotaped conversation. The further analysis of these data from a larger data set of

20 Chinese Canadian and European Canadian families resulted in the delineation of several

properties of the career development project in Chinese Canadian families, including the im-

portance of the parental agenda, the adolescent�s involvement, parental communication ofconvincing reasoning, and the adolescent�s withholding and withdrawing response. The find-ings also indicated that a family career development was central to other higher order projects

in the family, including the relationship and cultural projects. The data supported the under-

standing of project as joint goal-directed action over time and as the basis on which career

development influence was organized in these families.

� 2003 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.

Keywords: Project; Family career development; Communication; Parental; Action theory; Conversation;

Family; Relationship project; Chinese-Canadian

*Corresponding author. Fax: +604-822-2328.

E-mail address: [email protected] (R.A. Young).

Journal of Vocational Behavior 62 (2003) 287–304

www.elsevier.com/locate/jvb

0001-8791/03/$ - see front matter � 2003 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.

doi:10.1016/S0001-8791(02)00022-2

mail to: [email protected]

1. Introduction

Family involvement in the career development of adolescents may be particularly

salient among Chinese Canadian families. For example, in a review of the literature

on the career development of Asian Americans, Leong and Serafica (1995) concludedthat Asian-American parents are inclined to provide strong parental guidance, par-

ticularly in regard to careers. This reflects the widely held belief in the social sciences

generally (e.g., Sue & Morishima, 1982) that the family plays a more central role in

the lives of Asian Americans than European Americans. For example, parents value

education highly and hold high educational and occupational expectations for their

children (Lin & Fu, 1990). They also identify careers in the sciences, technology, and

engineering as bringing the requisite prestige, income and security (e.g., Leung, Ivey,

& Suzuki, 1994). Notwithstanding the specific values that these parents hold in rela-tion to the career development of their children, the literature has not described the

process by which Asian American or Asian Canadian parents and adolescents con-

vey, react to, and act on these values, expectations, and attitudes.

The present study examined the career development of Chinese Canadian adoles-

cents as it was experienced in their families. It was based on the conceptualization of

the family career development project as the joint activities that parents and adoles-

cents engage in together to foster the career development of the adolescent (Young,

Valach, & Collin, 1996). When a series of actions, over time, coalesce around com-mon goals, one may speak of a project. A family career development project is gen-

erated within a family as part of the parenting and growing up process. It is an

enterprise carried out by the family itself, oriented toward a goal, and based on

the definition of a task. This framework expresses a cultural approach to psychology

(e.g., Bruner, 1990; Cole, 1996), one that grounds the analysis of everyday events on

action in context, views the emergence of ‘‘mind’’ as co-constructed, and acknowl-

edges the central role of interpretation in its explanatory framework. Relatively little

research has investigated the notion of project in career development and no researchhas conceptualized parental influence in the career development of their children as a

socially based, goal-directed family project.

This study was based on the extended analysis of previously reported data that

addressed the family career development project in Chinese Canadian and European

Canadian families (Young et al., 2001). The earlier analysis identified and described

five properties of the family career development project: joint goals, communication,

goals-steps congruence, parental agenda, and individuation. It also found that family

career development projects were embedded in other on-going family projects in-cluding the relationship, parenting, identity and cultural projects. The present anal-

ysis examined the Chinese Canadian families specifically to elucidate the properties

of the family career development project for this group of participants. In addition,

the analysis examined the relation between the family career development project

and other family projects in which it was embedded, particularly the cultural project.

Substantial research supports specific values that should be considered in the ca-

reer development of Chinese Canadian adolescents and the role of the family in it.

For example, Kim, Atkinson, and Yang (1999) identified 14 domains of Asian

288 R.A. Young et al. / Journal of Vocational Behavior 62 (2003) 287–304

values, several of which directly relate to career development and the family�s role init. Foremost among these is that educational and occupational achievement should

be an individual�s top priorities. Respect for parents, filial piety, and the importanceof family are other values that are likely to have a direct role in the process of career

development in Asian families (Chao, 1994).The reasons for migration from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the People�s Republic

of China (PRC) to North America are complex, but include political and socioeco-

nomic conditions (Wang, 1998). Ma (2000) found that the Chinese cultural emphasis

on education underlies the context in which migration decisions are made. Wang

also found that, among professionals emigrating from the PRC, a shift from collec-

tivist to individualist ideologies contributed to the explanation of the migration de-

cision. Thus, one cannot abstract the career development process of parents and

their adolescent children in immigrant Chinese Canadian families from the contextof emigration from Asia and immigration to Canada.

