UNCOVERING FACTORS IN URBAN HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS' …

UNCOVERING FACTORS IN URBAN HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS' MEDIA

CAREER CONSIDERATIONS: A MEDIA CAREER INTEREST MODEL

by

GEORGE LAMAR DANIELS

Under the Direction of Lee B. Becker

ABSTRACT

Based on previous work of social cognitive career theorists, vocational psychologists and journalism and mass communication scholars, a Media Career Interest Model (MCIM) was developed to suggest relationships between such variables as high school media involvement, parent-child career communication, mass communication career self-efficacy, outcome expectations and the outcome measure, media career consideration. Demographic variables such as race, gender and socioeconomic status were also included in the conceptual model.

The model was tested using a survey of 538 high school students in two Southern states. While many were involved in newspaper, yearbook, literary magazine, or video production classes, more than a quarter of respondents were not in any such activities or classes. To be included in the sample, all respondents were students in so-called “media-rich environments” at eight urban high schools that had at least three media outlets (i.e. newspaper, TV program, yearbook).

The hypothesized model predicted 4% of the variance in media career outcome expectation, 6% of the variance in mass communication self-efficacy, and 20% of the variance in media career consideration. There were a total of 10 relationships depicted in the MCIM. Of those 10 relationships, only three (3) had statistically significant beta weights. Mass communication self-efficacy predicts about a third of the variance in media career consideration. Media involvement only predicts 18 percent of the variance in mass communication self-efficacy. Media career outcome expectation predicts about a quarter of the variance in the media career consideration.

The Media Career Interest Model takes an important step toward increasing our understanding of the process of one’s career consideration. With regards to race, the data suggest rather than a direct effect, race has an indirect effect on one’s media career consideration. Instead, it is cognitive factors such as outcome expectation and self-efficacy that are the most direct influences on one’s media career consideration. INDEX WORDS: Media, Career, Race, Self-Efficacy, Outcome Expectation, Mass Communication, Journalism, Vocational Development



by


B.A., Howard University, 1992

M.A., The University of Georgia, 1999

A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial

Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

ATHENS, GEORGIA

2002

© 2002

George Lamar Daniels

All Rights Reserved



by


Major Professor: Lee B. Becker

Committee: C. Ann Hollifield Dwight E. Brooks Joseph R. Dominick Wanda Stitt-Gohdes Tarek C. Grantham Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia December 2002

iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

As I complete this dissertation, I come to the end of a journey that began more

than five years ago when I entered graduate school. I am grateful to Dr. Bill Griswold

for suggesting even on the first day of graduate school orientation that I pursue a Ph.D.

Thanks to him and others like Dr. Ann Hollifield, I have taken this journey, which I

believe was more important than the destination. Indeed it is what I learned about myself

on this journey that will have an impact on where I go for the rest of my life.

This study would not have been possible without the cooperation of six urban

school systems and a host of teachers and principals who are too numerous to name.

However, I must acknowledge Dr. Jim Stovall, Ms. Pam Smith, Ms. Sonya Boyd and Mr.

Michael Hennessy for their assistance in identifying students for this project. I also thank

Dr. Jill Barber and those who formed my dissertation support group. I am appreciative

of the financial support of AEJMC’s Communication Theory and Methodology and the

Minorities and Communication Divisions through their Lionel Barrow Doctoral

Scholarship. Thanks also to the Emmit E. Noland, Jr. Student Support Fund.

In God’s awesome plan, my path crossed with those of Dr. Lee Becker and Dr.

Dwight Brooks. Both of these men have pushed me to levels of thinking and learning

that I never thought possible. In his own way, Mr. Rodney Thomas provided the daily

encouragement I needed to get to this point. I am also thankful for my loving parents,

Joseph and Sallie Daniels, who provided more family support than any one person

deserves. To God Be the Glory for this Great Thing He Has Done!

v

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS............................................................................................... iv

LIST OF TABLES........................................................................................................... viii

LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................................x

CHAPTER

1 INTRODUCTION AND PROBLEM STATEMENT.......................................1

Problem Statement ........................................................................................3

Overview of Chapters....................................................................................9

References ...................................................................................................11

2 LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................15

Literature Supporting the Media Career Interest Model (MCIM) ..............16

Conceptual Definitions of Factors in the Media Career Interest Model .....33

Purpose Statement .......................................................................................46

Hypotheses ..................................................................................................47

References ...................................................................................................53

3 METHODOLOGY ..........................................................................................58

Survey of High School Students .................................................................60

Design of Study ...........................................................................................60

Procedures ...................................................................................................65

Operational Definitions ...............................................................................68

vi

Data Analysis Procedures............................................................................75

References ...................................................................................................76

4 FINDINGS.......................................................................................................77

Pilot Study Findings ....................................................................................77

Description of Survey Respondents ............................................................83

Media Involvement......................................................................................89

Parent/Teen Career Communication ...........................................................93

Mass Communication Self-Efficacy ...........................................................97

Outcome Expectation ..................................................................................99

The Outcome Variable: Career Consideration ..........................................106

Relationship Between Factors in the MCIM.............................................114

Testing the Media Career Interest Model..................................................123

Post Hoc Analysis .....................................................................................132

References .................................................................................................137

5 DISCUSSION................................................................................................138

The Hypotheses .........................................................................................141

Problem Solved?........................................................................................146

Limitations.................................................................................................148

The Next Step............................................................................................150

References .................................................................................................152

APPENDICES

A ANALYSIS OF PILOT STUDY FINDINGS ...............................................154

B SURVEY INSTRUMENT.............................................................................156

vii

C PARENT LETTER AND CONSENT FORMS ............................................161

viii

LIST OF TABLES

Page

Table 1: Demographic Characteristics of Sample .............................................................84

Table 2: Description of Parental Background of Students.................................................86

Table 3: Jobs Most Frequently Held by Parent with Highest SES ....................................86

Table 4: Description of Parental Educational Background................................................88

Table 5: Media Involvement of Respondents ....................................................................90

Table 6: Number of Hours Respondents Spent with Media Activities..............................91

Table 7: High School Media Instruction............................................................................92

Table 8: Measures of PTC-Exploring ................................................................................94

Table 8a: Intercorrelation Between Items for PTC-Exploring Index ................................95

Table 9: Measures of PTC-Struggling ...............................................................................96

Table 9a: Intercorrelation Between Items for PTC-Struggling..........................................96

Table 10: Intercorrelation Between Indices of PTC ..........................................................97

Table 11: Measures of Mass Communication Self-Efficacy Index ...................................98

Table 11a: Intercorrelation Between Items for Self-Efficacy............................................99

Table 12: Measures of Financial Outcome Expectation ..................................................101

Table 12a: Intercorrelation Between Items for Financial Outcome Expectation ............101

Table 13: Measures of Social Change Outcome Expectation..........................................102

Table 13a: Intercorrelation Between Items for Social Change Outcome Expectation ....103

Table 14: Measures of Prestige Outcome Expectation ....................................................104

ix

Table 14a: Intercorrelation Between Items for Prestige Outcome Expectation ..............104

Table 15: Intercorrelation Between Items for Outcome Expectation ..............................105

Table 16: Intercorrelation Between Dimensions of Outcome Expectation .....................106

Table 17: Measures of Media Production Career Consideration.....................................107

Table 17a: Intercorrelation Between Items for Media Prod. Career Consideration ........108

Table 18: Measures of Ad/P.R. Career Consideration.....................................................109

Table 18a: Intercorrelation Between Items for AD/P.R. Career Consideration ..............109

Table 19: Measures of Print Career Consideration..........................................................110

Table 19a: Intercorrelation Between Items for Print Career Consideration ....................110

Table 20: Measures of Broadcast Career Consideration..................................................111

Table 20a: Intercorrelation Between Items for Broadcast Career Consideration ............111

Table 21: Measures of Graphic Arts/Web Career Consideration ....................................112

Table 21a: Intercorrelation Between Items for Graphic Arts/Web..................................113

Table 22: Intercorrelation Between Items for Indices of Career Consideration..............113

Table 23: Means and Standard Deviations for Indices in MCIM....................................115

Table 24: Intercorrelation Between Factors in the MCIM...............................................117

Table 25: Standardized Residuals of Correlations Between Factors ...............................131

Table 26: Standardized Residuals of Correlation Between Factors-FITTED .................135

x

LIST OF FIGURES

Page

Figure 1: Conceptual/Theoretical Foundations for MCIM................................................16

Figure 2: Variable Clusters ................................................................................................33

Figure 3: Media Career Interest Model..............................................................................48

Figure 4: MCIM with Zero Order Correlations ...............................................................122

Figure 5: MCIM with Path Coefficients and Error Terms...............................................125

Figure 6: FITTED MCIM with Path Coefficients and Error Terms................................136

1

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION AND PROBLEM STATEMENT

Research shows the secondary grade level as the turning point in one’s media

career decision-making process. Three decades ago in their landmark sociological study,

Johnstone, Slawski and Bowman (1971) found 30% of the journalists surveyed made

their decision to enter the communications field by the age of 16. A 1987 study of Ohio

and Kentucky journalism students showed one-third of them made their decision to major

in journalism in high school (Becker, Fruit, Caudill, Dunwoody, & Tipton, 1987). A

1991 study found 40% of University of Florida journalism majors first decided on a

communications career in high school (Dodd, Tipton, & Sumpter, 1991). Most recently,

the 2000 Annual Survey of Journalism and Mass Communication Graduates showed a

significant correlation between time of decision and one’s occupational commitment.

The longer one had journalism as an educational focus, the more likely the recent

graduates saw themselves staying in journalism throughout their careers (Lowrey, 2001).

Because of the effect of high school decisions on one’s ultimate career path, this

study investigates some of the factors in those high school decisions. Career decision-

making studies in the journalism and mass communication field have been mostly

descriptive providing, for example, the percentage of students who select journalism

careers (Kimball & Lubell, 1960; Lubell, 1959) or the percentage of college journalism

majors who worked on their high school newspapers (Brinkman & Jugenheimer, 1977;

Vahl, 1987). These are the type of descriptive studies that are limited in its ability to

2

inform recruitment efforts and industry initiatives for increasing racial diversity because

of the lack of conceptual and theoretical development. Like its beginnings a century ago

in the work of psychologists and sociologists, the mass communication field can once

again look to other social science disciplines for theoretical frameworks that may aid in

the understanding of high school career decision-making. Specifically, the work of

scholars in counseling psychology, vocational psychology, and occupational studies can

provide the starting point for more sophisticated study of high school students’ media

career decisions. Emerging from the psychological and occupational studies literature,

the Media Career Interest Model (MCIM)1 connects key concepts from counseling and

vocational psychology with ideas about media careers from the journalism/mass

communication literature.

For decades, scholars have offered theories attempting to explain how and why

people choose different careers. No single career theory is sufficient to explain the

totality of an individual’s or even a group’s career behavior. Instead, scholars have

offered views of vocational development based on such things as human traits (Holland,

1985), human needs (Gottfredson, 1996) and one’s stage in life (Osipow & Fitzgerald,

1996; Super, Savickas, & Super, 1996). Many studies have examined the career

decision-making process among high school students (Fortner, 1970; Jepson, 1970;

Omvig & Darley, 1972; Omvig & Thomas, 1974).

In the journalism and mass communication literature, the topic of career choice

has been addressed sporadically over the last 40 years. The earliest work in this area was

published in the late 1950s and 1960s when researchers were concerned about the

domination of high school newspapers by female students (Cranford, 1960; Fosdick &

1 The Media Career Interest Model is an adapted framework that is the center of this study.

3

Greenberg, 1961; Kimball & Lubell, 1960; Weigle, 1957). More recent studies of

scholastic journalism have focused on the lack of racial diversity among newspaper staffs

(Arnold & Fuller, 1992; Burgoon, Burgoon, Buller, Coker, & Coker, 1987; Callahan,

1998). The concern about the lack of diversity comes as similar concerns have been

expressed not only about high school newspapers, but also in media organizations as a

whole (McGill, 2000; Overby, 2001).

It is at the point where these two areas-- vocational or career choices of high

school students and lack of diversity in media organizations-- intersect that this particular

study begins. While research on journalism career choices and newsroom or media

industry diversity exists, little or no attention has been given to how these areas of study

may be connected to the literature on occupational career choices. This study examines

high school students’ media career choices at a more conceptual level and has

implications not only for applied research, but also theory-building in multiple fields or

disciplines.

Problem Statement

It was a half-century ago when Dr. Eli Ginzberg, an economist at Columbia

University, is said to have shocked members of the National Vocational Guidance

Association by stating at the group’s annual convention that vocational counselors were

attempting to counsel clients on vocational choice without any theory on how vocational

choices were made (Ginzberg, 1956; Ginzberg, Ginsburg, Axelrad, & Herma, 1951). His

statement preceded a ground-breaking study, Occupational Choice: An Approach to

General Theory, in which an interdisciplinary team of scholars (economist, psychiatrist,

4

sociologist and psychologist) put forth four major premises: 1) Occupational choice is a

developmental process which typically takes place over a period of some ten years; 2)

The process of occupational choice is largely irreversible; 3) The process of occupational

choice ends in compromise between interests, capacities, values, and opportunities; and

4) There are three period of occupation choices, fantasy choice (in early childhood) ,

tentative choice (beginning at age 11) and realistic choice (beginning at about age 17)

(Ginzberg et al., 1951). Shortly after Ginzberg’s theory was introduced, one of his

Columbia colleagues, Donald Super, responded with his own “Theory of Vocational

Development” that suggested vocational development was essentially that of developing

and implementing a self concept (Super, 1953). Yet another, and perhaps more widely

recognized, vocational theorist, John Holland, offered what he described as a “heuristic

theory of personality types and environmental situations” to help understand vocational

choice (Holland, 1963). Holland’s six personality types—realistic, intellectual, social,

conventional, enterprising, and artistic—have been used for decades in the study of career

choice.

The early theoretical work of scholars such as Ginzberg et al., Super and Holland

is the foundation for 50 years of research on how individuals come to do what they do for

a living. One such study, centered at Columbia University’s Conservation of Human

Resources Project, focused on black students in the South who were in the top 10 % of

their high school graduating class and had taken standardized college admission tests

administered by the Educational Testing Service. The standardized test scores confirmed

suspicions that graduates from Southern black high schools could not compete with the

average graduate of the average high school (Ginzberg, 1956). The study of black high

5

school seniors in the South was part of a larger volume edited by Ginzberg, The Negro

Potential. It was one of the earliest works that took race into consideration when

examining occupational choice.

Since The Negro Potential was published, hundreds of studies have since focused

on the differences in choices based on various races (Carter & Constantine, 2000; Fouad

& Spreda, 1996; Lauver & Jones, 1991; Thomas & Alderfer, 1989). More recently,

dozens of studies have evolved from what’s termed social cognitive career theory which,

among other things, focuses on the processes through which academic and career

interests develop (Byars & Hackett, 1998; Hackett & Byars, 1996; Lent, Brown, &

Hackett, 1994). Unlike previous career theories upon which it builds, social cognitive

career theory emphasizes cognitive and experiential processes that undergird one’s career

interests (Lent, Hackett, & Brown, 1996). Race, class and gender were among those

variables examined by scholars who employed the social cognitive career perspective in

their research.

The National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (1968) chastised

broadcasters and newspapers for being “shockingly backward” in not seeking out, hiring,

training, and promoting black Americans. Since the report by the group commonly

referred to as the Kerner Commission, media organizations have hired and promoted

more minorities. Research evaluating the effects of efforts to increase both racial and

gender diversity on newsrooms found achieving diversity creates a complex new set of

problems (Jurgensen, 1993). Challenges with cross-cultural communication in the

newsroom and clashes over news are examples of two new problems. Nonwhite

newspaper executives, featured in another study, said after industry diversity efforts,

6

many minority journalists were left feeling abandoned, disillusioned and frustrated (Pease

& Stempel, 1990).

The effort to increase racial diversity in scholastic journalism, or at the high

school level, pre-dated the Kerner Commission’s report (Arnold & Fuller, 1992). The

Dow Jones Newspaper Fund began holding workshops for high school journalism

teachers at historically black schools in the early 1960s. The first of these was held in

Georgia in 1964 at Savannah State College.

Figures released in 2001 from the American Society of Newspaper Editors

(ASNE) show the number of minority journalists working at daily newspapers fell from

11.85 percent to 11.64 percent in the past year even though newsrooms hired more

minority professionals in 2000 than in any of the past 10 years. In the broadcast news

industry, the picture the Radio Television News Directors Association (RTNDA) painted

in 2001 was much more positive as minorities now hold almost a quarter of all jobs in

television news, the highest level ever (Papper, 2001).

Research completed in the 1980s documented that minority students make career

decisions before they reach the college campus (Becker et al., 1987; Burgoon et al.,

1987). Realizing the importance of career decisions made at the high school level, the

American Society of Newspapers Editors in 2001 launched a three-pronged effort to

reinvigorate high school newspapers that included: 1) sponsorship of six high school

journalism institutes during the summer of 2001 for 200 teachers from 37 states and the

District of Columbia, 2) launching of a new Internet web site for students interested in

journalism, their teachers/advisers, guidance counselors and newspaper editors, and 3)

support of ASNE partnerships between local newspapers and high schools in their

7

communities ("ASNE Institute helps spark, improve high school newspapers," 2001).

