Stigma and underutilization of college career counseling services

¶ … organization's subscription. However, you may be able to access this article under your organization's agreement with Elsevier.

Wyndolyn M.A. Ludwikowski, David Vogel, and Patrick Ian Armstrong (2009). "Attitudes Toward Career Counseling: The Role of Public and Self-Stigma." Journal of Counseling Psychology. Vol. 56, No. 3. Pp 408-416.

This article discusses a specific study conducted in 2008 involving 509 college students who were systematically surveyed regarding their attitudes toward career counseling. Many different attitudes and patterns of behavior surfaced, but the most consistent attitudes exhibited surrounded the fact that a stigma exists within the college student world relative to career counseling services offered at their own school. This finding is supported by some very specific results that helped to explain the general disconnect between college students who often struggle to find jobs during and especially after college and the apparent wide availability of career counseling services offered to them. Involved in the study is the central idea that a social or cultural stigma exists for college students relative to seeking help with career choices and resources.

Rationale

The study's rationale focused on the idea that most college students never fully utilize the resources at their disposal relative to career counseling.

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to help establish the fact that there exists a severe disconnect between the career counseling services and the number of students who utilize these services on a daily basis.

Method, Participants, Procedures, Data Collection and Analysis

The method of the study was a blind survey composed of 40 questions relating to specific attitudes toward career counseling. The participants were 509 college students, of whom all were given the same 40 questions and had an unlimited amount of time to complete them. Study administrators completed the data collection and data analysis and the results were entered into a computer software program that tracks patterns in the attitudes relative to specifically chosen algorithms and values given to certain answers to the survey questions.

Discussion and Professional Implications

The article left a lasting impression because it is a modern reflection of the disconnect between students and the outside or "real" world. This is the most important piece of information contained within the article. Often students are not exposed to the demands and dynamics that will make up their post-college world and career and it is important to be able to better serve these students so they can be more successful in their post-college lives. Some basic changes that could be made include having students help other students in the counseling center, bringing in relevant and interesting professionals to help instill these and other values within college students, and to better align the career counseling services with the specific and relevant needs of college students looking to transition from the college world to the work world.

Link to article: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WYB-4WS7M446&_user=10&_coverDate=07%2F31%2F2009&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_origin=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1621369918&_rerunOrigin=scholar.google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=6ac37a2c9f55e0074b0aab685ba341c1&searchtype=a