Citing Berry (1990, 1994), Kim, Atkinson, and Umemoto (2001) indicated that

two processes occur simultaneously for ethnic groups in new cultural contexts, encul-

turation and acculturation. Enculturation refers to the process of retaining cultural

norms of one�s indigenous culture, while acculturation is the process of adopting thenorms of the dominant society. At the same time as processes of enculturation occur,

Asian Canadian families are to a greater or lesser extent acculturating to North

American society. For example, Ishii-Kuntz (2000) found that some Asian Americanparents teach their children two overlapping sets of values. Second-generation Chi-

nese in English language counties showed higher levels of acculturation than their

parents (Dion & Dion, 1996). Leong and Tata (1990) found that among Chinese

American children, acculturation to the dominant culture significantly affected val-

ues consistent with the European American culture. Parents� involvement with theirchildren is related to the processes of acculturation/enculturation. In a qualitative

study of Chinese immigrant families from Taiwan, Hong Kong and the PRC to

the United States, Chang (2000) concluded that parents� commitment to their chil-dren promoted adaptation, success and prosperity.

The values, outcome and involvement of Chinese Canadian families related to the

career development of their children warrant the further examination of the data on

the Chinese Canadian families in this study. The literature reviewed suggests that ca-

reer development of adolescents may well involve goal-directed actions over time,

undertaken conjointly by parents and adolescents. Inasmuch as this literature fo-

cuses specifically on Chinese families who are immigrants to North America, career

development as joint goal-directed action may have characteristics particular to thisgroup. The researchers (Young et al., 2001) have already established that the family

career-development project is a heuristic means to understand career development in

families. In light of our previous identification of the properties of the family career-

development project, and its embeddedness in other projects, this study addressed

two questions: What are the specific characteristics of the properties of the family

career-development project in Chinese Canadian families? What other goals and

actions, identified as projects, are concomitant with the family career-development

project in Chinese Canadian families.

R.A. Young et al. / Journal of Vocational Behavior 62 (2003) 287–304 289

2. Method

The qualitative action-project method (Young et al., 2001) guided the collection

and analysis of data pertinent to a series of joint actions, that is, projects. The gen-

eral procedure involved the identification of a family career development projectfrom the joint action of a parent and adolescent, in the form of a conversation. This

project was then monitored for 6 months. This method began with a conceptualiza-

tion of action as goal-directed, intentional behavior, that we used to frame our ob-

servations and analysis of the data. During the analysis, we engaged in a hermeneutic

process that involved continuous interaction between our action-theoretical concep-

tualization (Young et al., 1996) and the data.

2.1. Participants

Six of 20 parent–adolescent dyads from the original study were the focus of anal-

ysis. These dyads had responded to local newspaper advertisements and presenta-

tions to community groups requesting participants for a research project on career

development in the family. The six dyads were Chinese Canadian, which, in this case,

meant that the parent was born in Hong Kong and the adolescent was born in Can-

ada. The dyads were composed of 3 father–son, 1 father–daughter, 1 mother–son,

and 1 mother–daughter pairs. At the time of entering the study, the parents� meanage was 46.5 years (SD ¼ 2:25). All families had at least one parent employed.

One family was headed by a single parent. The adolescents� mean age was 14.3 years(SD ¼ 0:81). All the families resided in the metropolitan area of a large Canadiancity. Each participant individually indicated his or her willingness to participate in

this study, and informed consent was obtained before the data was collected.

2.2. Procedures

The data were collected in four distinct stages. First, there was an initial meeting

between the family dyad and the researchers in which a parent–adolescent conversa-

tion was videotaped and played back for the participants. Second, about 1 month

later, the family dyad met again with the researchers to receive feedback on their

videotaped conversation and to identify and negotiate the family career development

project. Third, this family career development project was monitored for a period of

six months. Fourth, the family dyad had a final meeting with the researchers in

which evaluative data were collected, another parent–adolescent conversation wasvideotaped, and the participants were debriefed. The purpose, duration and/or num-

ber of each of the research procedures are provided in Table 1.

2.3. Analysis

The analysis of the data generated at the first meeting with each dyad was the basis

for the tentative identification of a family career development project that was subse-

quently negotiated with the family. The final analysis was based on the whole data set


of each family. The purpose of the final analysis was to determine and describe the

progress of the family career development project over the 6-month period. It resulted

in a narrative description of each family career-development project, which was then

discussed by the research team to identify the properties of the project and the relation

of the family career development project to other family projects.