The ASNE effort was the result of a $5 million newsroom diversity commitment with

two other industry partners, the Freedom Forum and the Associated Press Managing

Editors. On the broadcast side, the Radio-Television News Directors Foundation in 2001

launched a similar high school initiative with to goal “to identify, inspire, train and

challenge the next generation of electronic journalists and First Amendment advocates”

("RTNDF's high school journalism project," 2001). In announcing the initiative, RTNDF

noted the multi-year, multi-faceted high school electronic media initiative will make a

special effort to work with “high schools that serve large, diverse populations” ("RTNDF

secures $429,000 grant," 2001). Similarly, the Asian American Journalist Association

(AAJA) in 2001 launched its “Boot Camp By the Bay,” which the group’s president,

Victor Panichkul, suggested would attract Asian Americans at a younger age to

journalism and encourage them to think of the profession as something to which they

aspire ("AAJA announces new program for high school journalism students," 2001).

All of these high school initiatives demonstrate things have come full-circle from

the early 1960s with the Dow Jones Fund Georgia workshop. Industry diversity efforts

over the last three decades since Kerner have yielded limited success. Some examples of

these efforts are: special “crash-course” training programs, mentoring programs, summer

workshops, and minority internship initiatives. Despite economic times when media

organizations are cutting back and freezing hiring, groups such as the American Society

of Newspaper Editors, the Freedom Forum, and the Radio-Television News Directors

Foundation remain committed to high school initiatives. The problem of lack of diversity

or a clogged pipeline of future of journalists is the same.

8

This study offers a different solution to the problem. Instead of lack of diversity,

perhaps there is a lack of understanding of what influences a minority student, or any

student for that matter, to select media as a career. A better understanding of that initial

decision coupled with already published research on journalism occupational

commitment might offer some alternative solutions to the diversity dilemma. The

assumption in the high school initiatives is that if such programs are offered, students will

decide to pursue media careers. The initiatives fail to take into account the underlying

factors that may influence those decisions, especially as they relate to race. Early studies

of journalism students’ career choices (Fosdick & Greenberg, 1961; Kimball & Lubell,

1960; Lubell, 1959), while addressing the gender variable, failed to examine the race and

class of such scholastic journalists. Sadly, as has been documented by more recent

research (Arnold, 1993; Callahan, 1998), there is not much diversity among those who

attend scholastic journalism conferences, especially as it relates to race and class.

The vocational development and career choice theorists can provide the answers

to the question: what makes a high school student choose media as a career? Assuming,

as career and vocational theorists have, that career “choice” is constantly changing and

evolving throughout life, the question might be, what makes a high school student

CONSIDER media as a career? For that, one might look at such variables as academic

commitment, the influence of a student’s parents and family and the environment at his

or her high school.

What has been outlined here is a glimpse into the 50-year tradition of research on

high school student career choices and the emphasis or lack thereof, more recently on

underlying factors such as race, gender or class. The problem of lack of diversity in the

9

media industry, while prompting media trade organizations to look to high schools for

fresh recruits, may be addressed by more clearly understanding the factors that influence

a student to consider media as a career. The key question here is how can understanding

the career decisions of high schools inform efforts to increase racial diversity?

Moreover, is there a difference between the way students in how students in a racial

minority group and students in another racial group make career decisions? By linking

the work of scholars interested in career choice and vocational development with the

problem of lack of media industry diversity, this study centers on the Media Career

Interest Model (MCIM). A clearer understanding of the variables within the model and

the relationships between them ultimately can aid in addressing the problem of the lack of

ethnic diversity in the media industry.

Overview of Chapters

Chapter 2 builds a scaffold of conceptual and theoretical perspectives from

literature in counseling and vocational psychology, extracurricular activities, and

journalism/mass communication upon which the Media Career Interest Model is built.

Person inputs, behavioral/environmental and cognitive factors are identified, and their

relevance to the career decisions of high school is explored through a thorough review of

the literature. Following the conceptual definitions of the nine factors in the model, the

chapter ends with a list of hypothesized relationships between those variables that make

up the Media Career Interest Model.

Chapter 3 details the methodology used to test those hypotheses. Specifically,

justification for a pilot study is presented. An argument is made for the population of

10

urban high school students, who are the focus of this study. Justification for the

purposive sample of respondents at eight high school sites is made, as is an explanation

of how each of the concepts in the Media Career Interest Model were operationalized.

In Chapter 4, the emphasis shifts to what those respondents had to say about their

media career interests and considerations. Like previous studies on the career interests or

choices, descriptive data on the preferences, interests and choices of students will be

provided. However, the relationships between the variables in the Media Career Interest

Model are the place where the study breaks new ground. Results of multiple regression

analyses and “goodness of fit” tests of the conceptual model using LISREL are reported.

The fifth and final chapter brings the findings together with the literature,

particularly on media industry diversity, toward an explanation of what it all means.

Where hypothesized relationships are not supported by the data, explanations are offered,

and questions for future research are suggested.

In essence, this research project delivers a new chapter on the struggle for

diversity in the media industries. At a purely applied level, the findings demonstrate the

contribution mass communication scholars can make to media industry diversity efforts.

More importantly, the study argues for theoretical and conceptual development linking

the ideas of counseling psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists and occupational

studies scholars with that of mass communication.

11

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(2001). News Releases. www.rtnda.org/news/2001/highschool.html: Radio-Television News Directors Association & Foundation.

14

RTNDF's high school journalism project. (2001). Newsroom Resources. www.rtnda.org/resources/highschool.html: Radio-Television News Directors Association & Foundation.

Super, D. E. (1953). A theory of vocational development. The American Psychologist, 8,

185-190. Super, D. E., Savickas, M. L., & Super, C. M. (1996). The life-span, life-space approach

to careers. In D. Brown & L. Brooks (Eds.), Career choice and development. Thomas, D. A., & Alderfer, C. P. (1989). The influence of race on career dynamics:

theory and research on minority career experiences. In M. B. Arthur & D. T. Hall & B. S. Lawrence (Eds.), Handbook of career theory. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.

Vahl, R. (1987). High school journalism confronts critical deadline. Blue Springs, MO:

Journalism Education Association Commission on the Role of Journalism in Secondary Education.

Weigle, C. F. (1957). Influence of high school journalism on choice of career. Journalism

Quarterly, 39-45.

15

CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

One place to start in developing an understanding of high school students’ career

decision-making processes and influences is with theories of human behavior. It was

vocational psychologists’ knowledge of human behavior that helped them theorize about

career decision-making. This dissertation study of high school students’ career decision-

making draws on research by psychologists, vocational psychologists and

journalism/mass communication scholars. Specifically, there are five main literature

bases that are the most relevant for this research: social learning theory, self-efficacy

theory, social cognitive career theory, extracurricular activity research and journalism

career research (Figure 1).

It is useful to think of this chapter as a scaffold, starting with the five lower

building blocks filled in with previous research findings. A critical analysis of the

findings helps in identifying concepts, which are then defined and linked with the

hypothesized relationships in the Media Career Interest Model, which is located at the top

of the scaffold.

This chapter accomplishes three goals: 1) Reviews the five literature bases that

make up the scaffold and their particular relevance to a study of high school students’

media career interests; 2) Provides conceptual definitions of the eight factors in the

Media Career Interest Model; and 3) Hypothesizes the relationships between the concepts

as shown in the Media Career Interest Model

16

Figure 1

Conceptual/theoretical foundations for the Media Career Interest Model

Literature Supporting the Media Career Interest Model (MCIM)

Social Learning Theory

The study of high school students’ career decisions is a study of one aspect of

human behavior. Therefore, it is essential to understand exactly how humans behave in

general before suggesting how they might behave on a particular issue. While

psychologists have attempted to predict general human behavior, career theorists want to

understand one behavior in particular. Career theorists are interested in what prompts

humans to select a particular vocation or line of work. Theoretically, stepping back from

the specific behavior to the general behavior should ultimately enhance one’s

understanding of the specific behavior. To make this even clearer— Harry, the urban

high school student, is offered as an example.

Media Career Interest Model (MCIM)

Social Learning Theory

Social Cognitive Career Theory

Journalism Career Research

Self-Efficacy theory Extracurricular

Activity Research

17

Bandura’s (1978) social learning theory analyzes general behavior in terms of

reciprocal determinism where psychological functioning involves a continuous

interaction between behavioral, cognitive, and environmental influences. In other words,

the way Harry the high school student thinks influences the way Harry behaves.

According to social learning theory, Harry is also influenced by the environment in which

he is operating. The behavioral, cognitive and environmental influences interlock or

interact in a reciprocal fashion. In their transactions with the environment, people are not

simply reactors to external stimulation. Most external influences affect behavior through

intermediary cognitive processes (Bandura, 1978). Cognitive factors partly determine

which external events will be observed, how they will be perceived, whether they have

any lasting effects, what efficacy they have, and how the information they convey will be

organized for future use. How Harry thinks (his cognitive factors) determines how Harry

perceives certain events in his life.

At an abstract level, one can take the behavioral, cognitive and environmental

conceptual elements of Bandura’s learning theory and apply them to career decision-

making. The concepts provide a way to understand events that may be related to one’s

career decision and how those events will be perceived. Clearly, the lasting effects of the

events are important as one chooses a career.

Krumboltz’s (1979) social learning theory of career decision-making identified

the interaction of genetic factors, environmental conditions, learning experiences,

cognitive and emotional responses, and performance skills that produce movement along

one career path or another. Farmer (1980) found that the environmental role expectations

of peers, teachers, family members and employers were related to career and achievement

18

motivation of high school girls. In a separate study, Farmer and two other researchers

found no environmental variables that were significant predictors of women’s career

choices (Farmer, Wardrop, & Rotella, 1999). These divergent or conflicting findings on

the role of environmental variables on career choices leave a hole to be filled by further

research. A study of high school students’ media career interests should include some

environmental variables. In a much broader context, the social learning theory suggests

any study of high school students’ media career decisions ought to include variables that

are not only environmental, but also behavioral and cognitive in nature. Such a study

could provide evidence of which variables are most influential.

Bandura introduced the concept of self-efficacy, or a belief in one’s ability to

execute a particular course of action, as part of social learning theory. Since efficacy

expectations are considered the primary cognitive determinant of whether an individual

will attempt a given behavior (Hackett & Betz, 1981a), self-efficacy theory builds on

social learning theory.

Self-efficacy theory

Hackett and Betz’s (1981a) groundbreaking study of career development of

women provided even more support for Bandura’s concepts of human behavior. Hackett

and Betz re-conceptualized women’s vocational behavior as mediated by cognitive

processes. Krumboltz (1979) had suggested such mediation in his identification of “self-

observation generalizations,” which he suggested may be a function of one’s setting or

persons with whom one is associating. In the example, Harry the high school student,

makes generalizations about himself that are based (mediated by) how he thinks

19

(cognitive processes). Hackett and Betz borrowed Bandura’s idea that self-efficacy

expectations determine whether behavior will be initiated. While Bandura’s work on

self-efficacy was applied primarily to the treatment of phobias such as the snake phobia,

Hackett and Betz used his ideas to better understand the relationship between gender and

vocational development. They found a relationship between personal efficacy and career

choice. In particular, perceptions of low self-efficacy may be an important factor in

individuals’ elimination of possible career options. Their study of college men and

women found females had different perceptions than males of their capability to perform

jobs traditionally held by men (Betz & Hackett, 1981). Hackett and Betz’s self-efficacy

approach or theory has since been the subject of dozens of other studies, particularly

those on barriers to women and minority vocational development (Anderson & Betz,

2001; Betz & Voyten, 1997; Post-Kammer & Smith, 1986; Taylor & Betz, 1983).

Essentially, the Betz and Hackett work took a seemingly unrelated concept of

self-efficacy, previously only connected to such things as human fears and emotions, and

linked it to what, for some, may be a fearful or intimidating stage of life-- making a

career decision. The level of self-efficacy of Harry, the high school student, is reflected

in how much he fears or is intimidated in his decision of a career. It would seem very

relevant to the understanding of a high school student’s media career decision for one to

also understand his or her career self-efficacy. As a cognitive variable, career self-

efficacy would also be one of those variables, which social learning theory (discussed in

the previous section) suggests influences one’s behavior. Self-efficacy theory makes the

argument that instead of just being about traits and external influences, career decisions

are also a product of one’s cognitive influences and gendered experiences. The latter

20

variable, gender, was further researched and included in yet another conceptual model—

that which became known as social cognitive career theory.

Social Cognitive Career Theory

For the purpose of integrating conceptually related constructs in vocational

development, the social cognitive career theory (SCCT) was developed in the early

1990s. The goal of the integration was to explain central, dynamic processes and

mechanisms through which career interests develop, choices are made and performance

outcomes are achieved. Self-efficacy was presented as a socio-cognitive mechanism in

Lent, Brown and Hackett’s (1994) theory of career and academic interest, choice and

performance. In SCCT, different segmental models for each of those aspects of the

career decision-making process—interest, choice and performance-- intersect. In the

case of Harry, the high school student, career interests he has influence the vocational

choices he makes, which then influence how he performs on the job in the his chosen

vocation. Harry’s interests, choices and performances are not easily separated.

Of particular relevance for this dissertation study is the segmental model on career

“interest,” which suggested both cognitive and behavioral influences on career interests

during childhood and adolescence. According to SCCT, one’s career interest is

influenced by both cognitive variables of self-efficacy and outcome expectations. A

person’s career interest influences his or her goals for activity selection and his or her

activity selection and practice influence his or her performance outcomes. One such

performance outcome might be developing certain skills. At the point that certain

performance outcomes are achieved, those performance outcomes become sources of

21

self-efficacy and outcome expectations. A feedback loop links these variables in the

SCCT model.

Hackett and Betz’s work on self-efficacy and outcome expectations is among the

literature cited as support for the conceptual linkages in the SCCT career interest model.

According to SCCT, socio-cognitive variables operate in concert with other important

qualities of persons such as gender, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Such

“person inputs” influence learning experiences that, in turn, influence self-efficacy and

outcome expectations. Based on this theory, Harry’s race, whether or not he comes from

a rich family and the fact that he is male all influence his perception of his own ability to

do operate in a particular career.

SCCT suggests several other important variables like outcome expectation and

person inputs (race, gender, socioeconomic status) be added to the list of possible

influences on media career decisions. Social cognitive career theory represented a step

toward clearer, well-defined relationships between variables that influence the career-

decision-making process. In addition to building on both social learning theory and self-

efficacy theory, SCCT introduced the idea of learning experiences as a factor in career

choices.

In reference to the media career choices, there are numerous such learning

experiences to which SCCT might be applied. At a most basic level, the required English

courses are learning experiences from which students emerge with a certain level of

confidence in their ability to write, an important skill for media career choices. In

addition to offering English courses, many schools also offer specific courses on

journalism or newspaper, yearbook and literary magazine. It is quite possible that these

22

are the types of learning experiences that SCCT suggests are influential in career choice.

Additionally, many schools provide career-oriented learning experiences in courses in art

layout, computer design or television production. According to SCCT, these career-

oriented learning experiences would also be expected to have some influence on career

choice.

Whether they are writing, journalism classes or vocationally-oriented classes,

(i.e., graphic design or web publishing) these learning experiences all occur in the

external environment, which Bandura (1978) suggested was one dimension of human

behavior. Also occurring in the external environment are extracurricular activity

experiences. Media-related activities such as school newspaper, yearbook or school web

site are often performed outside of the class. Therefore, it is important to seek out the

literature on these activities outside of class, described as extracurricular.

Extracurricular Activities Research

Research on extracurricular activities took on more importance in the late 1970s

and early 1980s as more emphasis was placed on standardized tests to measure school

effectiveness. Declining enrollment and inflation led to tighter school budgets and

produced a heightened perceived need for accountability in school programs (Holland &

Andre, 1987). Much of the research was done to justify continuing extracurricular

activities despite more interest in raising standardized test scores in order for schools to

be more accountable to the public. Overall, researchers in this area have been criticized

for failing to clearly define “extracurricular activities” (Taylor & Chiogioji, 1988),

conduct longitudinal research (Holland & Andre, 1987), or develop a theory or model of

23

extracurricular activities (Brown, 1988). Since extracurricular activities such as high

school newspaper, yearbook, or literary magazines are quite often students’ first

encounter with media and have been shown to influence one’s choice of a journalism

career (Dodd, Tipton, & Sumpter, 1989), the literature on extracurricular activities is

important for this particular dissertation study on media career decisions. Of the large

body of research in this area, those studies most relevant for this dissertation help explain

the relationship between extracurricular activities and outcomes such as school dropout

and academic self-concept; the relationship between extracurricular activities and one’s

socioeconomic status; and the link between extracurricular activities and racial diversity.

One researcher found while participation in fine arts and athletic activities reduces

a student’s likelihood of dropping out of school, taking part in academic or vocational

clubs had no effect on dropout (McNeal, 1995). Data from another study showed about

one in five students participated in newspaper, magazine or yearbook activities during

their sophomore and senior year and total extracurricular activity participation enhances

academic self-concept, which mediates school performance (Marsh, 1992). In this same

study, the data showed participation in extracurricular activities leads to increased

commitment to school (Marsh, 1992). The relationship between extracurricular activity

participation and academic self-concept, however, was mediated by one’s socioeconomic

status, a variable that was found to be important in other extracurricular activity research.

