2025 Theses Doctoral

A Study of First-Generation College Student's Career Identity Development

Chadi, Diana

The purpose of this study was to understand the career identity development of recent college graduates who were first-generation college students. The study sought to understand how individuals made sense of their careers before, during, and after college, and the factors they saw as contributing to their career identity development. It also sought to understand whether, in their experience, recent graduates saw the college classroom as having contributed to their developing thoughts about the career path best fit to their interests, sense of self, and life situations.

The study was informed and guided by four conceptual frameworks: career identity, different ways to relate to one’s choice of career (as job, career, and/or calling), the college classroom, and narrative identity. The study consisted of 20 semi-structured interviews (up to two hours in length) with first-generation graduates within their first year after graduation; it proceeded through two phases. Phase A featured recruitment of two institutions of higher education as well as recruitment of study participants (9) one-year post-receipt of the bachelor’s degree. Phase B was added due to the need for a larger study sample. Design changes in Phase B included the following: 1) reduction of sample size (to 20, reduced from 30), 2) inclusion of an additional cohort of graduates (graduating a year later than those in Phase A, 3) effort to recruit a third institution (this was not viable and thus canceled), 4) offering of a $25 incentive to individuals who completed the interview, 5) use of social media for study participant recruitment, and 6) use of snowball sampling to further fill out the sample. Phase B resulted in the recruitment of an additional 11 participants thereby achieving the desired sample size of 20.

Data analysis yielded four propositions, summarized as follows: First, high school can offer pivotal experiences in the career identity development of first-generation college students. Second, parents can play a significant role in the career identity development of first-generation college students. Third, experiences in college such as coursework, interactions with professors, and internships or jobs can influence a first-generation college student’s career identity development. Finally, upon graduation, first-generation college students may look to advance in their careers, either by immersing themselves in jobs and/or by pursuing advanced degrees. These graduates also cited passion as a key criterion for good career choice.

Selected implications for policy and practice include the following: Implement career guidance as early as high school. Commit resources to the improvement of the content and quality of career guidance in college at all levels. Develop internship offerings, and inform students of the career development benefits of internship participation.