Using the results of the original analysis as a starting point, that is, the proper-

ties of the family career development project and the relationship of the family

Table 1

Purpose and duration/number of research procedures

Procedure Purpose Duration/numbera

M SD n

Introductory interview Initiate a discussion on

salient topics

28.62 11.57 6

Parent–adolescent

conversation

Record a conversation 12.96 2.35 6

Parent self-confrontation Collect data on internal

processes accompanying

action

47.17 13.33 6

Adolescent

self-confrontation

Collect data on internal


action

42.00 5.41 6

Joint narrative feedback

and initial identification

of family career

development project

Negotiate identification

of family career

development project

39.33 20.90 6

Parent monitoring

telephone interviews

Monitor project, actions,

and internal processes

9.83b 2.48 6

Adolescent monitoring

telephone interviews

Monitor project, actions,


9.17b 2.79 6

Parent journal entries Monitor project, actions,


7.17b 4.75 6

Adolescent journal entries Monitor project, actions


8.83b 6.97 6

Final introductory

interview

Evaluate project 28.17 15.22 6

Parent–adolescent

conversation

Record final parent–

adolescent conversation

10.67 3.89 6

Final parent

self-confrontation



action

39.33 18.51 6

Final adolescent

self-confrontation



action

35.42 17.79 6

Parent debriefing interview Debrief participant and

collect cultural data

28.88 6.00 6

Adolescent debriefing

interview

Debrief participant and

collect cultural data

19.29 8.28 6

a In minutes, except as noted.bNumber of journal entries or telephone monitoring forms completed.


career-development project to other family projects, two of the authors (Young &

Turkel) conducted this extended analysis for the 6 Chinese Canadian families. The

complete data set for each family was reviewed jointly, noting and coding common

properties of the family career-development project for these families as well as the

identification of other salient projects related to the family career-development pro-ject. In addition, explicit references to culture were coded for content. Subsequently,

the new coded material regarding properties, relation to other projects, and culture

was distilled for common and distinguishing themes that are reported in this article.

Then, to ascertain their congruence with the original data, one member of the origi-

nal research team (Wong) not involved in this particular analysis reviewed the

themes in light of the original data and analysis. Her feedback was used in the final

determination of the themes and their description.

3. Findings

The findings are based on the analysis of the data set described in Table 1. Six dis-

tinct projects were identified in the initial analysis of these data. As named and ne-

gotiated by the families, these projects were exploring information and activities

about career options (n ¼ 1), the discovery of career interests (n ¼ 1), the implemen-

tation of a specific career path (n ¼ 1), and the enhanced personal development ofthe adolescent (n ¼ 3), specifically the adolescent�s time management, boosting theadolescent�s self-confidence in order to take on more responsibility, and the adoles-cent reaching potential while ‘‘having fun.’’ At the end of the project period, five

families indicated that their goals had been substantially realized over the 6-month

monitoring period or that sufficient progress was made that the participants indi-

cated their intention to continue with them. One family indicated that their goals

were substantially redefined during the monitoring period, that is, the project had

changed. The re-analysis of the data resulted in the delineation of specific character-istics for each of the properties of the family career development project pertinent

to these families. In addition, we were able to delineate the extent to which these

projects were embedded in other individual and family projects.

3.1. Properties of the family career development project

The properties of the family career development project described here represent

significant similarities across the data sets for most of the families. The authors iden-tified specific characteristics of the family career-development project based on the

re-analysis of the data. Subsequently we grouped these characteristics according to

the properties of the family career development project previously identified.

3.1.1. Parental agenda

Parental agenda refers to the extent to which the family career-development pro-

ject was established and steered by the parent. The parents significantly influenced

these projects. For example, a father clearly established the focus of the project as


time management in the introductory interview and later in the first conversation

with his son. He stated,

I, I�m not interested in discussing this subject [pets, an interest expressed by the adolescent].

The only topic I�m interested in is that I want talk about the coming term, how it, how you

can improve the quality of [your time management].

Later in the conversation with his son, he stated,

But I hope as you are growing older and you�re more sophisticated and you know how to

control yourself, so I was thinking that in the coming term you will do better on your time

management. If you can do better on your time management, you can do better on your

studies.

For the most part, these agendas were also based on an image that the parents hadabout the appropriate education and occupation for their children. This image was

circumscribed by advanced education, that is, university education in the sciences

leading to professional training, and an occupational choice that is prestigious, that

will allow the person to be successful in terms of financial and social achievement.

For example, during the self-confrontation, one father, commenting on his son�s de-sire to be a research professor, described his and his wife�s hopes for their child:

Well, it�s not what I would like him to do. I think it�s the right direction. . . .My wife andmyself would like him to be professional. . . .a career that can provide a comfortable lifefor him. . . .You have to have at least an undergraduate degree, then maybe you can do a

masters or a PhD. . . .So as long as it�s professional, then we don�t worry. . . .We have someinfluence on him unconsciously, I guess, like don�t do something that you make no money,like Arts, for example.

To realize this type of career, the parent held that it was important for the ado-

lescent to have goals. For example, steering her adolescent to consider her goals

for school, a mother stated: ‘‘We still have seven months to go until school ends,

right? . . .So how are you going to look at the other two terms? What are you goingto do? Did you set anything [goals] for the next two terms?’’ Parents also identified a

process in which a decision was made prior to implementing action toward the goal.