Family socioeconomic status (SES) has generally been reported as a mediating

factor in the relationships involving extracurricular activity participation (Holland &

Andre, 1987). In one of the first studies testing this relationship, Spady (1970) found

even when controlling for SES, mental ability and academic performance, extracurricular

24

activities influenced levels of educational attainment. His explanation for that

relationship was that extracurricular activities confer recognition and status and supports

one’s ideas of his or her own capacities and future opportunities (Spady, 1970). In

replicating Spady’s study with a larger population over a longer period of time, Otto

(1976) found that extracurricular participation had a small effect on occupational

attainment. Aside from SES, participation in certain extracurricular activities is strongly

related to having high status among one’s peers. This feeling of being recognized and

important in the peer group in turn stimulates a desire for further status and recognition

after high school (Spady, 1970).

The most recent research on extracurricular activities links participation in such

activities to race. Using a diverse sample of more than 1700 adolescents, Brown and

Evans (2002) found extracurricular activity participation was related to higher levels of

school connection, even when controlling for ethnicity. The relationship was strongest

for Hispanic American students. These findings suggest that while research shows

minority students often feel isolated and not supported in the school environment

(Fordham, 1988; Ogbu, 1982), inclusion in extracurricular activities may facilitate

inclusion of minority students in peer groups, positive school-related experiences and a

sense of belonging (Brown & Evans, 2002).

Research has shown that extracurricular activities such as newspaper or yearbook

can keep students from dropping out of school and help them feel good about themselves

academically. Even though only one study linked extracurricular activities to

occupational attainment, it is evident these other outcomes (feeling good about oneself

and not dropping out of school) would be necessary for most to be successful in any

25

occupation or career. Therefore, a study of high school media career decisions can

benefit from this earlier research. In terms of race and class, the data in the

extracurricular activities literature suggest these factors have a minimal impact on

positive outcomes such as educational attainment. Since the earlier research suggested

that academic or vocational clubs had no effect on high school dropout, it remains to be

seen whether these specific activities are less influential than others in career or

occupational decisions. By including academic extracurricular activities such as

newspaper, yearbook or literary magazine, this research project aims to better understand

the influence of extracurricular activities on career decisions.

The extracurricular activity research does not make a strong conceptual link to

one’s career choice. In other words, there is no evidence to suggest students do

extracurricular activities to build their resumés. Thus, it is necessary to turn to the

journalism/mass communication literature for its specific attention to high school

journalism and careers.

High School Journalism and Career Choice

In 1989, three scholastic journalism researchers wrote: “The collection of

information about high school journalists and their career plans has been spotty” (Dodd et

al., 1989). Some 12 years later, little has changed. While there is a division of the

Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication devoted exclusively

to scholastic journalism, little empirical research has been conducted in recent years. A

review of the articles published in the major journalism and mass communication

journals and of papers presented at national conferences turns up 16 one-shot studies in

26

the last 40 years that deal with some aspect of high school journalism and career choices.

These “one-shot” studies do not include annual surveys, such as those that might pose

questions about one’s high school experiences.

Of the 16 studies identified, 10 used college students as respondents while the

remaining six focused on high school students. Only four of those six high school studies

actually involved high school respondents, while the others were simply secondary

analyses of responses to standardized test questions or the opinions of high school

journalism advisers. From the initial analysis of the respondents in these studies, it can

be concluded that most of what is known about high school students and their career

choices is based on the recollection of college journalism majors of how they came to the

decision to major in journalism or some area of communication. In cases where high

school students were polled, the respondents were almost always recruited at scholastic

journalism conventions or similar gatherings of high school journalists. Convenience

samples were, for the most part, the rule in the literature on high school students and

career choice. To date there has been only one published study that sought replies from

the general population of high school students specifically about journalism and mass

communication careers. The population consisted of students who completed the “ACT

Interest Inventory and Student Profile” portion of the college entrance exam. A subgroup

of so-called minority “journalism leaners” was surveyed (Burgoon, Burgoon, Buller,

Coker, & Coker, 1987). This study found that the minority journalism leaners were more

certain than white students about career choices. Among the minority journalism leaners,

black students were more likely to select radio and television careers than those in other

racial minority groups.

27

The method used for all of these studies was the survey. That was the most

appropriate method for answering questions that used the individual as the unit of

analysis. All but one of the studies used a mail or on-site administration strategy. The

one exception was a study that used a phone interview or phone survey strategy.

Analyses of the survey data varied from simple means of the responses to t-tests

comparing survey data collected from two separate institutions (Haugh & Oates, 1981).

One study used Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation for comparison with data from an

earlier study (Fosdick & Greenberg, 1961). A third study employed one-way analysis of

variance but did not report an ANOVA table (Bowers, 1974). Despite their use of more

sophisticated data analysis techniques beyond reporting mean scores, these three studies

and the rest of the studies found in the literature were, for the most part, descriptive. The

authors of one of the studies noted that the student respondents in their study do not

represent a random sample of any broader population and therefore, inferential tests of

statistical significance would be inappropriate (Dodd et al., 1989).

Aside from some comparisons between studies based on the use of similar survey

instruments or lines of questioning, there has been little effort in this literature toward

theoretical or conceptual development. The literature thus far has failed, to any sizeable

extent, to explore conceptual relationships. This is one gap that the use of the Media

Career Interest Model (MCIM) seeks to fill. In an effort to move beyond the previous

work on high school journalists and careers and toward theoretical and conceptual

development, it is necessary to first discuss the common themes or concepts that emerge

from the findings in the studies described above.

28

One consistent theme has been the main reason why students entered journalism.

Whether the research involved college students reflecting on their initial career decision

or high school students responding to career questions at a scholastic journalism

conference, a love of writing was clearly the most important reason students pursued

careers in journalism. This was true even in the earliest of the studies where students

acknowledged journalism paid less than other professions. These students still chose

journalism because of their love of writing (Bowers, 1974; Lubell, 1959; Weigle, 1957).

Some studies were more sophisticated in their analysis of this “love of writing.” While

students gave writing as the primary reason for selecting the news-editorial major, one

study showed it was a minor influence for other areas of study such as advertising or

radio-tv-film (Brinkman & Jugenheimer, 1977). By asking the question as it relates to

selection of college major instead of selection of career, Brinkman and Jugenheimer

(1977) suggested there may be other factors that might intervene between one’s positive

writing experience in high school and the decision made post-college in terms of a career.

The actual relationship between a student’s career decision and his or her interest in such

things as “writing” remains virtually unexplored in the literature.

A second theme in the literature on high school journalism and career choice is

the use of high school publication experience as a variable for analyzing other survey

responses. One study found publication-experienced students were four times more

likely than non-publication-experienced students to choose communication as a college

major (Vahl, 1987) Other studies documented that it was students’ exposure to high

school journalism that was the single most important factor in prompting them to

consider majoring in journalism (Brinkman & Jugenheimer, 1977; Cranford, 1960; Dodd

29

et al., 1989). By comparing those who worked on high school publications with those

who did not, Haugh and Oates (1981) found staffers decided to go into communication

much earlier than nonstaffers, who mostly waited until college.

If studies show more than two-thirds of students are recruited for journalism

classes based on either English teacher recommendation or recommendations and

scheduling from guidance counselors (Dvorak, 2001), what happens to those students

who never get selected for these high school experiences? One could argue for assessing

interest in journalism outside these high school publications and examining the

relationship between one’s other experiences, such as those in the classroom and in the

high school and the decision to even participate in a high journalism staff or class.

A third theme in the literature on high school journalism and career choice was

the focus even in the earliest studies on expectations in a job in journalism or

communication. Journalism was ranked with other professions in terms of its “usefulness

in society,” “financial rewards” and “prestige.” Compared to other professions such as

doctor, lawyer, engineer, teacher or minister, journalism was the second highest in terms

of “interesting work” (Lubell, 1959). Another study analyzing respondents’ interest in

journalism found that the 90% of boys planning to be journalists chose it because it was

interesting while the highest percentage of boys not planning to be journalists ranked

usefulness as being most important in their decision. Things were less straightforward

for girls; as even among girls who did not plan to be journalists, the fact it was interesting

still ranked highest in their decision (Kimball & Lubell, 1960). One study that compared

college communication majors’ survey responses to the responses of working journalists

on the same survey, found that making an impact was the “most satisfying” aspect of

30

journalism. Among both groups, making little impact was the “least satisfying” aspect of

the job of a journalist (Dodd et al., 1989). All of these studies examined the expectations

of students for the career in journalism. None compared or attempted to predict the

extent that these expectations might influence the decision of someone to pursue

journalism. The lack of a conceptual link between the outcome expected and the decision

is yet another gap in the literature on journalism and career choice.

While less of a focus in much of the previous work on high school students and

journalism career choice, the influence of family was quite important in those who

decided to pursue a communications or journalism career. Among college students, the

“influence of family and friends” was more commonly cited than working on their high

school paper as their reason for going into journalism. On the other hand, among the

working journalists responding to the same survey, working on their high school paper

was more frequently cited than the influence of family and friends as influencing their

career choice (Dodd et al., 1989). The reason for this difference is not explained clearly

in the literature. Perhaps the younger students were attributing their decisions to folks in

their home environment while the working journalists tended to give less credit to people

in their home environment and more to the experience of working on the school paper.

This finding mentioned in the previous paragraph involving college students

appears to be at odds with earlier research that showed among 28 university freshmen

who edited their high school newspapers, none had fathers in journalism and only 7%

had relatives connected to journalism (Weigle, 1957). While only 3% of these former

high school newspaper editors actually indicated plans to major in journalism, one has to

wonder at what point family or friends factored into the decision to be involved in

31

journalism. No effort was made in either of these studies to examine whether the parental

or family involvement was simply a coincidence. Since social economic status (SES) or

one’s social class is often determined by parents’ occupation, this study of former high

school newspaper editors introduced the class dynamic into the journalism and career

decision-making literature.

One important finding in Johnstone, Slawski and Bowman’s (1971) research is

that a journalist’s educational attainment is influenced by social origins. In other words,

journalists from higher socioeconomic status (as measured by father’s years of schooling

and father’s occupational prestige), were more likely to attend highly selective colleges

and universities. Those who attended more selective schools were less likely to take

journalism as a major. Therefore, one might conclude that those who did select

journalism as a major were not from the higher socioeconomic levels. If choice of major

is viewed as an indicator of career choice, this suggests a possible link between

socioeconomic status and career choice. The earlier studies that “describe” the

occupation of high school respondents’ parents or ask whether or not parents or family

influence stopped short of making the actual link between socioeconomic status and a

student’s decision to pursue media careers.

Since this dissertation is focused on high school students’ media career decisions,

the journalism literature on careers is the most relevant of all the literature bases

reviewed. This study directly builds on the findings in the journalism/mass

communication literature. The reasons why students entered journalism, role of

experiences in high school journalism in career decision, expectations for a job in

journalism or communications, and influence of family and friends were all themes in the

32

literature on high school students and journalism career decisions. Extensively

identifying the common themes, methodologies, and weaknesses in this literature sets up

the opportunity for a new study that breaks grounds in an area previously unexplored in

the journalism/mass communication field. In addition to being several decades old, the

findings in the journalism career studies lacked a conceptual or theoretical design and

thus started with the intent of only obtaining descriptive results. This study takes a step

back from the description of survey responses and brings concepts from outside of the

field of journalism/mass communication and applies them to the picture already painted

by the older journalism literature. The end result should be a more sophisticated

understanding of journalism and other media career pursuits of high school students.

From literature on social learning theory, self-efficacy theory, social cognitive

career theory, extracurricular activities as well as journalism career studies, eight factors

emerge as having some relationship to the outcome variable media career consideration.

The eight factors are: gender, race, socioeconomic status, parent/teen career

communication, high school media involvement, high school instruction, self-

efficacy, and outcome expectation. These factors were extracted directly from the

literature. In the next section, further arguments are made for including each of these

factors in the Media Career Interest Model. A conceptual definition for each is also

provided.

Consistent with the literature on human behavior (i.e., social learning theory),

which involves a behavioral, cognitive, and environmental dimensions, the eight factors

or variables influential in career choice or consideration cluster into three groups: person

inputs, environmental and behavioral factors, and cognitive factors (Figure 2).

33

Figure 2

Variable Clusters

Person Inputs Gender

Race Socioeconomic status (SES)

Environmental and Behavioral Factors Cognitive Factors Parent/Teen Career Communication Media Career Self Efficacy High School Media Instruction Media Career Outcome Expectation High School Media Involvement

Conceptual Definitions of Factors in the MCIM

Person Inputs

The term “person inputs” is adapted from social cognitive career theory as one of

the earliest influences or “precursors of important socio-cognitive variables” (Hackett &

Byars, 1996). These are categorical variables that the individual brings to a situation.

The significance these “person inputs” have in a situation is constructed within his or her

social environment. While often taken together in research, for the purposes of this

study, race and gender and the extant literature on both, are considered separately.

Gender It is appropriate to begin with the gender variable since, in many ways,

it is where much of the research interest on career development has been focused. One of

the first published studies on the self-efficacy theory dealt with the concerns or plight of

women and the differences in their self-efficacy in career development (Hackett & Betz,

1981b). In the journalism mass communication literature, Lubell (1959) found female

students thought more highly of journalism as a profession than the male students.

34

Another study of college journalism majors found a higher percentage of women than

men developed their interest in journalism prior to their senior year in high school

(Cranford, 1960). Slightly more men than women cited their work on the school

newspaper as the primary factor in their decision. However, more women than men said

the encouragement of their teacher was the primary influence in their decision to go into

journalism (Cranford, 1960).

These studies, whether examining career preferences or choices, centered on

differences between respondents based on gender. They provide sufficient evidence to

include gender in any discussion of what influences a high school student’s career

interest or decision.

Gender as a concept is defined as a way of biologically classifying individuals

whereby such classifications carry with them socially-acceptable roles for work in

society. The socially acceptable roles for each gender (i.e., that girls are supposed to be

involved in certain types of extracurricular activities such as fine arts or publications and

boys were supposed to be involved in athletics) are learned through an individual’s

socialization into institutions such as family and school.

Race Dozens of articles have been published on the role of race in career

development. A handful of studies have focused exclusively on race in the media

decisions of students. One study used data from the ACT Interest Inventory to assess

journalism career orientations among high school students (Burgoon et al., 1987).

Minorities, especially blacks, reported more certainty than whites with their career

aspirations. Another study involving race and media career choice was conducted in

Maryland to determine if racial inequities at the high school newsroom level could be

35

hindering diversity goals in the media industry as a whole. While more than 90% of the

predominantly white high schools in the state published newspapers, only about 67% of

predominantly black schools did (Callahan, 1998). The study further determined that in

regions of the state such as Baltimore or Prince George’s County where African-

Americans predominate, a sizeable percentage of schools had no newspapers.

A study on the plight of black journalism students posited several reasons for their

differing outcomes after college graduation. Wilson (1977) suggested black students,

among other things, have poorer secondary school preparation and hold inaccurate

perceptions of the fundamental role of journalism as a means of expressing themselves

poetically or expounding personal views and opinions impartially. Taken together, these

studies not only provide support for the relevance of the race variable in examining high

school students’ career choices, but also suggest explanations and/or influences on the

media career decisions of students from minority racial groups.

Data from a separate study of Asian Americans showed while self-efficacy was a

considerable determinant in career choice as well as career interest, neither family SES

nor family involvement was influential in self-efficacy (Tang, Fouad, & Smith, 1999).

More than any other ethnic group, Hispanic American students benefited the most from

extracurricular activity participation in their efforts to connect to the school environment

(Brown & Evans, 2002). These studies, along with the ones discussed above involving

African-Americans, provide insight for explanations of why high school students from

certain racial groups make career decisions in the way that they do. Furthermore,

support exists for race as an influence on those decisions.

36

Race as a concept refers to the system of classification of individuals based

primarily on physical characteristics such as eye shape, skin color, or hair texture. The

concept of race is further defined by the historical and cultural traditions associated with

particular racial groups. These traditions or norms dictate experiences of persons in a

particular racial group. The U.S. Census Bureau uses seven different categories to

describe race: 1) African-American, non-Hispanic; 2) African-American Hispanic; 3)

Hispanic, non African-American; 4) Asian American; 5) Native American (American

Indian/Alaskan Native); 6) White non-Hispanic; and 7) Pacific Islander American. For

those individuals who overlap two or more of these categories, a “mixed ethnicity or

other” category is used. The Census bureau’s definition is most appropriate for this

study.

Socioeconomic Status The research on the relationship between socioeconomic

status and career choice is extensive. In a study of 1957 high school graduates in the

state of Wisconsin with non-farm backgrounds, socioeconomic background was found to

affect ability, which in turn affected educational attainment, which affected occupational

achievement and earnings (Sewell et al., 1975). Another study found students in higher

SES groups chose higher paying and prestigious professions such as medicine and law

(Werts, 1966). This study used specific occupations rather than categories such as

professional or semi-professional (Werts, 1966). In another study, the importance that

students placed upon leadership in the occupation was found to be related to the

socioeconomic level of the student’s family as measured by the father’s occupation

(Thompson, 1966).

