SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY AND THE CAREER-DEVELOPMENT OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMEN

No comprehensive model of the career development of racial and ethnic minorities has yet been developed; even less attention has been devote d to models of the career development of racial and ethnic minority wo men. One of the more promising career theories that may prove satisfac tory in accounting for ethnicity in career development is Bandura's (1 986) social cognitive theory (Lent & Brown, 1996; Lent, Brown, & Hacke tt, 1994). In this article, the authors selectively review the Literat ure on African American women's career development to clarify how soci al cognitive mechanisms mag be operating. The primary focus of this co nceptual analysis is on the central elements of social cognitive theor y, namely, self-efficacy and outcome expectations. Implications for co unseling are presented.