For example, a father postponed helping his adolescent until the adolescent made up

his mind about an occupational choice: ‘‘So, I can�t do anything until he makes uphis mind.’’ Thus, knowing one�s goals was seen as critical steps in this process.The parental agenda was also determined by the parents� perception of adoles-

cents being at a life stage in which they need guidance, that they, as parents, have

had more experience than their children, and that children can profit from this expe-rience. However, developing a career also required the involvement of the adoles-

cent. For example, one parent claimed in the self-confrontation, ‘‘I just try to tell

him, �Don�t be passive,� in career or anything else, you�ve got to initiate to do some-thing. . . . �Be active rather than passive.’’�

3.1.2. Joint goals

The family career development project was facilitated by the extent to which the

parent and adolescent shared joint goals. We have already noted that in these fam-ilies the project was determined by a significant parental agenda. In several cases, the


joint goals were established by the adolescent acquiescing, that is, giving a quiet, pas-

sive ascent to the goals for the project established by the parent. For example, in one

conversation, goals were discussed as follows:

Parent: Are you going to practice more piano?

Adolescent: Yes.

Parent: You won�t take the exam in January yet?

Adolescent: I might.

Parent: So this is the last thing you want to set your goal on, right, to pass

Grade 9.Adolescent: Yeah, finish Grade 10.

Mother: By when?

Adolescent: Finish Grade 10 before I get into Grade 11 or maybe half of Grade 11.

Parent: In two years from now?

Adolescent: Yeah, because it takes a long time to learn Grade 10.

In the self-confrontation, the daughter recalled her internal processes about this

segment of conversation: ‘‘I feel I should really do it, go along with everything.’’ An-

other adolescent recalled, ‘‘I think my [parent] is trying to get me to get some first

hand advise from people but I don�t really feel like it. [My parent is] always tryingto remind me of certain things.’’

3.1.3. Communication

Communication between parent and adolescent occurred in several ways. Parents

used reasoning and information to convince their adolescents of their point of view.

Parents also sought information from the adolescents that they subsequently used to

challenge the adolescents� point of view. In a self-confrontation, a father clearly de-scribed his intention to seek information: ‘‘The conversation�s purpose is that I justwant to find out is there a better way of improving his time management . . . and some-how it seems that I can find out some clues. But he just gives me some very vagueanswers.’’

In many cases, the adolescent�s communication matched the acquiescence thatcharacterized the way in which joint goals were established. One way in which this

occurred was by identifying with the parent. For example, in the introductory inter-

view, the following interchange took place:

Parent: To be versatile, to be a balanced person and situation, I�m a generalist; I�mnot a specialist. I know a little about everything. That�sme. I kind of like it that way.Adolescent: Yeah, I want to be able to do a little bit of everything, not just be

good at one thing. Like really good. Just be good at everything.

Adolescents also assented to their parents� perspectives by minimal responses:

Adolescent: Things, like areas in which you have interest.Parent: That�s right. Well that, that also involves in the um, you can initiate byyourself by going to a library.

Adolescent: Yeah.


Parent: Getting the information which –

Adolescent: Um hmm.

Parent: What, what would you like to do.

Adolescent: Um hmm. Um hmm.

Parent: Or even the library they have information like uh, how to be ready, you are –Adolescent: Yeah.

Parent: You are –

Adolescent: Yeah. I think they have the questionnaires and all that.

Parent: Right. I know. But you, you don�t, you can do something extra like by, likesummer, right now is summer. You don�t, you, you have uh, school breaks thenyou can go to the library and take out the information, or go to, even go to Internet.

Adolescent: Um hmm.

Parent: To find the information and maybe your decision.Adolescent: Um hmm.

Parent: Um, quicker.

Adolescent: Um hmm.

Parent: So the, the career planning is the earlier you can make the decision, then

you can, then you don�t waste so much time doing something which is not onyour, on, on your objective or on your, as your goal.

Adolescent: Um hmm.

Parent: So that�s why like (indecipherable) you can tell yourself uh, which direc-tion to go then, then you don�t waste energy to do something different.Adolescent: Um hmm.

When the adolescents felt that their parents were attempting to convince them of

something to which they themselves were unwilling to agree, the adolescent withdrew

and held back, offering only minimal information and involvement in the conver-

sation, while, at the same time, maintaining respect of the parent. In reflecting on a

pattern of giving simple ‘‘yes’’ or ‘‘no’’ answers to the parent�s questions, an ado-lescent stated during the self-confrontation interview:

Usually it�s like either a ‘‘yes’’ or ‘‘no’’ answer, like a question, but then you could go deeperinto it, but then it�s harder with parents, because you don�t know how they�ll react. And usu-ally it might be a negative reaction. . . . So if I tell [parent], it will just be a big problem or

something, so I don�t bother with that.

Later in the self-confrontation the adolescent added a perspective on respect:

Well, I guess I have to respect them and treat them the way anyone, any human would want

to be treated, and I guess I give them the authority. If there is something that they want,

then I have to do it. Just listen and respect them.