37

One of the earliest studies on high school journalists and career choice operated

from the assumption of an SES link to career choice. Kimball and Lubell (1960)

organized respondents into groups according to the job held by the head of each student’s

family, a common measure of SES. Among blue-collar families, the largest percentage

of boys planned journalism careers; while among the families headed by professionals

(i.e., doctors, lawyers, teachers), the largest percentage (44%) of boys planned to enter

medical careers. An equal percentage of girls (28%) from families headed by

professionals planned careers in teaching and journalism. Kimball and Lubell (1960)

suggested these ratings likely had more to do with financial investment required for the

families.

In the first full-scale sociological study of working journalists, Johnstone et al.

(1971) found that a newsman’s educational attainment was influenced by his social

origins and that socioeconomic background has its most important effect on one’s chance

of completing college. Those from higher status backgrounds were more likely to attend

highly selective colleges and universities and less likely to take journalism (Johnstone et

al., 1971). The key point here is that socioeconomic influence was an indirect one,

mediated by one’s college choice.

These earlier studies demonstrate the need to further analyze the role of

socioeconomic status on one’s media career decision. Whether they involved high school

students or working journalists, most of the journalism career studies are based on data

sets that are more than 30 years old. That alone argues for new effort to understand the

role of SES in journalism careers. Additionally, existing research does not definitively

38

explain whether SES has a direct or indirect effect on one’s media career decision.

Determining that is one goal of this study of high school students’ media career interests.

As a concept often associated with social class, socioeconomic status refers

primarily to people’s positions in stratification systems as indicated by their occupational

prestige and secondarily, their educational attainment (Johnson, 2000).

Environmental/Behavioral Factors

The second group of factors to be considered is external to the individual student.

The setting for one’s career choice or consideration is important to understanding the

actual decision. One setting for the decision is the home where one’s family and parents

are likely to be influential. In this particular dissertation study, besides one’s

commitment to learning, a second behavioral dynamic-- involvement in high school

media-- is of particular interest. At the end of each discussion of the relevant literature

on these four environmental/behavioral concepts, a conceptual definition will be given.

Parent/Teen Career Communication This factor accounts for the role of the

home in one’s career decision. A recent study of the conversations between parents and

adolescents about careers found such conversations follow three overall patterns:

negotiating, exploring, and struggling. In career conversations characterized by

negotiating, parents and teens bargained with each other to reach some agreement,

sometimes with nagging from one parent. In conversations labeled as exploring, the

concern was not reaching agreement but generating and considering information about

career possibilities. Finally, the conversations identified as struggling were demonstrated

in the cross-complaining, mutual criticism, verbal fighting and debating of parents and

39

adolescents (Young et al., 1997). These three conversation types or joint actions of

parents and adolescents were identified through videotape and transcript analysis of 14

parent-adolescent conversations.

Rather than a generic variable of parent influence, the patterns generated by

Young et al.’s (1997) research are useful in understanding how parents interact with their

high school-age children on the topic of careers. They are somewhat similar to the

positive involvement, noninvolvement and negative involvement categories that have

been referenced in previous research on parental influence (Lankard, 1995).

Parent/teen career communication refers to the relationship between parents and

adolescents as characterized by conversations about careers.

High School Media Involvement The tradition of high school media dates

back to the 1700s when students at the Penn Charter School of Philadelphia published

The Student Gazette. In the 1800s, students at the Boston Latin School produced The

Literary Journal. It’s been said that since 1920, student publications have moved into the

classroom with classes in journalism or newswriting devoted to production of a school

newspaper (Johnston & Faunce, 1952). Some of the research on extracurricular activities

tracked newspaper involvement. An analysis of data from the National Center for

Educational Statistics (NCES) database, which includes longitudinal data collected every

two years, showed 10.2% of students participated in newspaper or yearbook (McNeal,

1998). When controlling for gender, girls had a higher participation rate than boys (13%

vs. 8%). While some 14% of Asian students participated in high school newspaper or

yearbook, a much lower percentage of blacks and whites, 10%, were involved. Only 7%

of Hispanic students participated (McNeal, 1998). A separate survey conducted about the

40

same time, but with a smaller sample, found 29% of school publication staffs did not

have students of color (Dvorak, 2001).

The literature on extracurricular activities contains a number of ways of defining

one’s involvement. Participation in such activities has been defined as the number of

units of involvement (Morgan & Alwin, 1980), the number of hours of participation in an

activity during a given week (Brown & Evans, 2002), or the number of activities in

which students are involved (Holland & Andre, 1987). Some of the research has gone

beyond just mere involvement and assessed degree of involvement such what specific

role the student played in the extracurricular activity.

These various definitions take into account both the quantity of one’s involvement

(i.e., number of hours per week) and quality (i.e., degree of involvement). They also

take into account the location of that involvement (i.e., the outside vs. in-school). These

are all dimensions of the concept of high school media involvement: quantity (number of

hours per week), quality (role), and location (in school or outside school). The latter is

particularly relevant for high school media since many high school students are involved

in producing a youth section of their local newspaper or are working on a teen portion of

a television program. In the age of cable television, such opportunities outside the high

school are more plentiful today than in the past.

For this study, the variable high school media involvement refers to the number of

hours per week a high school student participates in newspaper, yearbook, literary

magazine, television, radio or Internet operation.

High School Media Instruction It’s been said that since 1920, student

publications have moved into the classroom with classes in journalism or newswriting

41

devoted to production of a school newspaper (Johnston & Faunce, 1952). Today it is not

uncommon for high school English departments to offer a course in journalism or more

specifically, yearbook or literary magazine.

These courses can vary from simple activity courses where students have a class

period to work on the tasks related to producing a media product under teacher

supervision and instruction to structured learning exercises and traditional classroom

instruction on principles of journalism or media. These courses are the “learning

experiences” described in an earlier part of this chapter as part of the environmental

influences on human behavior. In trying to determine the role of environmental

influences on high school students’ media career decisions, the study incorporates

instruction in media-related classes.

Whether it refers to activity periods or times where formal instruction takes place,

media instruction occurs during class time as opposed to media involvement that MAY

occur outside of class time. Conceptually, media instruction is defined as the degree to

which a high school student receives formal instruction in an area of media.

Cognitive Factors

The last cluster of factors includes those that exist in the minds of high school

students. Based on the idea that cognitive influences have an impact on the way humans

behave, cognitive factors to be discussed in this section are influential in the career

decisions of high school students. With regard to the actual willingness to consider a

media career, the two cognitive factors of self-efficacy and outcome expectations are

suggested.

42

Media Career Self-Efficacy This concept is a central part of Bandura’s social

learning theory and refers to “beliefs in one’s capabilities to organize and execute courses

of action required to manage prospective situations.” (Bandura, 1977) In human decision

making, efficacy beliefs determine the slate of options given any consideration and

influence other aspects of decision making (Bandura, 1995). Drawing on Bandura’s

ideas, Hackett and Betz (1981) first introduced the self-efficacy concept as a predictor of

career performance. The study was the seminal work for a line of research and an entire

approach to counseling that employed social cognitive career theory. In that theory,

rather than a static skill or trait, self-efficacy was seen as a dynamic set of self-beliefs that

interacts with person inputs, behavioral and contextual factors (Lent et al., 1994).

According to social cognitive theory, self-efficacy beliefs are largely determined

and modified by such things as personal performance accomplishments, vicarious

learning, social persuasion and physiological states and reactions. Seeing others succeed

or fail at a particular activity -- vicarious learning-- may affect one’s self-efficacy. Social

persuasion is useful in getting people to attempt or sustain certain behaviors.

Physiological states such as anxiety, fatigue or depression may influence one’s self-

efficacy. For high school students, these modifiers, among other things, are likely to be

found in actual media career experiences or involvement.

As one of the personal determinants in career development, self-efficacy has been

identified as the most central and pervasive mechanism of personal agency. Initially,

researchers found no significant gender differences in overall self-efficacy, but they

suggested men and women may view traditional male-dominated and non-traditional

occupations differently (Betz & Hackett, 1981). Women’s occupational self-efficacy was

43

lower than men’s for traditionally male-dominated professions. Among students about to

enter college, occupational self-efficacy has been found to be more predictive than career

interest in the consideration of math and science occupations (Post-Kammer & Smith,

1986).

Media career self-efficacy refers to a person’s belief in his or her own capability

to organize and execute courses of action traditionally required of those in media

professions. This knowledge may come from one’s exposure to media activities in a

variety of settings.

Outcome expectations This concept generally involves the imagined

consequences of performing particular behaviors. In presenting their social cognitive

framework for understanding the relationships between one’s career interests, choices

and performance, Lent et al. (1994) suggested that outcome expectations will partly be

determined by one’s self-efficacy, since people presumably expect to achieve desirable

outcomes in activities for which they view themselves to be efficacious.

As a form of cognitive motivation, outcome expectancies are derived from

expectancy value theory, which says that motivation is regulated by the expectation that a

given course of behavior will produce certain outcomes and by the value placed on those

outcomes (Bandura, 1995). Since people often act on their beliefs about what they can

do as well as on their beliefs about the likely outcomes of performance, outcome

expectancies are closely linked to self-efficacy. In fact, most of the research on outcome

expectations also includes self-efficacy as a variable. Aside from the research on the

cognitive variable itself, there is also research within the journalism and mass

44

communication literature on journalism career choice that focuses on outcome

expectations, but the research does not refer to the variable by name.

Career outcome expectations have been shown to be strongly related to one’s

exploratory intentions (Betz & Voyten, 1997). In another study of graduate students,

outcome expectations accounted for two-fifths of the variance in predicting interest in

doing research (Bishop & Bieschke, 1998). The two studies illustrate the role of

outcome expectations in influencing one’s interest and intentions. However, there are

few, if any, studies that only focus on outcome expectations. In the counseling

psychology literature, where most of the research on the concept of outcome expectations

appears, the concept outcome expectation is usually accompanied by self-efficacy. On

the other hand, in the journalism and mass communication literature, where outcome

expectations have been studied but never really identified as such, there is much more

focus on outcome expectations as a singular predictor of one’s journalism career choice.

While not specifically addressing outcome expectations, Lubell (1959) analyzed

student responses to “values” which were actual outcomes of decisions to enter

journalism. The values were listed as “interest,” “usefulness,” “prestige,” “family life,”

and “financial rewards.” Two years later, the same outcomes or values were the focus of

a study that found similar results in terms of journalism’s low rank for such outcomes as

family life, usefulness, prestige and finances. Journalism ranked near the bottom

compared to other professions in terms of their outcomes (Fosdick & Greenberg, 1961).

Similar results were found in another study conducted some 20 years later, when

journalism ranked least favorable among occupations in terms of financial rewards

(Bowers, 1974). Most of these studies suggested a relationship between gender and

45

certain perceived “values” or outcomes. However, they fail to concretely identify the

journalism students’ outcomes as a statistically significant predictor of occupational

consideration or choice. Having an understanding of the relationship between the

generalized concept of outcome expectation should allow for better interpretation of the

findings in earlier research.

This study of high school media career interests, in particular, takes the results of

these journalism studies (described above) a step further. Instead of examining values,

this study looks more abstractly at a cognitive measure of outcome expectation that will

aide in the development of a theoretical statement about the role of these “values” or

outcomes in the consideration of a media career.

The concept of media career outcome expectation refers to the beliefs or ideas

about future results of having a media career. These expectations are largely tied to

specific rewards or consequences.

Occupational Consideration As The Outcome Variable

The concept of occupational consideration has only recently been used in the

counseling psychology literature, primarily as a dependent variable related to such

concepts as self-efficacy and outcome expectations (Bores-Rangel, Church, Szendre, &

Reeves, 1990; Church, Teresa, Rosebrook, & Szendre, 1992; Gore & Leuwerke, 2000).

The earlier studies addressed whether the range of occupations for which a person feels

efficacious (that he or she is capable of doing) predicts the range of occupations he or she

is willing to consider. Originally, the concept was related to a range of occupations an

individual was willing to consider rather than a single occupation (Bores-Rangel et al.,

46

1990). Other scholars have found a relationship between “extent of consideration of

occupations” and self-efficacy (Teresa, 1991). This particular concept was used in a study

of the career self-efficacy of migrant farmworkers enrolled in a General Equivalency

Diploma (GED) program. The mostly Hispanic sample responded differently to the

career efficacy-enhanced GED program depending on whether the instructor was

presented in English or Spanish.

For the purpose of studying one’s leaning toward a media career, the “extent of

consideration” concept is most appropriate, both because it was effective with a sample

that included minority respondents and it worked well when examining more than one

career at once. Media career consideration is defined as the “extent” or how likely

students are to consider certain media occupational activities to be their own career or

occupation. As compared to career choice, which happens multiple times throughout

one’s life, non-redundant links between such variables as self-efficacy and interest can be

made to occupational consideration (Bores-Rangel et al., 1990). In other words,

consideration is a consequence of efficacious feelings and interest at that single point in

time.

Purpose Statement

The purpose of this study is to examine the inter-relationships between the

variables that have just been described and conceptually defined. The Media Career

Interest Model (Figure 3) brings these variables together. How these variables come

together is based on the hypotheses detailed in the next section. The purpose of this

study is to test the Media Career Interest Model. In discovering whether the Model

47

accurately depicts the relationships between factors in a high school student’s media

career decision, the study will also test these next 10 hypotheses.

Hypotheses

A series of linked premises can be used to hypothesize relationships between

factors in the media career consideration process. Hypotheses 1-3 relate the person

inputs to the outcome variable, media career consideration. Hypotheses 4-8 involved

environmental/behavior variables. Hypotheses 9 and 10 involved the two cognitive

predictors, self-efficacy and outcome expectation. The hypotheses support the Media

Career Interest Model (Figure 3). As shown in the model, each arrow in the model

represents a hypothesis.

A larger percentage of African-Americans have historically pursued careers in

broadcasting than the percentage of African-Americans in print media. While some have

suggested this is due to African-Americans’ oral culture that dates back to slavery times,

Federal Communications Commission policies forced broadcasters to be more aggressive

in recruiting African-Americans and other minorities for on-air roles. Trends in local

broadcasting show that more than any other minority group, African-Americans made the

48

Figure 3 Media Career Interest Model

49

greatest amount of progress in obtaining employment during the 30-year period of

federal oversight of local commercial television which ended in 1998. Other racial

groups, such as Hispanics, Asian-American and Native Americans have not made the

same progress gaining positions in the media industry, while white Americans are still the

majority in all areas of media. Given these differences between the racial minority

groups and whites, the study hypothesizes that race will be negatively related to media

career consideration (H1).

The research has shown that socioeconomic background has its most important

effect on one’s chance of completing college. Also, data show those from higher status

backgrounds are more likely to attend highly selective colleges and universities, which

are less likely to offer media majors. This study hypothesizes that socioeconomic status

will be negatively related to media career consideration (H2).

At the high school level, women have outnumbered men on high school

newspapers and yearbook staffs. Male students have tended to pursue in greater numbers

athletic activities such as football or basketball. Given these differences in the interests

of high school women and men, the study hypothesizes gender will be positively related

to media career consideration (H3). In other words, women will be more likely than

men to consider a media career.

Often perceived by the general public as glamorous, the broadcasting profession

is likely to attract those desiring such outcomes as fame and fortune. Most recently, the

media reported on the six-figure salary of Today Show co-host Katie Couric at NBC.

Wanting the best for their children, parents often push their children toward professions

that are more likely to have higher payoff in salary, lifestyle and prestige. Therefore, one

50

can expect that in exploring career options, parents might encourage students interested

in media to keep “lucrative” outcomes as an option to consider. Parents in relationships

with their adolescents characterized as “exploring,” which are not focused on committing

right away to a career, might encourage “dream or fantasy” jobs as career options. Based

on these premises, it is expected that a positive relationship exists between students with

exploring parent/teen career relationships and broadcasting media career consideration

(H4).

As an environment where a child spends more time than at school, the home is

likely to play a key role in the socialization of the child. The people in that home such as

parents and family will influence the child’s life decisions. Negative interactions

between parents and children most often occur when an adolescent develops a renegade

attitude or defiant disposition in the face of a parent’s advice. The organizational culture

literature has shown that new media and graphic arts professions often attract creative

types of workers who commonly work in an unconventional way (i.e. work hours or work

styles). Based on these premises, a positive relationship is expected to exist between

students in a struggling parent/teen career relationship and media career consideration

(H5).

Previous research shows journalism advisers most often are the ones who

provide verbal encouragement necessary for students to feel strongly about their abilities

to succeed as a journalist. Such verbal encouragement most often comes based on a

student’s work in a media instructional environment. More than any other high school

medium, newspapers are an area where schools are most likely to offer a formal course of

instruction. These premises lead to the specific expectation that the higher one’s level of

51

high school media instruction, the higher one’s print journalism career self-efficacy

(H6).

Working on a high school media outlet provides the greatest indication of what

conditions may be like in the real world of the media. Such high school media

experiences afford students opportunities to test out their likes and dislikes and develop

confidence in their abilities to complete the tasks necessary for that particular line of

work. Since self-efficacy is characterized by one’s belief that he or she can accomplish a

task, it is expected that high school media involvement will be positively related to media

career self-efficacy (H7).

One’s involvement in high school media carries with it opportunities for exposure

to the media industry and what comes with doing the job of a media practitioner.

Producing a newspaper, yearbook or television program is associated with higher peer

status within one’s high school. Additionally, opportunities usually are afforded those

involved in high school media to meet those who are working professionally in the

media. Such opportunities may come at conventions or while covering a story. Given

the increased chances of contact with media professionals, and the higher peer status that

comes with high school media involvement, it would be expected that high school media

involvement would be positively related to one’s media career outcome expectation (H8).

