Super's Career Development Theory and Mental Disabilities

Introduction

Super, a professional career psychologist, developed a theory of career patterns that placed particular emphasis on students still in school. His theory of vocational development — or career development — emphasized lifelong learning, change, and growth. Super is well noted for bringing to the forefront of counseling the notion that people continually learn and adapt over the course of a lifetime. He therefore suggested that a career development program should be designed to accommodate an individual during the various stages of learning that occur across one's life span.

Super's chief complaint and criticism of modern vocational practice suggests that it is static in nature rather than dynamic (Neff & Neff, 1977), and thus attempts to match personal attributes with a fixed set of occupational requirements (Neff & Neff, 1977). This, according to Super, has led to the development of jobs classified in terms of "the abilities, aptitudes, and skills required to perform them" (Neff & Neff, 1977, p. 127), as well as many aptitude tests and assessment programs designed to determine whether an individual is capable of accomplishing the tasks of a given job. Super argues that much more exists within the field of career development, and that black-and-white answers are generally not well suited to it (Super, 1974).

His career development theories and their application to the mentally disabled population are explored in greater detail below.

Super's theory offers a broad framework for vocational counseling. There are many facets to his theory of career development that must be explored in order to fully understand its implications for the mentally disabled population.

Review of the Literature

First and foremost, a counselor, according to Super, must be able to counsel individuals in a manner that will help them achieve and realize their goals, however ambitious (Super, 1953). Super supports the idea that no one should be discouraged from pursuing their dreams, whether abstract or concrete, and asserts that affirmation and understanding are critical aspects of the self-esteem building process — which is important for one's overall career success and development.

He suggests that vocational development should be nurtured as a lifelong process from early childhood through adult life, and that development will change and conform to new needs over time. Super further argues that people undergo different growth stages, exploration stages, and maintenance stages before they eventually decline (Super, 1953). Without proper counseling — as is often the case with individuals with mental disabilities — it is possible that a person might reach the point of decline before they have had the opportunity to explore, grow, establish, or maintain (Super, 1953).

Super was a proponent of the idea that individuals pass through stages of development at a particular rate. With regard to people with mental disabilities, it is likely that Super would note that such individuals are more likely to move through each stage of career development at a different pace — perhaps more slowly than the general population (Super, 1974). The stages Super identifies include sub-stages: (1) a tentative stage, in which a person begins to identify many possible fields and levels of work without specification; (2) a transition stage, occurring in adolescence through early adulthood, when a person struggles to move between school and work; and (3) a trial stage, in which a student enters an occupation — typically without much commitment — and can anticipate many changes along the way (Neff & Neff, 1977, p. 129).

Super's theory of career development also incorporates the concepts of life-span and life-space, suggesting that career development is a lifelong transitional process that begins at birth, relates to all life roles, and affects both individuals and communities (Super, 1990). Super further assumes that early career development can be "stifled and limited by career-related fantasy and sparse exposure to credible role models" (Szymanski, 1994, p. 402). This is an important aspect of Super's model: any individual requires a credible role model in order to truly realize their aspirations and goals. In the case of a mentally disabled person, this suggests that credible role models — other mentally disabled people working successfully in various careers — are essential to vocational success.

Super also argues that fantasy is a natural part of early career development and should be encouraged rather than discouraged, as long as it is consistent with positive attitudes rather than perceived limitations (Super, 1990). The theory suggests that perceived limitations of one's ability can contribute to the likelihood that work goals and the range of potential accomplishments will be restricted (Szymanski, 1994). Restriction of career goal development may occur in children with mental disabilities if they are not provided with role models they can relate to — that is, other people with disabilities who are successfully employed across many different fields (Super, 1990; Szymanski, 1994).

Mitchell & Krumboltz (1990) suggest that from Super's career development theory one may conclude that interest in and development of career potential can be disrupted and diminished in early years if children are not exposed to adequate learning and developmental experiences. Children with mental disabilities are often exposed to fewer diverse career choices and opportunities than peers with typical cognitive abilities (Turner & Szymanski, 1990; Szymanski, 1994). If children with mental disabilities are not exposed to the same variety of opportunities as their peers, they are more likely to display diminished developmental interests (Szymanski, 1994).

Career development, for Super and many other theorists, is a lifelong process. It is therefore important to acknowledge that the choice of an occupation should not be a one-time event but rather a transitional process that involves choosing among many different occupations over time (Brown, 1990). Career choices should be equally available to individuals with mental disabilities as they are to the general population.

Vocational development tasks may include: crystallization (developing and planning tentative vocational goals), specification (firming the vocational goal), implementation (training and acquiring a job), stabilization, and consolidation (Johnson, 2003). Super (1990) notes that students without any disability often have difficulty deciding on a career when they are young, yet are expected to do so upon graduating from high school. Many will select a career and subsequently change course as time progresses.

According to some researchers, the "potential experiential deficits of students with congenital or cognitive disabilities may cause developmental delays" (Szymanski, 1994), resulting in a lack of solid work interests and goals at the time of high school graduation, which further complicates their career choices (Szymanski, 1994; Szymanski, Turner, & Hershenson, 1992). Students with mental disabilities are therefore likely to be less prepared to make career choices and other critical decisions after high school than even their non-disabled peers (Super, 1974).

The career development theory described by Super has broad implications for the mentally disabled population, explored in greater detail here. Career development for people with mental disabilities should focus on transitional services that incorporate a "longitudinal, career-oriented focus" rather than a one-time perspective (Szymanski, 1994). This mirrors the career development focus for the general population, as Super advocates for lifelong learning and recognizes that one's career aptitude, interests, and personal levels of achievement may change over time.