The use of English as the language of communication in the tape-recorded parts

of the data collection may have affected some participants who usually spoke in Can-

tonese to each other. One parent stated:

Usually I talk to my son in Cantonese. We speak Cantonese to each other. And when I

speak to him in English, it looks like I�m an interviewer and he�s the respondent. We arenot used to have that closeness.


3.1.4. Goal-step congruence

The extent to which projects were realized or ran smoothly was based on the con-

gruence between goals and steps. For example, one parent saw that listening to his

son was an important step for the goal of maintaining a positive relationship be-

tween them. The parent reflected on his internal processes during the self-confronta-tion: ‘‘. . . it�s important for me to listen to him . . . I paid attention. I had to listen tohim. I cannot say, �Okay, fine, what you are telling me is not important.� I listened tohim. I just wanted to mention that for the whole minute I didn�t talk.’’The lack of step-goals congruence was manifest in the degree to which these ad-

olescents did not feel understood by their parents. One adolescent recounted in the

self-confrontation: ‘‘Like let�s say that I make a good decision which I hope happenssometime, but if I make a good decision then I can tell him, �See, my way is not ex-actly the worst thing to do.� Sometime it is just better for me because I do reasonablywell and I can do [it] the way I want to do it and satisfy what I want to do. And let�ssay he probably wouldn�t be too happy. He still thinks his way is better.’’ In one fam-ily, lack of understanding was the theme of the parent–adolescent conversation:

Parent: So what is a good time to talk to you, anytime or early in the morning?Adolescent: I don�t know. We usually don�t have anything to talk about, becauseyou don�t understand.

3.1.5. Individuation

The adolescent�s individuation within the family was also a property of these pro-jects. It refers to the process through which adolescents established themselves as

separate from their parents and, at the same time, maintained positive relationships

with them. One characteristic of individuation in these family projects was found inthe parents, all of whom identified that they had changed their parenting style in or-

der to encourage greater self-determination on the part of their adolescent children.

In the final debriefing interview, one parent explained his position:

Yeah, because the Chinese culture is to respect your parents, people respecting, and the Ca-

nadian culture, they talk about individuals. So then we are in the situations where we back

off a little bit and have a little bit of Chinese thinking of parent being in power, we are not.

We are in the middle. I don�t think that we�re as generous in allowing freedom as the Cana-

dians. . . . Then we have a respect to him, to his wishes, do the best for him and then we have

less of those damages for him.

Individuation was also achieved through the adolescent having his or her own agen-

da which, while it did not receive central attention in the identified career development

project, was a way in which the adolescent separated themselves from their parents. In

one dyad, the adolescent engaged more with the researcher that he did with his parent,

taking an active role in asking the researcher questions about the nature of the research

study, the surroundings, and the discipline of psychology and through the telephone

monitoring, about the nature of university study. His focus here took it away fromthe attention to a career in science that characterized his conversations with his parent.

In another case, an adolescent struggled between doing things his way or his par-

ent�s way. In the final self-confrontation he stated:


. . . I guess it makes it a bit easier to see his kind of side. I don�t know if I really do see it

because he said I don�t. I think I can understand what he thinks and I�d like to do it myway as much as I could do it his. I guess that�s what makes my choices so hard because Iactually think about his decisions and think ok, I want to do this, I�m definitely going to

do this and no way anything else.

3.2. Embeddedness in other projects

The family career-development projects were embedded in other projects that

were on going in these Chinese Canadian families, that is, the projects, and the ac-tions that constituted them, had multiple goals. These goals can be hierarchically or-

dered, that is, the participants referred to other goals as subsuming the goals of the

family career development project. Other goals were seen as more important or the

goals of the family career development project were infused with them. Although we

have distinguished these goals as relationship, cultural, parenting, and identity pro-

jects, they are intertwined with each other. We will discuss them as distinct project

domains, recognizing that each of these projects also involves the others.

3.2.1. Relationship project

The most significant group of goals and projects that was evident in this study be-

yond the specific goals and projects of the family career development project can be

identified as the relationship project. The family was considered to be of critical im-

portance. The family career development project was seen as part of a larger family

project and subsumed by it. The importance of the relationship was based on values

about the family that, to some extent, were attributed to their Chinese background.

Also included here is the notion that parents and children will have a relationship inthe future, that parents acted out of love for their children, and expected respect in

return. In the final self-confrontation, a parent stated:

Yeah, again, always just keep reinforcing to him that the family loves you, the family sup-

ports you. You pick your best. . . we all do this for your benefit. Well actually this is also a

benefit to the family, but the reason is if he has something that�s wrong half of his life, thewhole family suffers. If he�s doing good, the whole family has less worry and I�m talking

about mentally. I�m not talking about money. If he picks a wrong path, the family will suffer

mentally and probably other—financially or. . . so we keep always emphasizing to him the

family loves you, you do whatever you like but do the best. Another father stated, ‘‘I think

that down the road, the relationship like this is indirectly going to help his career.