Students who feel they are able to complete the tasks necessary for a particular

line of work are more likely to believe they can be successful in that line of work as a

career. When asked about their future plans, students with higher self-efficacy for a task

are more likely to believe they can accomplish that task when requested on a regular

52

basis. Therefore, based on these premises, media career self-efficacy will be positively

related to media career consideration (H9).

One’s choice of a particular career is more often than not based on the rewards

likely to come from such a choice. Those rewards are most often financial in nature.

Additionally, there are other values such as helping people and prestige that individuals

derive from their work. Whether it is finances, prestige or social value, if one perceives

those are likely outcomes of choosing a particular career, he or she is more likely to

consider such a career path. These premises lead to the specific expectation that media

career outcome expectations are positively related to media career consideration (H10).

53

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Spady, W. G. (1970). Lament for the letterman: Effects of peer status and extracurricular

activities on goals and achievement. American Journal of Sociology, 75(4), 680-702.

Tang, M., Fouad, N. A., & Smith, P. L. (1999). Asian Americans' career choices: A path

model to examine factors influencing career choices. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 54, 142-157.

Taylor, J. L., & Chiogioji, E. N. (1988). The Holland and Andre study on extracurricular

activities: Imbalanced and incomplete. Review of Educational Research, 58(1), 99-105.

Taylor, K. M., & Betz, N. E. (1983). Applications of self-efficacy theory to the

understanding and treatment of career indecision. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 22, 63-81.

Teresa, J. S. (1991). Increasing self-efficacy for careers in young adults from migrant

farmworker backgrounds. Unpublished Doctoral, Washington State University, Pullman, WA.

Thompson, O. E. (1966). Occupational values of high school students. Personnel and

Guidance Journal, 44(8), 850-853.

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Vahl, R. (1987). High school journalism confronts critical deadline. Blue Springs, MO: Journalism Education Association Commission on the Role of Journalism in Secondary Education.

Weigle, C. F. (1957). Influence of high school journalism on choice of career. Journalism

Quarterly, 39-45. Werts, C. E. (1966). Social class and initial career choice of college freshmen. Sociology

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CHAPTER 3

METHODOLOGY

The problem of lack of racial diversity in the media industry has prompted media

trade organizations such as the American Society of Newspaper Editors and the Radio-

Television News Directors Association to look to high schools for fresh recruits. Over

the years, other efforts to increase diversity such as special training programs, internships

and scholarships have had limited success. What is missing from these efforts is a clear

understanding of the factors that influence a student to consider media as a career. The

Media Career Interest Model fills the gap by conceptually linking the key variables that

influence a high school student’s media career consideration.

While the earlier chapters of this study have focused on the problem and the

literature that support the Media Career Interest Model, this chapter emphasizes the way

in which the Media Career Interest Model (MCIM) was tested. In order to better

understand what appeared to be key variables in media career consideration, a pilot study

was conducted prior to actually testing the Media Career Interest Model. The purpose of

the pilot study was to gain additional feedback on some of the findings from the literature

on career choices. Such ideas as influence of parents, a journalism adviser’s

encouragement, and scholastic journalism workshops on a student’s career decision

required more analysis. This preliminary step for testing the Media Career Interest

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Model proved to be especially important in focusing the study on the most important

issues for understanding media career decisions of high school students.

In March 2001, students at three Georgia high schools participated in a pilot

study, which tested some of the findings from previous research on career choices. The

researcher conducted a series of group interviews to see whether there were major

differences in attitudes about media careers based on the type of media (newspaper vs.

television) on which students worked or location of the high school (urban vs. suburban

vs. rural).

30 students in the pilot study came from a variety of social, racial and geographic

backgrounds. The initial research strategy involved determining whether there were

major differences among students from their various social, racial and geographic

backgrounds. The Georgia Scholastic Press Association helped inform journalism

advisers around the state about this project. Advisers from three high schools, one in a

rural community, one in an urban community and one in a suburban area, volunteered

their classes to participate in this exploratory phase of the study. With the

understanding that not all students in media classes had definite plans to enter a media

career, the researcher conducted interviews with volunteers in a group during the

students’ media class period. Besides inquiring about the basic career plans of these

students, the researcher posed the following questions in this preliminary study:

What factors most influence a student’s decision to enter journalism or another

media field?

How much does one’s self-efficacy, or belief in one’s own ability to accomplish a

task, factor into the decision to enter journalism or another media field?

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When do students typically decide to enter journalism or another media field?

To what extent do intervention programs (i.e., journalism academies, high school

newspapers and yearbook, internships) influence the decision to enter journalism

or the media field?

The answers to the above questions provided some indication of which variables

should be included in this dissertation study. A preliminary report based on interview

transcripts provided a basis for recruiting schools for the testing of the Media Career

Interest Model.

Survey of High School Students

As the method used for this dissertation, a survey tested elements of the Media

Career Interest Model. High school students completed the survey. A copy of the

“Media Career Interest Questionnaire” is provided as APPENDIX B. The Parent Letter,

Parental Permission Form, and Student Consent Form are included as APPENDIX C.

Since urban high schools traditionally have a higher minority student population than

schools in either suburban or rural areas, urban high schools were the focus of this study.

In order to minimize between subjects variability due to location of school, this project

restricted its focus to students at eight urban high school sites.

Design of Study

Several studies of both college journalism majors and practicing journalists have

shown that the initial decision to pursue a journalism or a media career was most often

made during high school. In addition to when journalists make their decisions, research

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has shown that decisions about educational programs (i.e., whether to pursue a general or

advanced studies or college-prep diploma) influence the range of available career options

beyond high school. As noted earlier, many of the intervention efforts aimed at

developing interest in journalism or media careers are now focused on high school.

Unit of Analysis While there are many influences on one’s career choice, that

choice is an individual decision. Moreover, observation of those influences is most

useful at the level of the individual. Furthermore, the variables in the Media Career

Interest Model are individual-level variables (i.e., media career self efficacy, media

career outcome expectations). Therefore, the individual was the unit of analysis.

Population All students at urban U.S. high schools where three or more high

school media (i.e. school newspaper, yearbook, literary magazine, closed-circuit TV

channel) operate comprise the population for this study. Restricting the population to

those within the U.S. takes into account the American model for education where, in

most states, education is compulsory until age 16 (usually around 10th grade). Students

wishing to go on to higher education must then complete 9th through 12th grade before

pursuing a college degree. Restricting the population to urban high schools decreased the

chances of variability on some independent variables (i.e., socioeconomic status, race).

The higher the number of students in fewer categories, the more likely statistically

significant relationships between the concepts in the model would be identified.

Additionally, previous research has shown urban students scored higher on tests of career

exploration and self-efficacy. Among all students surveyed, minority urban students

reported the greatest amount of confidence in their career decision-making skills (Brown

et al., 1999). So-called “media rich” schools with three or more high school media in

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urban areas provide ample opportunities to learn more about the media career choices and

other career choices of their students.

Sampling While it would be most advantageous to test the Media Career Interest

Model using a probability sample of all high school students in the United States, such a

sample would have been almost impossible to identify. Therefore, the study utilizes a

purposive sample of the population of urban U.S. high school students, where three or

more media operated. The eight sites were places with the greatest potential for

variability in the individual characteristics identified in the Media Career Interest Model

(i.e., frequency of high school media involvement, high school media instruction).

Because the number of students at a traditional or non-magnet high school who are

involved in media is usually relatively small, a large number of sites, some of which were

magnet schools for the arts or communication, helped to provide an adequate number of

respondents (a minimum sample size of 500). A brief description of the eight schools

(identified with letters A-H) and their offerings follows.

The first school was a comprehensive high school located on the outskirts of a

city bordering two Southeastern states. Students at School A in the advanced placement

English class produced the school’s literary magazine. Another group of students

produced a morning television program directed by the school’s media specialist.

Students at all grade levels were eligible to take a journalism class and a television class,

which supports the morning program, which airs on the school’s closed-circuit television

station. The journalism class was independent of the school newspaper, which was

produced under the direction of a separate staff. Additionally, several of the students

have participated in internships at local television stations.

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Schools B, C, and D were all located in this particular state’s second largest city.

All three had classes devoted to their school newspaper and yearbook. School C had a

newsroom set aside for the production of the monthly school newspaper. While School B

was the largest of the three schools in an upscale section of town, Schools C and D were

located in town and tended to be more racially diverse. School D was also a magnet

school for the arts. Students at School D were able to take special classes in art and

photography as well as graphic design.

School E was located in a college town only a few blocks from a large research

university. While it only housed juniors and seniors, 9th and 10th graders traveled to the

building in the afternoons to take video production classes. The school most recently

was recognized with the top newspaper, television program and yearbook in the state’s

scholastic journalism competition. The instructor for the television classes taught video

production and television writing exclusively, while another teacher advised and taught

classes for both the newspaper and yearbook. School E was the only high school in this

urban school system. The southern town also had a county school system that served the

same community.

School F was located in an upscale section of a major Southeastern city. While it

was located in the urban area, School F was actually part of a county school system,

which includes mostly suburban schools. School F also participated in the pilot study

conducted in 2001. However, only a handful of the respondents (not more than five)

participated in the group interviews a year earlier. The school had an award-winning

newspaper, supported by a class. Additionally, the school’s yearbook also had a class

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devoted to it. School F also had a literary magazine and student-produced school web

site, though neither had a class to support it.

School G was a magnet school for the fine arts located in a middle-sized city, the

second largest in its state. Unlike the other seven high schools, School G housed both

middle and high school students. It had received national recognition for the last three

years for its model magnet program. The school’s video production class produced a

morning television program and supported all the video and sound needs for the school’s

numerous theatrical productions. A class supported both the school yearbook and the

school newspaper, which was only reactivated in the fall of 2001.

The eighth site in this study had a magnet school within a traditional high school.

The communication magnet program at School H required students to take a media

elective during each semester of their four-year program of study. Freshman and

sophomores took mostly introductory courses while the juniors and seniors were eligible

to assume leadership roles on the school’s award-winning newspaper, yearbook or

weekly television program. The school also had a literary magazine. School H was

located in the downtown area of a major Southeastern city. The communications magnet

drew students of varying socioeconomic backgrounds from across the city.

The three magnet programs (Schools D, G and H) provided an additional level of

comparison between students in such programs and those in traditional high school. At

the same time, the magnet programs increased the likelihood of having students who have

had high school media experiences. Additionally, the two states from which this

purposive sample was drawn had very different policies for awarding academic credit for

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elective courses in journalism and media. With four sites in each state, the study could

provide some comparison of the impact of such elective courses on students’ future plans.

Except for Schools F and H, where permission was granted only for surveys to be

administered in media activity classes, students in media classes and 12th grade English

classes were surveyed at each school. All English classes selected were either on-level

or advanced English courses, where one would be expected to have the skills necessary to

pursue a college degree, which is considered a requirement for most positions in media or

journalism. While there was some overlap between students in these media classes and

English classes, no student was allowed to complete the survey more than once.

All eight schools were located in cities that fit the 1990 U.S. Census Bureau

definition1 of urbanized area (UA), which have a minimum of 50,000 persons and 1,000

persons per square mile and a population of 50,000 residents or more. This is not to be

confused with “inner city” or what the U.S. Census Bureau calls “central city,” which,

along with areas designated as “urban fringe” (suburbs), are sub-components of an

urbanized area.

Procedures

A contact person (usually a journalism adviser) at each of the eight sites assisted

in identifying the media classes and 12th grade English classes. Students participated

simply based on their being a member of the identified class. This project paid special

attention to 11th and 12th graders for three major reasons: 1) Their career choices and/or

interests were likely to be more solidified than the underclassmen (9-10th graders); 2)

1 While the U.S. Census Bureau recently published Urban and Rural Classification Census 2000, the list of urbanized areas that fit the latest classification was not expected to be released until late March 2002.

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They were more likely to have had a greater degree of high school media instruction; 3)

In the traditional high school, they were more likely to have time in their class schedule

for electives such as media activity classes. With one exception, the 12th grade English

classes were made up exclusively of seniors, while the media classes included some

underclassmen. Prior to the survey administration (usually 2-3 days ahead of time), the

researcher or a teacher introduced the project and distributed a letter for students to take

home to their parents. Where school systems required active consent (a signed

permission slip), only students who returned their slip were allowed to complete the

survey.

On the scheduled day for the survey administration, the teacher of the respective

class introduced the author of this study as a doctoral student from the University of

Georgia. Subsequently, the researcher provided a brief re-introduction of the study and

explained the research procedures (as prescribed by the Institutional Review Board). All

students completed consent forms. In some cases, because only a few students returned

the permission slips, those students filled out the survey in a corner of the classroom. In

most cases, the majority of the class participated at their desks. To maintain anonymity,

students turned in surveys and consent forms in separate boxes. In each setting, after the

last student handed in his or her survey, the researcher explained the importance of the

results for the media industry and for school officials who need to better understand the

impact of students’ class experiences on their plans after high-school. In some situations,

time permitted the researcher to do an informal debriefing of the class members about

their career plans and college goals.

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Each of the closed-ended survey questions matches a variable in the Media Career

Interest Model. The questionnaire could be completed in 20 minutes. Three different

groups of high school students on the University of Georgia (UGA) campus took part in

pilot testing of the instrument in order to judge the time needed to complete the

questionnaire, clarity and/or difficulty of the items. After the administration to the first

group of 15 students at UGA, the researcher re-phrased some questions and added verbal

instructions to clarify what was being asked in certain sections of the questionnaire.

While students in the first pilot testing group asked numerous questions during the

administration of the survey, the additional introductory instructions in subsequent

administrations negated the need for such questions. This served as an indicator that the

survey instrument was clear and ready to be administered in the field. Additionally, the

researcher solicited feedback on the size of the questionnaire (booklet vs. full-size 8 1/2 x

11 pages). The majority of respondents in the third pilot test said the booklet (with

smaller print and fewer pages) was less intimidating than the full-size stapled pages. For

the most part, alpha reliability coefficients for each of the variables in the Media Career

Interest Model were at acceptable levels. The researcher determined that the two

variables where reliability coefficients were low were both due to lack of internal

consistency in questions. Such internal consistency was unavoidable given the difference

in the dimensions of the variable.

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Operational Definitions

The concepts in the Media Career Interest Model were operationalized as follows: Person Inputs

Race Defined as the system of classification of individuals based primarily on

physical characteristics such as eye shape, skin color, or hair texture, race was measured

with the following question

46. To which of the following racial or ethnic group do you belong? African-American, non-Hispanic African-American Hispanic Hispanic, non-African-American Asian American Native American (American Indian/Alaskan Native) White, non-Hispanic Pacific Islander American Mixed ethnicity/other

Gender Defined as a way of biologically classifying individuals whereby such

classifications carry with them socially acceptable roles for work in society, gender was

measured with the following question:

47. Gender Male Female

Socioeconomic Status (SES) Defined as people’s positions in stratification

systems as indicated by their occupational prestige and secondarily, their educational

attainment, socioeconomic status was measured with the following questions:

49. What job does your mother/stepmother/female guardian hold? _____________________________

Not employed outside the home I don’t have a mother/stepmother or female guardian

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50. Is this job part-time (20 hours a week or less) or full time (more than 20 hours a week)? Part time Full time

52. What job does your father/stepfather/male guardian hold? _______________________________

Not employed outside the home I don’t have a father/stepfather or male guardian

53. Is this job part-time (20 hours a week or less) or full time (more than 20 hours a week)? Part-time Full-time

For students with parents employed “full-time,” an SES index was assigned for

the job given. Featherman & Stevens’ (1982) Revised Socioeconomic Index of

Occupational Status was used. It is a revision of Duncan’s (1961) index, which has been

one of the most widely used measures by those studying occupational status. Featherman

& Stevens’ (1982) more recent index took into account shifts or changes in the income

and educational characteristics of the American labor since the 1950s. Additionally, the

scale takes into consideration the income and educational characteristics of women, who

were excluded in the development of earlier SES indices.

The SES index was assigned to each job given. In cases where both parents

worked full-time, the higher of the two indices was used as a measure of parent SES.

The parent with the highest SES was also considered the “leading breadwinner” of the

household. It is logical to assume that, with few exceptions, the parent holding the job

with the highest SES is likely to bring home the higher income, which would contribute

the most to raising the economic status of the total household. Only full-time jobs were

factored into this analysis. In cases where only one parent worked full-time, that parent’s

SES index was used. Where neither parent worked full-time, the case had missing data

on the parent SES variable.

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As an additional measure of the educational attainment dimension of SES,

respondents were asked:

51. What is the highest grade in school your mother/stepmother/female guardian has completed? If you are not sure, make your best guess.

I do not live with my mother or have a stepmother/female guardian She did not finish high school She finished high school but did not attend college She attended college but did not earn a degree She earned a two-year degree (associate’s degree) She earned a four-year degree (bachelor’s degree) She earned a graduate degree (master’s, law or medical degree)

54. What is the highest grade in school your father/stepfather/male guardian has completed? If you are not sure, make your best guess.

I do not live with my father or have a stepfather/male guardian He did not finish high school He finished high school but did not attend college He attended college but did not earn a degree He earned a two-year degree (associate’s degree) He earned a four-year degree (bachelor’s degree) He earned a graduate degree (master’s, law or medical degree)

Responses to questions 51 and 54 were coded 1 to 7 with “7” representing a

parent or guardian with an advanced degree. This provided a measure of educational

attainment or background that could be analyzed separate from the SES index.

