DIFFERENTIAL TIMING OF INITIAL VOCATIONAL CHOICE - THE INFLUENCE OF EARLY-CHILDHOOD FAMILY RELOCATION AND PARENTAL SUPPORT BEHAVIORS IN 2 CULTURES

Adolescents from former East and West Germany were compared with refer ence to the timing of their initial vocational choices. Using survival analysis techniques on a data set made up of concurrent and recollect ed self-reports, it was shown that adolescents from the East reported making such choices about one year earlier, on average. While higher l evels of parental support behavior during childhood were associated wi th earlier vocational choices in both samples, the timing and potentia l disruptiveness of family relocations corresponded to earlier vocatio nal choices among adolescents in the East only. Additional analyses sh owed that adolescents who made initial vocational choices earlier also revealed a more grown-up lifestyle and a more advanced level of ident ity exploration and commitment. The results illustrate the importance of contextual factors (an open, individualistically oriented system in the West versus an institutionally controlled, relatively closed syst em in the East) in the timing of vocational development in adolescence . (C) 1997 Academic Press.