The family career-development project was a means through which the parent and

adolescent maintained, and in one case, lost their relationship. One parent suggested

the family career development project deterred the relationship project: ‘‘I feel like

I�ve lost ground, lost touch. And somehow basically she says, �I don�t understand,�and I don�t know what to say anymore . . . she is not interested in carrying on a con-versation with me.’’

3.2.2. Parenting project

In this study, the goals and actions of the family career-development project

shared commonality with the parenting project. The parenting project refers to the


series of goals and actions through which the parent�s role as a parent was con-structed. Parents distinguished themselves from the parenting style and approaches

of their own parents, seeing themselves as much less authoritarian and remote than

their own parents, particularly their fathers, and much more concerned and involved

with their children. Providing love and support was seen as a critical part of the par-enting project, to be a good parent is to provide for one�s children. In debriefing withthe researcher, one father captured both the characteristic of distinguishing himself

from his own parents and providing for his children:

I don�t want to do anything other than what my parents did for me, and basically they lovedme. They wanted the best out of me. They tried to do everything to provide for me at their

expense. I think my parents sacrificed a lot for me. To that part I don�t want to change it towhat I�m doing with my son. But there are other things that I would do too. The other part

is that the lifestyles are different; the environments are different. Like what I told you, my

father was a very traditional Chinese [word not decipherable]. He is the head of the house-

hold and he is the one who knows everything and no one else knows. That part, I�m not

doing that . . . When I went to school in [North American place name], I was in a very free

stage . . . and I tried to carry that on and that is very drastically different from what my par-

ents are. But other than that, I think that what I am doing to my two boys is not different

that what my parents did for me and that�s one overriding factor is that my parents loved meand then I loved my boys.

One of the ways in which ‘‘providing’’ was interpreted by these parents was to

provide the basis for good educational and occupational decisions that will, in turn,lead to success and achievement in the future. The less experienced and less knowl-

edgeable qualities of the adolescents, as adolescents, also contributed to goals of the

parents to address this more dependent state. One father outlined his understanding

of parenting: ‘‘[The question of how we can help him is always on our mind.] . . .Weare very supportive of our children. . . . they are pretty well is all what we do, uh, our,our living right now is, uh, they are the main, they are the main character.’’ He also

stated: ‘‘Um, we from the—when they are very young we enroll him in physical train-

ing, try to provide him the opportunity I would say. Music, we provided him andeven painting uh, arts we, we try to provide to him.’’

Perhaps uncharacteristic of these parents compared to some other Chinese Cana-

dian parents is that, through participation in this study, they implicitly, and in some

cases explicitly, sought assistance outside of the family, making the family career-

development project one in which others are involved. Most parents, while express-

ing satisfaction with their participation also said that they wanted more information

and guidance from participating in this study. In the debriefing, one parent framed

his need for more information:

I haven�t seen my expectations [met]—I would like to know how other people raise their

kids, but I don�t know. But if I know something, it may affect me. But this is the way I

do it, but I don�t know how the other people do it. . . . Because this is education to me.

3.2.3. Cultural project

The family career-development project also involved goals and actions that can be

explicitly labeled as cultural. For some this meant encouraging a realization of the


bi-cultural aspects of their lives in Canada. A father explained his view of the cultural

project:

. . . he [his son] gets something and then goes to school then they have eight hours there and

then we have to come back andwe have to influence—always influence them. �Look, you�re anindividual, you have your different background, you are not the same as the other people. You

are special. You are Chinese and what you look like, whatever you talk like, whatever you feel

like, you�re still that color. Your culture is still that, that cannot change.�. . . Yes, he is a Chi-nese. I say you should be proud of it—5000 years of culture. I told them, �You�re lucky becauseyou�ve got 5000 years culture under you and then you will have the opportunity to appreciatean English culture. So there are two things to be proud of.�We always reinforce that becausethey�re lucky, not to feel like a minority, you�re not. They should feel proud.’’

For many participants in this study, both parents and adolescents, the cultural

project involved aspects of identity, that is, seeking a stable sense of sameness and

continuity. The cultural project as an aspect of identity was implicit in the family ca-

reer-development project and in the other projects identified in this study. However,

one adolescent explicitly identified it:

. . . whenever I go back to anywhere in Asia, it just feels like home and just talking to thepeople and interacting with them, it just feels very comfortable. . . . I feel like, because I

was born here but then for some reason, know a lot of people who are Chinese and they

pretty much strayed away from the Chinese culture and they become very Americanized.

3.2.4. Identity project

The family career development projects were also embedded in identity projects.