Parent/Teen Career Communication Defined as the nature of communication

between parents and teenager as characterized by conversations about careers, parent/teen

career communication was measured with the following questions:

5. I can’t really talk about my plans after high school because I know my parents will disagree. Strongly Disagree Disagree Don’t know Agree SSttrroonnggllyy Agree

6. My parents tell me it’s not important that I decide on a career right now.

Strongly Disagree Disagree Don’t know Agree SSttrroonnggllyy Agree

8. Whenever I talk to my parents about what I want to do for a career after high school, we always argue.


71

10. My parents tell me I don’t need to decide what I want to do for a career right away. Strongly Disagree Disagree Don’t know Agree SSttrroonnggllyy Agree

Responses were coded from 1 to 5 with “3” representing “don’t know.”

Questions 6 and 10 provided a composite measure of “no-pressure” parent/teen career

communication. Questions 5 and 8 provided a composite measure of “struggling”

parent/teen career communication.

High School Media Involvement Defined as the number of hours per week a

high school student participated in newspaper, yearbook, literary magazine, television,

radio or Internet operation, frequency of high school media involvement was measured

with the following question:

12. In which media activity have you participated? CHECK ALL that apply and indicate how much time you spend with each activity each week.

local or community newspaper Number of hours per week ___ school newspaper Number of hours per week ___ yearbook Number of hours per week ___ literary magazine Number of hours per week ___ TV program at your school Number of hours per week ___ Internet/web operation Number of hours per week ___ local television station Number of hours per week ___ local radio station Number of hours per week ___ none of the above

High School Media Instruction Defined as the degree to which a high school

student receives formal instruction in an area of media, high school media instruction was

measured with the following questions:

42. Which of the following media-related classes have you had in high school?

newspaper yearbook television production literary magazine script writing no media classes

44. Which of the following media-related classes are you currently taking ?

newspaper yearbook television production literary magazine script writing no media classes

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43. Counting this semester, how many SEMESTERS of media-related classes have you had in high school? _______ (Example, if you were in the newspaper class this year and last year, that would be 4 semesters)

The dichotomous (checked vs. not-checked) variable for each of the types of

media provided a tally of how many students were taking media-related classes either

during the period when the survey was administered or prior to that period. For each

case, a “1” was established for each class that was checked and a “2” for those not

checked. The response to Question 43 on the number of semester was treated as a raw

number.

Mass Communication Self-Efficacy Defined as one’s belief in his or her own

capability to organize and execute courses of action required of those in media

professions, mass communication self-efficacy was measured with the following

questions:

DDiirreeccttiioonnss:: II wwaanntt ttoo kknnooww mmoorree aabboouutt tthhee ttyyppeess ooff mmeeddiiaa aaccttiivviittiieess iinn wwhhiicchh yyoouu eexxcceell.. HHooww mmuucchh ddoo yyoouu aaggrreeee oorr ddiissaaggrreeee wwiitthh tthhee ffoolllloowwiinngg ssttaatteemmeennttss aabboouutt yyoouurr oowwnn aabbiilliittiieess.. PPlleeaassee sseelleecctt OONNLLYY OONNEE aannsswweerr ffoorr eeaacchh ttaasskk.. 15. I am a good writer


16. I am good with computers. Strongly Disagree Disagree Don’t know Agree SSttrroonnggllyy Agree

17. I feel comfortable talking on-camera (on TV)


18. I’m good at making web pages for the Internet Strongly Disagree Disagree Don’t know Agree SSttrroonnggllyy Agree

19. I take great photographs.


20. I can make great home videos with a camcorder (home video camera) Strongly Disagree Disagree Don’t know Agree SSttrroonnggllyy Agree

73

Responses were coded from 1 to 5 with “3” representing “don’t know.”

Responses to each of the six questions were summed for a composite score of mass

communication self-efficacy.

Media Career Outcome Expectations Defined as the beliefs or ideas about

future results of having a media career, media career outcome expectations was measured

with the following questions:

1. I know if I take a job in the media, I can make a difference in the world.


2. If I pursue a media career, I know I won’t make much money. Strongly Disagree Disagree Don’t know Agree SSttrroonnggllyy Agree

4. Media people are not well-liked in society.


7. If I work in the media, I will be admired by lots of people. Strongly Disagree Disagree Don’t know Agree SSttrroonnggllyy Agree

12. Most people who work in the media are wealthy.


Responses were coded from 1 to 5 with “5” being strongly agree and “3”

representing “don’t know.” Two composite measures were generated from these

questions. The first, a composite of all five questions, was a general media career

outcome expectations measure. The second, a composite of questions 2 and 12, was a

measure of “financial outcome expectations.”

Media Career Consideration Defined as how much students would consider

choosing certain occupational activities to be their own career or occupation, media

career consideration was measured with the following questions:

3311.. Work as a graphic artist. Very Unlikely Unlikely Don’t Know Likely VVeerryy LLiikkeellyy

74

32. Become a newspaper reporter.

Very Unlikely Unlikely Don’t Know Likely VVeerryy LLiikkeellyy

33. Design artistic images or graphics for magazines Very Unlikely Unlikely Don’t Know Likely VVeerryy LLiikkeellyy

34. Write for a magazine


35. Work at a public relations firm Very Unlikely Unlikely Don’t Know Likely VVeerryy LLiikkeellyy

36.Work on the production crew for a motion picture or movie

Very Unlikely Unlikely Don’t Know Likely VVeerryy LLiikkeellyy 37. Become a television news reporter or anchor


38. Work for an advertising agency Very Unlikely Unlikely Don’t Know Likely VVeerryy LLiikkeellyy

39. Become a web designer (for the Internet)

Very Unlikely Unlikely Don’t Know Likely VVeerryy LLiikkeellyy 40. Become a radio news reporter or anchor


41. Work behind the scenes (lights, camera, sound) for a media company Very Unlikely Unlikely Don’t Know Likely VVeerryy LLiikkeellyy

Responses were coded on a scale from 1 to 5 with “1” representing “very

unlikely.” Responses to questions 32 and 34 provided a composite measure of print

journalism career consideration. Responses to questions 36 and 41 provided a composite

measure of media production career consideration. Responses to questions 37 and 40

provided a composite measure of broadcasting career consideration. Responses to

questions 35 and 38 provided a composite measure of advertising/public relations career

consideration. Responses to questions 31, 33 and 39 provided a composite measure of

web/graphic arts career consideration. Finally, responses to 31 and 33 provided a

composite measure of graphic arts career consideration.

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Data Analysis Procedures Using the Statistical Program for the Social Sciences (SPSS), the researcher

entered data from the questionnaires for further analysis of the responses. Means and

standard deviations for all responses were obtained. Both multiple regression analyses

and Pearson’s Product Moment correlations were used in analyzing the data.

Additionally, LISREL was used to conduct a test of model fit, or how well the model

matches the data in the sample.

76

References

Duncan, O. D. (1961). A socioeconomic index for all occupations. In A. J. Reiss (Ed.), Occupations and social status. New York: The Free Press.

Featherman, D. L., & Stevens, G. (1982). A revised socioeconomic index of occupational

status: Application in analysis of sex differences in attainment. In M. G. Powers (Ed.), Measures of socioeconomic status. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

77

CHAPTER 4

FINDINGS

High school students participated in a series of group interviews for a pilot study,

which preceded the administration of a survey. This chapter begins with a discussion of

the findings from the pilot study followed by a detailed description of the survey

responses. The data from the survey are then linked to the Media Career Interest Model.

This chapter concludes with a full discussion of the relationships between the concepts in

the Media Career Interest Model and the testing of hypotheses first proposed at the end of

Chapter 2.

Pilot Study Findings

The researcher conducted, recorded on audiotape, and transcribed group

interviews at three high schools in 2001. For a systematic analysis of the interview

transcripts based on the four research questions, see Appendix A. Generally, there were

no particular answers that appeared more in one group than another based on the location

of the group. In other words, any variation between the groups appears to be more a

product of who volunteered to be in the convenience sample for the pilot study.

The first research question focused on the factors most influential in a student’s

decision to enter journalism or a media-related career. More than one student in the

television class attributed much of the decision to the influence of the adviser. In the

78

group of students at School B, one student recounted a specific instance of how her

adviser influenced her:

Once I got here, my teacher, Ms. -------, she started talking about a lot. I went to her one day after school and I said ‘thank you for inspiring me’ and she was like ‘thank you , if you really want a career in journalism, I’ll help you’ and knowing that there’s somebody behind it’s kind of great because you won’t be alone. You’ll have somebody to help you along the way.

This is consistent with earlier studies of former scholastic journalists who attributed their

career decision to influence from a newspaper adviser (Weigle, 1957). In this pilot study,

respondents cited the influence of family members, concern for other’s well-being and

interest in the mind of the criminal as reasons for their choices of a career, some of which

were outside the media. Just like students in earlier research, students in this pilot study

attributed their decision to pursue a media career to their love of writing.

Besides working on the newspaper or school media outlet, students listed the

importance of self-satisfaction as a factor in their decision to enter journalism. Asked

what was most important in choosing a career, one student said: “Some kind of self-

satisfaction—I guess. I mean I enjoy writing but I don’t see journalism as what I want to

do.” Still another student recognized that there has to be some enjoyment derived from

the experience of working in journalism as a career. For one high school journalist, in

order for journalism to be his career it had to be “primarily something you can have a

good time doing that you could do basically for the rest of your life or for the rest of your

working life and never really get bored of. And uh journalism kind of falls into that

because you’re not everyday doing the same thing.”

The second research question comes from the literature on career choice that has

shown self-efficacy plays a role in that decision. While not specifically mentioning that

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they believed they could do journalism, the respondents in all three groups explained how

their experience on their respective media outlets showed them their own talents and

abilities. “You’re influencing people through your writing,” one student said. Another

student from the group in School C cited her editors’ recognition of how great her article

was as a factor in her own decision that she could write editorials.

I think it’s definitely helped me probably. The editors come to you and say ‘hey this article was really great. This is a great article. You’re really good at doing these types of articles’ (Interviewer: So what did you come out of this with ?) I think I’m a better editorials writer.

In the group interview for School A, many responses were based on an incident in which

the principal censored their newspaper. Asked about the incident, the students indicated

the incident made them “passionate about censorship.” By having to respond to

censorship from school administrators, students in School A developed their own belief

that they could perform the tasks associated with being a journalist. They learned not

only how to write articles for the newspaper, but also to defend their stories against

criticism from the principal. Career theorists would say such skills increased the

students’ self-efficacy, or belief in one’s ability to perform a certain action, in the area of

journalism.

In response to the third research question on when the respondents made their

decision to go into media or journalism, several students mentioned the early influence of

parents long before high school. Others indicated they “always knew” they would be

journalists or writers.

I’ve always been like get the video camera and I’m in front of it. So, that’s always since I was little that’s just kind of stuck with me and I like telling people things that maybe I can help them out, car wreck or whatever. But I just like it.

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One respondent in the group interview at School B had experiences in the sixth grade that

influenced her interest in television. Even though recent research shows most journalism

and mass communication graduates in the field don’t expect to retire in their current

occupation, most of the students perceived their choice of journalism as a permanent one.

One student commented it “definitely has to be something that you will enjoy doing for

the rest of the time you work." I believe your major should be something to pay the bills.

You know it should be something that makes you happy.” This suggests that at least at

the high school level, the possibility of having a second career is not solidified in

students’ minds. Clearly, experience with media such as working on the high school

newspaper or on the school’s television program continues to heavily influence a

student’s decision to enter journalism or communications field. This reflects the findings

in earlier research.

The fourth research question focused on whether “intervention programs” such as

a journalism camp or a journalism class had an effect on a student’s career decision. For

one student at School A, the fact that she had classes at a local college heavily influenced

her decision to major in clinical psychology. In the same class, another student said:

I really do love journalism. I didn’t think about doing a journalism career until I got into the journalism class last year. I was leaning more toward law and I’m still kind of on that but I really like the journalism class. I love being editor.

Other students cited the journalism or television class as playing a role in “solidifying”

interests in writing or “being on TV” that they developed when they were younger.

Events such as the scholastic press competition helped increase students’ confidence in

their own abilities as a journalist. Before such competitions, students were not sure

about whether they would pursue journalism as a career. After winning statewide awards

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for their writing, they were more certain about whether they wanted to major in

journalism in college. Additionally, it was not only the competition, but also the

experience of the newspaper class that influenced students’ career decision. For example,

one student at School C wrote:

It’s improved my editing skills very much, my writing skills. I think I kind of work with people a lot better with this experience…I always kind of had an inkling that I wanted to write for a living like as a journalist, not writing books or anything. After I’ve been in this class for three years, it sort of solidified that. I know that’s what I want to do.

While they confirm findings in previous studies on the impact of an adviser or

intervention efforts such as the journalism class in a student’s media career choice, the

findings in this pilot study also exposed some holes that might be filled in another study.

In each setting, research participants were involved in formal instruction through a class.

However, at School A, at least half of the participants went away from the experience

planning to major in a non-media career. They cited such things as their parents and

other intervention efforts (such as college classes) as reasons for their decisions. It

remains to be seen if the experience of a journalism class is the strongest predictor of a

decision to pursue a media career. Perhaps there are other variables that better account

for this decision.

In the case of school C, the newspaper had won awards, and students were

accustomed to preparing entries for statewide scholastic journalism contests. Members of

the school staff had challenged students on one of their articles. The challenge seemed to

empower students in a drive to tell their stories and, thus, provided some incentive to

pursue such experiences as a college major and a career. On the other hand, students in

school A had encounters with censorship which, while proving to them the perils of

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censorship, did not necessarily provide an incentive to remain steadfast to journalism

beyond the high school paper. Previous research suggests a belief that one can do a

particular job (self efficacy) must also be accompanied with a picture of success or

positive outcome (outcome expectations). The different effects of the school newspaper

experience provide an interesting contrast to explore.

Several references were made to family and parents. In some cases, parents were

a deciding factor in a particular student’s career choice, while in others the experiences of

the media on which the students were working seemed to be more important. The

enthusiasm for the medium appeared greater in School B, which was a television class.

Some of the respondents in the group interview had taken the television class multiple

terms or had a similar class, such as speech, with the same instructor. This quite possibly

could have augmented the role of the adviser in some of the respondents’ career

decisions. In other words, the number of years the adviser was involved with the student

could be a source of variation in the impact of the teacher on the media career decision.

More important than the actual adviser himself or herself is what this particular

authority figure says to the student. The teacher’s willingness to provide positive

reinforcement to students interested in television appeared to be a key factor in

convincing students to pursue media careers. This particular finding is consistent with

theory that suggests verbal encouragement is a factor in self-efficacy. As an individual

receives more verbal encouragement, the self-efficacy factors into his or her career

decision. Additionally, the work-related tasks of journalists (i.e. dealing with censorship

or challenges from school staff) were vicarious experiences that also influence one’s self-

efficacy. Vicarious learning is a component of social learning theory.

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Finally, while race and class were not particularly the focus of the pilot study,

some conclusions can be drawn about their role in the career decision making of high

school students. The issue of race, in particular, surfaced during the group interview at

School A when one African-American respondent indicated unprompted that her

mother’s friend influenced her decision to become a clinical psychologist because she

was a “strong, positive African-American female like myself.” When asked why she

mentioned that in particular, the respondent elaborated that she was a “double-minority”

and there needs to be “more positive influences especially in the African-American race.”

The other members of the all-female group cited other examples of how career

experiences were different for women. These responses exposed not only the dynamic

of race, but also gender in a high school student’s career choices. Clearly the variables of

race, socioeconomic status and gender should be further examined for their relationships

with high school students’ media career choices.

Description of Survey Respondents

The respondents in the survey, which is the center of this dissertation, represent a

cross-section of students from various racial backgrounds and socioeconomic levels. Not

surprisingly, the majority of them (54.9%) were 12th graders. As shown below in Table 1,

only 20 percent of the students were either freshmen or sophomores. As mentioned

earlier, the focus on seniors was deliberate, and utilizing 12th grade English classes for

the study helped to ensure that the respondents would be those most likely to be able to

respond to questions about media decisions. At the same time, 26 ninth graders

completed surveys. It should be noted that the majority of the ninth graders who

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participated were in a magnet school setting, where many had media courses during their

middle school years. This enabled them to respond to questions about their preferences.

Table 1 Demographic Characteristics of Sample ______________________________________________________________ Present Grade Level Frequency Valid % ______________________________________________________________ 9th grade 26 4.9 10th grade 78 14.6 11th grade 137 25.7 12th grade 293 54.9 N 534 100.0 ______________________________________________________________ Gender Frequency Valid % ______________________________________________________________ Male 221 41.4 Female 313 58.6 N 534 100.0 ______________________________________________________________ Race or National Origin Frequency Valid % ______________________________________________________________ African-American, non-Hispanic 135 25.4 African-American Hispanic 4 .8 Hispanic, non-African-American 6 1.1 Asian American 21 4.0 Native American (American Indian/Alaskan Native) 3 .6 White, non-Hispanic 332 62.5 Pacific-Islander American 2 .4 Mixed ethnicity/other 28 5.3 N 531 100.0 ______________________________________________________________

Also in Table 1, it should be noted that, like the overall population of the United

States and in most classrooms, women outnumbered men in the sample. There was a 6-

to-4 split of women to men in the sample for this project. There were a number of cases

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where only one or two males were in the classrooms visited for this project. Nonetheless,

221 men did complete the survey compared to the 313 women.

