Low‐income, first‐generation students' experiences of parent support in career development

• Published date: 01 February 2023
• Author: Irina Elena Ion
• Date: 01 February 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12688

RESEARCH

Low-income, first-generation students’experiences

of parent support in career development

Irina Elena Ion

Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies,

International Business and Economics Faculty,

and University of Bucharest, Faculty of

Sociology and Social Work, Bucharest,

Romania

Correspondence

Irina Elena Ion, International Business and

Economics Faculty, International Business and

Economics Department, Bucharest Academy

of Economic Studies, Piat¸a Roman

a,

nr. 6, Bucharest, Romania.

Email: irina.zgreaban@rei.ase.ro

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this article is to explore the lived expe-

riences of low-income, first-generation students (FGSs) in

career development and the role played by their families in

this process.

Background: The literature illustrates mixed results of the

parental influence on first generation students’career develop-

ment. Several studies portray low family involvement in

students’career plans and outcomes. In contrast, the

strengths-based literature presents the family as the main

“source”of FGS assets. However, there is a dearth of

strengths-based studies regarding FGSs’career development

and family role.

Method: A phenomenological study was carried out using

semistructured interviews with twenty Romanian low-

income FGSs.

Results: Low-income FGS families rely on an extensive

array of assets that help FGSs to navigate the academic

system and to develop their careers, suggesting the role of

familial capital. Despite this, several challenges jeopardize

FGSs’career development.

Conclusion: Familial capital is a useful concept for the analysis

of career development for low-income FGSs. Still, the extent

to which students’strengths and their familial capital are suffi-

cient for a coherent career development process is limited.

Implications: The strengths-based view can inform research

aimed at identifying the assets of vulnerable populations.

Within academia, familial capital should be recognized as a

mechanism able to reinforce the capabilities and resources of

low-income FGSs. In-school vocational and career counsel-

ing beginning in early career-life periods can improve career

development for those who may be the first in their families

to go to university.

KEYWORDS

career development, familial capital, first generation students, low income

Received: 28 April 2021Revised: 5 October 2021Accepted: 20 February 2022

DOI: 10.1111/fare.12688

© 2022 National Council on Family Relations.

Family Relations. 2023;72:215–233. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fare 215

First-generation students (FGSs) are those who are first in their families to access

undergraduate-level higher education (Pascarella et al., 2004; Raque-Bogdan & Lucas, 2016;

Saenz et al., 2007). FGSs are a heterogeneous group but with common challenges and often

intersecting identities (Jehangir, 2010). Despite having unique life stories, their educational and

professional journeys are typically affected by variables such as place, aspiration, and access to

higher education (Jehangir, 2010). Many FGSs come from low-income, marginalized, racial or

ethnic minority or nondominant populations (Garriott, 2020).

Empirical studies on FGSs reveal several negative academic outcomes and experiences in higher

education and difficulties in career development (Brown & Hesketh, 2004; Gibbons &

Shoffner, 2004;O’Shea, 2019;Parks-Yancy,2012; Pascarella et al., 2004; Saenz et al., 2007). These

challenges include delays in establishing career goals and difficulties elaborating career plans and

securing full-time employment after graduation (Brown & Hesketh, 2004;O’Shea, 2019;Parks-

Yancy, 2012), especially in elite professions and organizations (Lindberg, 2013). Their career devel-

opment path is overwhelmingly influenced by their families, socioeconomic status (SES), and general

socioeconomic conditions (Brown & Hesketh, 2004; Garriott, 2020;Kantamneni,2018; Lindstrom

et al., 2007; Raque-Bogdan & Lucas, 2016; Tate, Caperton, et al., 2015; Tate, Fouad, et al., 2015).

Traditionally, the literature examining FGSs has been preoccupied with correcting the “deficien-

cies”of the students and their environments, such as their family background (Gibbons & Shoffner,

2014; Terenzini et al., 1996). More recent studies have shifted the lens toward the strengths of the

nondominant populations by conceiving “marginalized students and their families as having consid-

erable strengths, promises, and agency”(Valencia, 2020, p. XV). The strengths or asset-based view

is epistemologically grounded in critical race theory, which opposes “self-blame”discourses and the

centrality of “individualised life choices”(O’Shea, 2019, p. 74), shedding light on the complex inter-

sectionality of factors explaining the career and employment outcomes of socially disadvantaged

groups, such as people of lower SES. The asset-based perspective challenges the characterization of

underrepresented populations in terms of problems or deficits that must be addressed, which repre-

sents a deficit-based view (O’Shea, 2016). Far from being a unitary approach or a panacea to defi-

cits, the focus on strengths represents a shift in the dominant research paradigm (Fogarty

et al., 2018) on marginalized, minority populations. Despite the valuable contributions of this

research strand, there is a dearth of strengths-based studies regarding FGSs’career development

and the role of families in shaping this experience, with some exceptions, such as Gofen (2009),

Reyes (2012), Murillo et al. (2017), and O’Shea (2019).

This study is set in the Romanian context. In the following sections, I first briefly depict the

main characteristics of the Romanian educational system and the main findings of the

Romanian literature on career development. Subsequently, I review the extant scientific contri-

butions regarding FGSs’career development and the role played by their families, including

Yosso’s(

2005) familial capital. In this research, career refers to any “work or occupational

behavior, regardless of the prestige level of a given form of work, the socioeconomic status of

the worker, or the educational level required for the work he or she performs”(Lent &

Brown, 2013, p. 558). The definition of career development is drawn from Lent’s social cognitive

career theory (Lent et al., 1994), which focuses on three main interconnected aspects: formation

of career interest, selection of academic and career choices, and performance and persistence in

education and in the labor market (Lent et al., 1994).

THE ROMANIAN CONTEXT OF FGSs, EDUCATION, AND CAREER

DEVELOPMENT

Although Romania lacks official statistics on FGSs, governmental demographic data provide

clues regarding the magnitude of the FGS population. According to the Romanian National

Institute of Statistics (2021), as of 2021, Romania population was 53.61% urban and 46.39%

216 FAMILY RELATIONS