For example, in the self-confrontation, one adolescent explained the basis for her

lack of interest in physics as who she is. She also distinguished her own interests from

other family members:

. . . I�ve told him [father] before that I don�t like it. I really don�t like physics. I don�t knowhow he would feel, but I want to get it out into the open, . . . I don�t want anything to do withphysics, I don�t like it, right, it�s just not something for me to do. It might be for my brotherand him and stuff, but it�s not for me.

One adolescent described his larger identity project by contrasting himself broadlyto his friends. He recalled his reaction on returning from a leadership program:

I see a wide spectrum of things now. I came back and saw my friends as so narrow minded,

so superficial. They don�t appreciate . . . how much there is in life . . . For the first two weeks Iwas in withdrawal from them. I just couldn�t be around them, because I can�t live my life oneway. I can�t keep on doing the same things, going every week to the same place. I need tohave variety in life. I need diversity, big time. . . . I feel I am a very accepting, open-minded

person. I can see it and make my own judgment. I don�t like hearing what other people sayand judging like that. I want to experience and make my own decision.

4. Discussion

The purpose of this analysis was to describe in detail the family career-develop-

ment project in Chinese Canadian families. The projects analyzed in this study were


characterized by a strong parental agenda and by being firmly embedded in other

family projects. They were largely determined by the parent and acquiesced to by

the adolescent. For the most part, the projects portrayed the parent�s understandingof family influence as unidirectional, from parent to child. At the same time, many

projects were maintained by the adolescents� low engagement profiles, allowing theparent to steer the project. The findings illustrate, in the language of action and pro-

ject, previous research findings indicating the values of career success and compli-

ance with parental authority in this population (Ishii-Kuntz, 2000; Kim et al., 1999).

This analysis provides a useful portrait of the action-theoretical conceptualization

of career (Young et al., 1996). The Chinese Canadian families in this study clearly

understood and acted on career development of their adolescents as goal-directed

action over time. These projects operated at both the individual and family levels-

parents and adolescents had their own as well as joint goals and engaged in relevantactions separately and together. The organization of these projects was substan-

tial—there was clear evidence of goals, functional steps, and elements.

As the findings indicate, the goals of these projects were largely set by the parents

and were largely agreed to by the adolescents, particularly in terms of determining

interests and goals for and paths to the future. When differences in goals between par-

ents and adolescents emerged, it was not regarding the need to make decisions and

plans for the future, but what those plans might be, and how they might be realized.

Generally, parents saw the importance of structuring career goals in advance, andthat current actions and experiences could be tailored in light of these goals. It is im-

portant to note that parents recognized that these goals were to be realized through

conversations between parent and adolescent, involving aspects of communication.

From the parents� perspective, the role of communication differed from the way in

which career goals were determined and realized in their families of origin, where,

it was reported, parents had the final say about occupational goals. The findings

indicate several aspects of the communication between the parents and adolescents

that are noteworthy, including the significant use by parents of convincing-reasoningand soliciting information from the adolescent as steps in the conversations. Commu-

nication was also characterized in several instances by either acquiescing or with-

drawing and holding back of information on the part of the adolescent.

The family career-development projects in these families were energized by emo-

tion, specifically the considerable love and care that these parents report they have

for their children. Their love for their children was seen by them to be implemented

through care for, and guidance of, the adolescent�s educational and career outcomes.Projects were also energized by the love and respect that children have for their par-ents, and thus, in many cases, adolescents were willing to agree to family projects

even when their own goals were not fully recognized in them. They also saw this pro-

ject as one in which parents were significantly involved and which was related in im-

portant ways to broad family goals and projects. By catering to the adolescents� wellbeing, parents were able to involve the adolescents in these projects.

Values such as educational achievement, respect for parents, importance of the

family, and filial piety, reported previously (Chao, 1994; Kim et al., 1999) were well

represented in the family career-development projects in these Chinese Canadian


families. As well, career and related outcomes and involvement in the acculturation/

enculturation process (Kim et al., 2001) contributed to how these families established

and undertook the family career-development project. This research illustrates, from

a process perspective, how these values, outcomes, and broader processes are con-

structed in specific joint goal-directed action over time.Previous research suggested that Chinese-American young people internalize the

career expectations and values of their parents (e.g., Liu, 1998; Violato & Kwok,

1995). The findings in this study illustrate that the notion of internalization, if it con-

notes a simple transmission of parental demands onto the ‘‘intrapsychic life’’ of the

adolescent as Brandtst€aatder (1999) indicated, may not fully represent the processthat is occurring in these families. Rather the findings in this study point to the joint

construction of norms and demands in the context of family and culture that repre-

sent the unique contributions of both parents and adolescents.