Despite efforts to maximize opportunities for respondents from racial minority

groups, only one minority group was well-represented in this sample. A quarter of the

respondents identified themselves as “African-American, non-Hispanic.” The next

highest racial minority group was made up of those who identified themselves as mixed

(5.3%). Nearly two-thirds of the sample was white. This is somewhat surprising since

most of the urban school systems where the eight high schools were located were not

predominantly white. In several cases, the school was predominantly African-American,

but the media classes were almost all white. This suggests the design of the study may

have resulted in a sample that was not necessarily representative of the population of

“media-rich” urban schools. Because of the low number of respondents in the remaining

minority groups, only African-Americans will be analyzed as a separate racial group.

The sample for this study was clearly middle-class. As Table 2 shows, more than

70% of the students lived in homes where the parent holding the job with the highest

socioeconomic status worked in a position that the U.S. Census classified as a

professional or technical worker. Another 12.2% of those parents were classified as

either managers or administrators. Less than 10% of respondents had parents whose jobs

were in categories of craftworkers, operatives, or laborers.

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Table 2 Description of Parental Background of Students in the Sample _____________________________________________________Parent's Job Category* Frequency Valid %_____________________________________________________Professional/Technical Worker 370 71.6Managers and Administrators 63 12.2Clerical Workers 38 7.4Service Workers 14 2.7Craftsworkers 14 2.7Salesworkers 9 1.7Operatives 6 1.2Laborers 3 .6N 517 100.0*Job category for parent with highest prestige level _____________________________________________________

Table 3 Jobs Most Frequently Held by Parent with Highest SES in a Household* ______________________________________________________________ Job Frequency Valid % ______________________________________________________________ Engineer 37 7.2 Teacher 36 7.0 Entrepreneur/Business Owner 29 5.6 Physician 28 5.4 Manager/Supervisor 27 5.2 Registered Nurse 19 3.7 Lawyer 14 2.7 Financial Planner 12 2.3 Computer Specialist 12 2.3 Secretary 11 .21 N 517 *Only includes top 11 jobs ______________________________________________________________

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In order to calculate the socioeconomic status, a socioeconomic index was

assigned to each of the full-time jobs respondents gave for their mother and father.

Where both parents worked full-time, the higher of the socioeconomic indices was used.

As Table 3 shows above, engineers, teachers, business owners and physicians were the

most commonly found among those in the sample. It should be noted that of all of the

questions on the survey, those asking about parents’ jobs were the most often unanswered

questions. There were 21 cases where neither mother nor father’s job was given. This is

despite the fact that there was an option to indicate if one was not living with his or her

father or mother. One can only assume the students who did not complete these

questions either did not feel knowledgeable about their parents’ line of work or just did

not want to disclose the information.

At the same time, among those who did respond, there were few who had a

journalist or communications practitioner as the parent with the job with the highest

socioeconomic status. Only three respondents had mothers who worked as editors or

reporters. Two of the respondents had fathers in the same type of position. Two

respondents had mothers who worked as public relations practitioners, while only one

respondent had a father who worked in public relations. Two respondents had fathers

who worked as graphic designers. One respondent had a mother who worked in graphic

design.

Another indicator of social class or socioeconomic status is parent’s education.

The middle class nature of the survey respondents is also evident in the responses on this

particular variable (parents’ educational background). Table 4 shows the largest

percentage of both mothers and fathers have four-year college degrees. Another third of

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the fathers (32.3%) also have obtained an advanced degree. Only a handful of students

will be the first in their family to graduate from high school.

Table 4 Description of Parental Educational Background of Students in the Sample ______________________________________________________________ Mother's Educational Background Frequency Valid % ______________________________________________________________ Does not live with mother 11 2.1 Did not finish high school 11 2.1 Finished high school, did not attend college 81 15.4 Attended college, didn't earn a degree 91 17.3 Earned 2-year degree (associate degree) 54 10.3 Earned 4-year degree (bachelor's degree) 170 32.3 Earned Graduate degree (master's, law, or medicine) 108 20.5 No response (Missing System) 12 -- N 538 100.0 ______________________________________________________________ Father's Educational Background Frequency Valid % ______________________________________________________________ Does not live with father 14 2.8 Did not finish high school 18 3.6 Finished high school, did not attend college 64 12.8 Attended college, didn't earn a degree 56 11.2 Earned 2-year degree (associate degree) 36 7.2 Earned 4-year degree (bachelor's degree) 151 30.1 Earned Graduate degree (master's, law, or medicine) 162 32.3 No response (Missing System) 37 -- N 538 100.0 ______________________________________________________________ Traditionally, the father’s educational background is used as a key indicator of a

child’s socioeconomic status. As the data show above, more than three quarters of the

fathers of the respondents in this survey attended college. Of those fathers who attended

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college, the majority (62.5%) earned at least a four-year degree. This would suggest that

most of the respondents in this study would be expected to go on to college.

In general, the profile of the average respondent in this study is a middle-class,

white student whose parents went to college and assumed some type of a professional

position. Most of these respondents are not children of media practitioners. Despite their

attending school in an urban area where minorities are known to be higher in number,

only about a third of these respondents were from a racial minority group.

Media Involvement

The majority of the classes involved in this research project were media-related

classes at the eight high schools. Therefore, the variables of most interest were those

indicating the media in which students were involved. It is not surprising that the outlets

most likely to involve students were the school newspaper and yearbook (Table 5).

Historically, the high school annual, or the yearbook, and the school newspaper are the

most traditional of the media outlets. About one in ten respondents indicated they were

involved in web operation, literary magazines or school television program. It should be

noted that respondents were allowed to select multiple media activities in which they

were involved.

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Table 5 Media Involvement of Respondents* __________________________________________________________ Type of Media Frequency N Valid % __________________________________________________________ Local or Community Newspaper 16 525 3.0 School Newspaper 92 523 17.6 Yearbook 84 525 16.0 Literary Magazine 58 525 11.0 School Television Program 62 525 11.8 School Internet/Web Operation 57 525 10.9 Local Television Station 10 525 1.9 Local Radio Station 12 525 2.3 None of the Above 243 524 46.4 __________________________________________________________ Years of Involvement in Media Frequency N Valid % 9th grade 72 532 13.5 10th grade 112 531 21.1 11th grade 195 532 36.7 12th grade 133 531 25.0 Never involved in school media 226 532 42.5 * Multiple response item __________________________________________________________

The year most commonly listed as the year when the students were involved in

media was 11th grade (Table 5). Nearly 200 students, or 36.7%, indicated that they were

involved in media in 11th grade. A smaller number were involved up until graduation

(during their senior year). Not surprising, ninth grade was the year least cited as a year

one was involved in media. Typically, school media staffs choose from those students

who have some experience in other high school activities or have developed a talent

recognized by teachers in previous English or writing classes. Additionally, involvement

in media tends to trail off in the senior year as students shift their attention to graduation

and preparing for college.

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Table 6 Number of Hours Respondents Spent With Media Activities Each Week ______________________________________________________________ Activity Mean SD Mode N ______________________________________________________________ Local or Community Newspaper 3.57 2.79 1 16 School Newspaper 6.61 5.93 5 92 Yearbook 7.68 6.09 5 84 Literary Magazine 4.23 2.54 5 58 School Television Program 4.81 3.80 5 62 School Internet/Web Operation 7.15 8.53 2 57 Local Television Station 6.11 9.09 3 10 Local Radio Station* 5.33 4.00 4,5 12 * Local Radio Station was bi-modal ______________________________________________________________

Above, Table 6 shows that the most frequently given figure for hours per week

spent doing media activities was “5 hours per week.” This is quite likely reflective of

the time spent on these activities in class. Respondents were allowed to include class

time in their tally of their time spent per week. While the mode is fairly consistent across

media, the mean number of hours ranges from a high of 7.68 hours per week for

yearbook to just 3.57 hours per week for the local newspaper. With its greater variability,

the mean measure will be most important in determining whether frequency of

involvement is a factor in one’s career decision.

In addition to measuring actual involvement in the media, it was important to also

assess the extent to which high school students were receiving instruction in the media

during high school. While there were no questions to differentiate an instructional course

(where teachers give lectures and assignments) from an activity or laboratory period

(where students focus only on the production of a media product), the data do provide a

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picture of the degree to which respondents had class time to work on media outlets. In

some cases, the picture of those taking media-related classes and those working on these

media outlets are quite different. Table 7 shows that students most frequently cited

newspaper, television production and yearbook classes as ones they had either taken or in

which they are presently enrolled. It should be noted that seven of the eight schools in

this study offered newspaper and yearbook classes. The eighth site, without a newspaper

or yearbook class, allowed a select group of students working on the school paper to take

an independent study devoted to the publication. Script writing, as a course, was only

offered at two locations.

Table 7 High School Media Instruction _________________________________________________ Media-related classes* Frequency N Valid % _________________________________________________ Newspaper 131 532 24.6 Yearbook 83 532 15.6 Television Production 125 532 23.5 Literary Magazine 49 532 9.1 Script writing 44 532 8.3 No Media Classes 209 532 39.3 _________________________________________________ Current media-related classes* Frequency N Valid % _________________________________________________ Newspaper 123 532 23.1 Yearbook 80 532 15 Television Production 76 532 14.3 Literary Magazine 40 532 7.5 Script writing 29 532 5.5 No Media Classes 219 532 41.2 _________________________________________________ *Multiple-response item

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The second part of Table 7, shown above, demonstrates that the picture is

somewhat different for students currently taking media-related classes when compared

with those who had those classes at anytime during high school. One, the percentage of

students not taking classes currently is slightly higher. Secondly, the percentage of

students who had newspaper, broadcast, literary magazine or script writing classes is

lower than the percentage of those who had those classes at anytime during high school.

These findings are explained by the sample’s heavy concentration of seniors. As stated

earlier, students in this sample were most likely to be involved in high school media

during their junior year (Table 5) and respondents most frequently indicated five hours of

week was the time spent with media (Table 6), which is mostly likely class time.

Therefore, it is understandable that the predominantly senior sample would have fewer

students involved in media instruction at the time the survey was administered.

Parent/Teen Career Communication

In addition to the demographic factors (race, gender, socioeconomic status) and

media involvement variables, the Media Career Interest Model also includes two types of

parent-teen career communication. The two parent-teen career communication scenarios

were measured with a series of questions, the responses to which are reported in Tables 8

and 9. On a scale from 1 to 5, students indicated the degree to which they agreed or

disagreed with statements about their interaction with their parents on career decisions.

The validity of the parent/teen career communication construct was assessed two ways:

Pearson’s correlation and principal axis factor analysis. The factor analysis of five

questions related to parent/teen career communication yielded two factors with

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eigenvalues above 1.0 Further analysis of the factors, labeled parent/teen career

communication-exploring and parent/teen career communication-struggling follows.

Parent/Teen Career Communication- Exploring

For both questions 6 and 11, which measured this concept, about one-third of the

respondents disagreed that talks with their parents about careers should be characterized

as “exploring” (Table 8). On Question 11, slightly more than one-third agreed with the

statement “My parents tell me I don’t need to decide what to do for a career right away.”

Even though the level of agreement with a similar statement in Questions 11 was not

quite as high, both Questions 6 and 11 had a Pearson’s correlation of .69 (Table 8a). An

index created from the two items had a Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient of .82.

With factor loadings of .81 and .81 respectively, questions 6 and 11 adequately define the

construct parent/teen communication-exploring.

Table 8

Measures of Parent/Teen Career Communication-Exploring _________________________________________________________________ Q6. My parents tell me that it's not important that I decide on a career right now.

Q11. My parents tell me I don't need to decide what to do for a career right away. Q6 Q11

Frequency Valid % Frequency Valid % _________________________________________________________________ Strongly Disagree 153 28.4 101 18.8 Disagree 198 36.8 179 33.4 Don't Know 41 7.6 40 7.5 Agree 124 23.0 185 34.5 Strongly Agree 22 4.1 31 5.8 N 538 100.0 536 100.0 _________________________________________________________________

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Table 8a Intercorrelation Between Items for PTC-Exploring Index __________________________________________________________________________ Q6 Q11 __________________________________________________________________________ Q6. My parents tell me that it's not important that I decide on a career right now. -- Q11. My parents tell me I don't need to decide what to do for a career right away. .69 -- __________________________________________________________________________

Parent/Teen Career Communication- Struggling

Most students disagreed with statements in Questions 5 and 8 suggesting that they

were struggling with their parents on the issue of a career decision. As Table 9 shows,

more than three quarters of the respondents either disagreed or strongly disagreed that

they “disagree” or “quarrel” over career decision. Considering that less than 10% agreed

with such statements, one can assume that with this sample, communication about careers

was generally positive. The students surveyed felt free to talk about career plans with

their parents. The correlation between Questions 5 and 8 was a moderate .47 (Table 9a).

The index, “parent-teen communication-struggling,” based on responses to

questions 5 and 8, had a Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient of .63. With factor

loadings of .73 and .59 respectively, Questions 5 and 8 adequately defined parent/teen

career communication-struggling.

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Table 9

Measures of Parent/Teen Career Communication-Struggling __________________________________________________________________ Q5. I can't really talk about my plans after high school because I know my parents will disagree.

Q8. Whenever I talk to my parents about what I want to do for a career, we always quarrel. Q5 Q8

Frequency Valid % Frequency Valid % __________________________________________________________________ Strongly Disagree 309 57.4 233 43.3 Disagree 184 34.2 230 42.8 Don't Know 22 4.1 22 4.1 Agree 14 2.6 36 6.7 Strongly Agree 9 1.7 17 3.2 N 538 100.0 538 100.0 __________________________________________________________________

Table 9a Intercorrelation Between Items for PTC-Struggling Index _______________________________________________________________________ Q5 A8 _______________________________________________________________________ Q5. I can't really talk about my plans after high school because I know my parents will disagree -- Q8. Whenever I talk to my parents about what I want to do for a career after high school, we always quarrel. .47 -- _______________________________________________________________________

These two dimensions of parent/teen communication were conceptually distinct.

Only a -.07 correlation was found to exist between parent-teen career communication-

exploring and parent-teen career communication-struggling (Table 10). This is logical

given the definitions of the two styles of communication. In parent-teen communication

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exploring, students and parents consider all options without the pressure to make a

decision. However, in parent-teen communication struggling, there is no decision

because the topic causes parents and teen to disagree. Thus, the two conditions have a

weak inverse relationship.

Table 10 Intercorrelation Between Indices of Parent/Teen Career Communication __________________________________________________________ 1 2 __________________________________________________________ 1. Parent/Teen Career Communication-Exploring -- 2. Parent/Teen Career Communication-Struggling -.07 -- __________________________________________________________

Mass Communication Self-Efficacy

The Media Career Interest Model also included a self-efficacy factor, which was

measured with a series of statements about students’ beliefs they could perform tasks

associated with different types of media ( i.e. writing, speaking on camera, making a

video, etc.) As Table 11 shows, students were fairly confident in their mass

communication abilities, mostly agreeing or strongly agreeing that they could perform the

tasks such as writing (Q15), making videos (Q20) and taking photographs (Q19).

Students were least confident in their abilities to make web pages for the Internet (Q18).

Half of the students disagreed or strongly disagreed they could make web pages. Slightly

more than one-fourth of those surveyed disagreed or strongly disagreed that they were

comfortable talking on-camera (Q17). The respondents had the highest confidence of all

six skills in which they were questioned on the ability to use computers (Q16). Three

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quarters of respondents either agreed or strongly agreed they were “good with

computers.”

Table 11

Measures of Mass Communication Self-Efficacy ____________________________________________________________________ Q15. I am a good writer.

Q16. I am good with computers.

Q17. I feel comfortable talking on-camera. Q15 Q16 Q17

Frequency Valid % FrequencyValid % Frequency Valid % ____________________________________________________________________ Strongly Disagree 13 2.4 7 1.3 22 4.1 Disagree 90 16.7 69 12.8 133 24.7 Don't Know 63 11.7 54 10.1 106 19.7 Agree 274 50.9 297 55.3 196 36.4 Strongly Agree 98 18.2 110 20.5 81 15.1 N 538 100.0 537 100.0 538 100.0 ____________________________________________________________________ Q18. I'm good at making web pages for the Internet.

Q19. I take great photographs.

Q20. I can make great home videos with a camcorder. Q18 Q19 Q20

Frequency Valid % FrequencyValid % Frequency Valid % ____________________________________________________________________ Strongly Disagree 98 18.2 13 2.4 16 3.0 Disagree 170 31.6 55 10.2 77 14.3 Don't Know 140 26.0 132 24.5 181 33.7 Agree 92 17.1 235 43.7 188 35.0 Strongly Agree 38 7.1 103 19.1 75 14.0 N 538 100.0 538 100.0 537 100.0 ____________________________________________________________________

Based on questions 15-20, the mass communication self-efficacy index had a

Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient of .58. The intercorrelation between the six

items is shown in Table 11a. Not surprising, the responses to the web page and

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computer skills were moderately correlated. There also a relationship between taking

great photographs and using a camcorder to make videos. It is natural that these

particular behaviors, which draw on the same types of skills, would be related. On the

other hand, taken together, all six different skills had a low reliability as a single index.