4.1. Limitations of the study

The findings based on this further analysis of the data from the larger study were

limited by the same factors that limited the larger study, including the volunteer na-

ture of the participants, the incentive of the honorarium, and the reliability of the

monitoring procedures (Young et al., 2001). We also acknowledged that the proce-

dures might have served as an intervention in the career development actions of thesefamilies. However, we pointed out that we used the resources that the participants

brought to the study and no suggestions for change were provided to them. We fur-

ther argued that joining participants in already launched projects reflects the coun-

seling psychologist�s role.We recognize that for the parent–adolescent conversations recorded on videotape,

the adolescents may have been more acquising than they would have been at home in

order to ‘‘save face’’ for the parents. Similarly, asking participants to converse in En-

glish for the purpose of data recording may have altered the characteristics of theexchange for some participants who usually spoke in Cantonese to each other.

Pertinent to this re-analysis of the data from six families, we recognize that the

number of participants was small, notwithstanding the extensive amount of data

gathered from each family. There was, however, considerable homogeneity in the

findings, suggesting that we had reached a degree of saturation. As researchers, we

recognized that we might have been influenced by our original findings. To accom-

modate this, our first coding of the data was done independently of the original find-

ings. Only then, did we examine the re-coded data in light of the earlier findings.

4.2. Future research

This study points to the heuristic value of the action-theoretical conceptualization

of career for research of the ways in which small groups such as the family develop

and undertake projects. It is hoped that this theoretical and methodological ap-

proach will be used in other research to examine the notion of joint, goal-directed

action over time as indicative of the process of career. A host of extensions of the


present study can be proposed, for example, to immigrant families from places other

than Hong Kong, to other groups that are involved in joint career development pro-

jects with individuals, such as employers or teachers, to longer or different periods in

the career development process; and to larger constellations of family members. Be-

cause of a different political, economic, and social history, immigrant families fromthe People�s Republic of China may manifest different properties in the family careerdevelopment project than the participants in the present study who were from Hong

Kong.

The present study has only touched on Chang�s (2000) conclusion that commit-ment to children promoted adaptation among immigrant Chinese families. A more

explicit study of the relation between the family career development project and

the family immigration experience may be warranted. Access to the processes of ca-

reer development in families may allow particular attention to the strategies thatfamilies use to simultaneously maintain or abandon their heritage culture and inte-

grate into or be marginalized in the new culture.

4.3. Implications for practice

This study illustrated how Chinese Canadian families engage in joint actions over

time to influence the career development of their adolescent children. Counselors

need to consider that these families may have been unique in seeking outside involve-ment in this family project by volunteering to participate in this research project.

However, it indicates that at least some immigrant Chinese families are likely to re-

spond positively to the availability of professional assistance when such assistance is

framed as a family project, involving both parents and adolescents. Rather than con-

sidering external support as directed solely toward the child, these findings indicate

that family interventions may also be important.

Several of the findings suggest that counselors may be helpful to Chinese Cana-

dian families who seek assistance in particular ways, particularly encouraging thatadolescents� goals be more fully heard, named, and explicitly incorporated in thefamily career development project. Families could also profit from a fuller under-

standing of how goals emerge from action as well as being formulated before action.

Counselors can also institute ways of enhancing the communication between parents

and adolescent so that parents can express their expectations and adolescent can si-

multaneously feel understood in the process. The use of the video self-confrontation

and the journals for self-monitoring were particularly helpful in this study in assess-

ing the adolescents� reactions, including their emotional reactions, to joint activities,particularly when that reaction differed from the one explicitly displayed during the

action itself. These research methods may be profitably adapted for use in counseling

to assist adolescents in acknowledging and addressing some of their reactions.

The findings on embeddedness suggest that counselors may also assist families in

helping them to distinguish among the various family projects in which career devel-

opment is embedded. Distinguishing how sub-goals contribute to broader goals and

projects may allow family members to change or adjust actions without abandoning

the goals for which it the action is intended. More importantly, these findings suggest


that counselors need to understand that proximal and immediate issues and ways of

interacting are part of a much larger set of projects that may not be readily displayed

nor understood by those who are not Chinese. Counselors should also be aware of

the importance that Chinese Canadian families place on both education and gaining

experience as aspects of the career development process.The family career-development project is a gateway to culturally sensitive counsel-

ing because it represents active, goal-directed, joint processes in which a number of

communicative discourses, conscious considerations, social attributions, and every-

day habits are at work. It avoids identifying background causes, success or failure

in the new environment, or over-identification or distancing from it. Rather, it is

these discourses, considerations, and attributions that are the focus of counseling.

Knowing more about them allows for better cross-cultural counseling.

Acknowledgments

The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada funded this re-

search (Grant 410-97-1447). We are indebted to Michele A. Paseluikho, Raymond J.

DeVries, and Holly McLean who were co-researchers on the initial project from

which these data were drawn, to Koon Ming Ho who commented on an earlier ver-

sion of this article, and to the parents and adolescents who participated in this study.An earlier version of this article was presented to the 109th Annual Convention of

the American Psychological Association, August 2001.

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Further reading

Wertsch, J. V. (1998). Mind as action. New York: Oxford University Press.