The .58 alpha coefficient is below .70, the general cutoff for acceptable level of reliability

(Hair, Anderson, Tatham, & Black, 1998). Given the vastly different skill sets (written,

visual and verbal) which are required in mass communication, a .58 may not be too bad

when one is considering one’s general mass communication self-efficacy. Sub-dividing

the self-efficacy construct for the purpose of greater reliability was not practical for this

particular study.

Table 11a Intercorrelation Between Items for Mass Communication Self-Efficacy Index ________________________________________________________________________ Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 Q19 Q20 ________________________________________________________________________ Q15. I am a good writer. -- Q16. I am good with computers. .21 -- Q17. I feel comfortable talking on-camera. .14 .07 -- Q18. I'm good at making web pages for the Internet. .08 .49 .10 -- Q19. I take great photographs. .10 .16 .12 .18 -- Q20. I can make great home videos with a camcorder. .09 .24 .25 .21 .39 -- ________________________________________________________________________

Outcome Expectation

The final independent variable or factor in the Media Career Interest Model

assesses students’ beliefs about the outcomes of choosing a career in journalism or

media-related profession. The survey included items measures three dimensions of

outcome expectation: financial, social change, and prestige. The validity of the outcome

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expectation construct was assessed two ways: Pearson’s correlation and principal axis

factor analysis. The factor analysis of six questions related to parent/teen career

communication yielded three factors with eigenvalues above 1.0 However, questions

which loaded highest on each of the three factors were ones designed to support each

dimension of outcome expectation. Further analysis of the factors, labeled financial

outcome expectations, social change outcome expectation and prestige outcome

expectation follows.

Financial outcome expectation

While it has often been said that media industries must pay higher salaries to

attract more workers, the respondents in this study were mostly unaware of the financial

implications of choosing a media career. Forty-five percent of respondents “didn’t

know” about the money they might make as a journalist or worker in media-related field

(Table 12). More than half of those surveyed “didn’t know” whether or not people who

worked in the media were wealthy. Since Question 2 was a negative question, it is not

surprising that it is negatively correlated to responses to Question 12 (Table 12a).

However, a .17 correlation is weak. An index created from Questions 2 and 10 had a

Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient of .29.

The low reliability and weak correlation between the items may be explained by the

difference in the question wording. While Question 12 asks for one’s perception of

people working in the media industry, Question 2 personalizes the situation and asks

about one’s own ability to make money. These may have elicited very different

reactions among the students, resulting in neutral outcome. With factor loadings of .30

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and .78 respectively, Questions 7 and 12 fell out of the factor analysis as being more

highly related to one another. Although, the .30 factor loading is borderline of falling

below what is considered the acceptable level in this type of analysis.

Table 12

Measures of Financial Outcome Expectation _______________________________________________________ Q2. If I pursue a media career, I know I won't make much money.

Q12. Most people who work in the media are wealthy. Q2 Q12 Frequency Valid % Frequency Valid % _______________________________________________________ Strongly Disagree 31 5.8 20 3.7 Disagree 204 37.9 169 31.5 Don't Know 246 45.7 280 52.1 Agree 52 9.7 63 11.7 Strongly Agree 5 .9 5 .9 N 538 100.0 538 100.0 _______________________________________________________ Table 12a Intercorrelation Between Items for Financial Outcome Expectation Index ____________________________________________________________________ Q2 Q12____________________________________________________________________Q2. If I pursue a media career, I know I won't make much money. -- Q12. Most people who work in the media are wealthy. -.17 --____________________________________________________________________

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Social Change Outcome expectation

Most of the students surveyed had the idealist view of the media’s ability to

change the world. As Table 13 shows, more than half, or 56%, of respondents agreed or

strongly agreed with Question 1 about an individual’s ability to change the world by

working in the media. The correlations between questions 1 and 10, upon which the

“social change outcome expectation” index was based, were moderate .55 (Table 13a).

The index also had a Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient of .71. With factor

loadings of .63 and .86 respectively, questions 1 and 10 adequately defined social change

outcome expectation.

Table 13

Measures of Social Change Outcome Expectation _____________________________________________________________ Q1. I know if I take a job in the media, I can make a difference in the world.

Q10. By working in the media, I can make the world a better place. Q1 Q10

Frequency Valid % Frequency Valid % _____________________________________________________________ Strongly Disagree 8 1.5 15 2.8 Disagree 43 8.0 79 14.7 Don't Know 177 32.9 245 45.6 Agree 249 46.3 166 30.9 Strongly Agree 61 11.3 32 6.0 N 538 100.0 537 100.0 _____________________________________________________________

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Table 13a Intercorrelation Between Items for Social Change Outcome Expectation Index ___________________________________________________________________________ Q1 Q10 ___________________________________________________________________________ Q1. I know if I take a job in the media, I can make a difference in the world. -- Q10. By working in the media, I can make the world a better place. .55 -- ___________________________________________________________________________

Prestige Outcome Expectation

The data on the third and final type of outcome expectation, prestige, show the

majority of students in the sample believe media people are well-liked in society. Just

under a quarter of respondents were unsure about Question 4 on how well-liked media

people are (Table 14). On the other hand, 56% were ambivalent about whether by

working in the media they would be envied by their friends. Only one in five students

agreed or strongly agreed that the element of envy, posed in Question 7, exists for those

who work in the media. As measures of prestige outcome expectations, Questions 4 and

7 had a weak .13 correlation (Table 14a). Question 4 posed a negative statement,

causing the relationship between the two items to be negative. The index for Prestige

Outcome Expectation had a Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient of only .23. Like

financial outcome expectation, the questions with factor loadings representing this third

factor were different from the ones designed to measure prestige outcome expectation.

Questions 2 and 4 had factor loadings of .24 and .58 respectively. The fact that these

two questions were both posed as negative statements may explain their loading highest

on the third factor.

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Table 14

Measures of Prestige Outcome Expectation ________________________________________________________ Q4. Media people are not well-liked in society.

Q7. If I work in the media, I will be the envy of my friends. Q4 Q7 Frequency Valid % Frequency Valid % ________________________________________________________ Strongly Disagree 50 9.3 9 1.7 Disagree 283 52.6 115 21.4 Don't Know 128 23.8 303 56.3 Agree 67 12.5 93 17.3 Strongly Agree 10 1.9 18 3.3 N 538 100.0 538 100.0 ________________________________________________________

Table 14a Intercorrelation Between Items for Prestige Outcome Expectation Index _________________________________________________________________ Q4 Q7 _________________________________________________________________ Q4. Media people are not well-liked in society -- Q7. If I work in the media, I will be the envy of my friends -.13 -- _________________________________________________________________

With one exception, the statements measuring the various types of outcome

expectation don’t appear to be related to one another (Table 15). There was a .32

correlation between Questions 7 and 10, which were designed to measure different

dimensions of outcome expectations. The factor analysis showed only the questions

measuring social change outcome expectation (Questions 1 and 10) loaded on each other

to be an adequate measure of the variable.

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Based on these findings, it is perhaps more appropriate to consider a general

outcome expectation variable which measures an outcome with financial, prestige and

social change aspects. When all six questions are considered together as a general

measure of outcome expectation, there was an alpha reliability coefficient of .52, lower

than the.70 cut-off for acceptable level of reliability.

Table15 Intercorrelation Between Items for Outcome Expectation Index __________________________________________________________________________ Q1 Q2 Q4 Q7 Q10 Q12__________________________________________________________________________Q1. I know if I take a job in the media, I can make a difference in the world.

--

Q2. If I pursue a media career, I know I won't make much money. .03 -- Q4. Media people are not well-liked in society. .12 .15 --Q7. If I work in the media, I will be the envy of my friends. .20 .11 .13 --Q10. By working in the media, I can make the world a better place. .55 .07 .20 .32 --Q12. Most people who work in the media are wealthy. -.01 .17 -.03 .21 .07 --__________________________________________________________________________

Based on the indices, financial, social and prestige, the three dimensions of

outcome expectations appear to be unrelated with only two showing a slight correlation.

Prestige outcome expectation and social change outcome expectation had a .31

correlation (Table 16).

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Table 16 Intercorrelation Between Dimensions of Outcome Expectation __________________________________________________________ 1 2 3 __________________________________________________________ 1. Financial Outcome Expectation -- 2. Social Change Outcome Expectation .06 -- 3. Prestige Outcome Expectation .18 .31 -- __________________________________________________________

The Outcome Variable: Career Consideration

Despite their attitudes about their own self-efficacy or expectations of what might

happen if they chose a media career, the ultimate action this study seeks to explain is the

likelihood a student was to choose a media career. The media career consideration

variable was measured for five areas of media—media production, advertising/PR, print,

broadcast, and web/graphic design. The validity of the media career consideration

construct was assessed two ways: Pearson’s correlation and principal axis factor analysis.

The factor analysis of 11 questions on media career consideration yielded only three

factors with eigenvalues above 1.0 A forced extraction of five factors, however, yielded

factor loadings which were above the .30 cut-off for acceptable loadings. As is described

below, the loadings correspond exactly with the questions designed to measure each of

the five types of media career consideration. Tables 17-21 describe the responses of

students to statements about each of the five media careers.

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Media Production Career Consideration

About one-third of the respondents believed they were likely to very likely to

work on the production crew for a motion picture or movie (Q36). Responding to the

same question, about the same number of respondents said were unlikely or very unlikely

to choose such a career path (Table 17). Even more students said they were unlikely to

become a producer for a media company. Only a fifth of respondents to Question 41

were ambivalent about that line of work. Both Questions 36 and 41 were measures of

media production career consideration. They had a moderate correlation of .63 (Table

17a). As an index, media production career consideration had a Cronbach’s alpha

reliability coefficient of .77. With factor loadings of .95 and .56 respectively, Questions

36 and 41 adequately defined media production career consideration.

Table 17 Measures of Media Production Career Consideration ______________________________________________________ Q36. Work on the production crew for a motion picture or movie.

Q41. Become a producer for a media company Q36 Q41 Frequency Valid % Frequency Valid %______________________________________________________ Very Unlikely 110 20.5 150 28.0 Unlikely 125 23.3 154 28.7 Don't Know 115 21.5 108 20.1 Likely 127 23.7 90 16.8 Very Likely 59 11.0 34 6.3 N 536 100.0 536 100.0 ______________________________________________________

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Table 17a Intercorrelation Between Items for Media Production Career Consideration Index _________________________________________________________________ Q36 Q41 _________________________________________________________________ Q36. Work on the production crew for a motion picture or movie -- Q41. Become a producer for a media company .63 -- _________________________________________________________________

Advertising/PublicRelations Career Consideration

Given that most high school students have not been exposed to a public relations

or advertising agency, it is not surprising that about three-fourths of the respondents to

the survey were either unsure, unlikely or very unlikely to work at an advertising firm or

a public relations firm (Table 18). Questions 35 and 38 had a moderate correlation of

.48 (Table 18a). Together they comprised an index, advertising/public relations career

consideration, which had a Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient of .65. With factor

loadings of .73 and .57 respectively, Questions 35 and 38 adequately defined

advertising/public relations career consideration.

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Table 18

Measures of Advertising/Public Relations Career Consideration ______________________________________________________ Q35. Work at a public relations firm

Q38. Work for an advertising agency. Q35 Q38 Frequency Valid % Frequency Valid %______________________________________________________ Very Unlikely 134 25.0 112 20.9 Unlikely 137 25.6 119 22.2 Don't Know 141 26.3 136 25.4 Likely 96 17.9 132 24.7 Very Likely 28 5.2 36 6.7 N 538 100.0 538 100.0 ______________________________________________________

Table 18a Intercorrelation Between Items for Ad/PR Career Consideration Index __________________________________________________________ Q35 Q38 __________________________________________________________ Q35. Work at a public relations firm -- Q38. Work for an advertising agency .48 -- __________________________________________________________

Print Career Consideration

Despite the fact that school newspapers and yearbooks were the activities the

students in the sample were most likely to be involved in school (Table 5), the data show

70% were unlikely or very unlikely to become newspaper reporters (Table 19). More

than half said they were unlikely to write for a magazine. These responses to questions 32

and 34 were measures of print media career consideration had a moderate correlation of

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.67 (Table 19a). With a Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient of .79, the print media

career consideration index, was also quite reliable. With factor loadings of .83 and .73

respectively, Questions 32 and 34 adequately defined print career consideration.

Table 19

Measures of Print Career Consideration ______________________________________________________ Q32. Become a newspaper reporter

Q34. Write for a magazine Q32 Q34 Frequency Valid % Frequency Valid % ______________________________________________________ Very Unlikely 195 36.2 156 29.1 Unlikely 186 34.6 144 26.9 Don't Know 76 14.1 93 17.4 Likely 67 12.5 107 20.0 Very Likely 14 2.6 36 6.7 N 538 100.0 536 100.0 ______________________________________________________ Table 19a Intercorrelation Between Items for Print Career Consideration Index __________________________________________________________ Q32 Q34 __________________________________________________________ Q32. Become a newspaper reporter -- Q34. Write for a magazine .67 -- __________________________________________________________

Broadcast Career Consideration

Similar to print journalism careers, broadcasting careers also seemed unattractive

to the students surveyed as slightly less than 20% were likely or very likely to become a

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television news reporter or anchor (Table 20). Even fewer, 17%, had plans to work as a

reporter or anchor in radio. The responses to questions 37 and 40 were strongly

correlated at .72 (Table 20a). Together, they comprised an index of broadcast career

consideration. The broadcast career consideration index had a Cronbach’s alpha

reliability coefficient of .84, the highest of any of the five career consideration indices.

With factor loadings of .52 and .87 respectively, Questions 37 and 40 adequately defined

broadcast career consideration.

Table 20

Measures of Broadcast Career Consideration _____________________________________________________Q37. Become a television news reporter

Q40. Become a radio news reporter or anchor Q37 Q40 Frequency Valid % Frequency Valid %_____________________________________________________Very Unlikely 195 36.4 181 33.8Unlikely 156 29.1 171 32.0Don't Know 77 14.4 83 15.5Likely 79 14.7 85 15.9Very Likely 29 5.4 15 2.8N 536 100.0 535 100.0_____________________________________________________

Table 20a Intercorrelation Between Items for Broadcast Career Consideration Index ___________________________________________________________ Q37 Q40 ___________________________________________________________ Q37. Become a television news reporter or anchor -- Q40. Become a radio news reporter or anchor .72 -- ___________________________________________________________

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Graphic Arts/Web Career Consideration

The fifth and final media career about which respondents were asked was

graphic arts/web career consideration. More than 60% said they were unlikely or very

unlikely to work as a graphic artist, design graphics for a magazine or work as a web

designer (Table 21). The graphic arts career consideration index was based on responses

to questions 31, 33, and 39, which were correlated (Table 21a). Questions 31 and 33,

which asked directly about graphic arts, had a very high correlation .77 while the

correlation between either Questions 31 and 33 and a question about web designer were

slightly weaker. It can be argued that the web site has an additional technical aspect that

might be perceived as unattractive to students. Still, despite these differences, the

graphic arts/web career consideration index had a Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient

of .80. With factor loadings of .90 and .80 and .53 respectively, Questions 31,33 and 39

adequately defined graphic arts/web career consideration.

Table 21

Measures of Graphic Arts/Web Career Consideration ________________________________________________________________ Q31. Work as a graphic artist

Q33. Design artistic images or graphics for magazines

Q39. Become a web designer for the Internet Q31 Q33 Q39

Frequency Valid % Frequency Valid % Frequency Valid % ________________________________________________________________ Very Unlikely 168 31.3 179 33.4 202 37.7 Unlikely 170 31.7 131 24.4 158 29.5 Don't Know 81 15.1 78 14.6 97 18.1 Likely 91 16.9 112 20.9 61 11.4 Very Likely 27 5.0 36 6.7 18 3.4 N 537 100.0 536 100.0 536 100.0

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________________________________________________________________ Table 21a Intercorrelation Between Items for Graphic Arts/Web Career Consideration _ Q31 Q33 Q39 _______________________________________________________________ Q31. Work as a graphic artist -- Q33. Design artistic images or graphics for magazines .77 -- Q39. Become a web designer for the Internet .51 .40 -- _______________________________________________________________

In essence, the students in the sample said they were not very enthusiastic about

working for any of the five media careers. Most them were unlikely to pursue any of

those areas of work. There was a high correlation of .71 between advertising/public

relations career consideration and media production consideration (Table 22). Not

surprisingly, media production and broadcast career had a moderate .55 correlation.

Somewhat unexpected was the .52 correlation between print career consideration and

broadcast career consideration. The most plausible explanation for this finding is likely

the “reporting” nature of the statements measuring these types of media career

consideration.

Table 22 Intercorrelation Between Indices of Media Career Consideration___________________________________________________ 1 2 3 4 5___________________________________________________1. Media Production --2. Advertising/PR .71 --3. Print Media .31 .39 --4. Web/Graphic Arts .50 .32 .18 --5. Broadcast Media .55 .55 .52 .15 --

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___________________________________________________

Relationship Between Factors in Media Career Interest Model

The Media Career Interest Model links ten variables (parent/teen career

communication-exploring, parent/teen career communication-struggling, media

instruction, media involvement, socioeconomic status, race, gender, mass communication

self-efficacy, media career outcome expectation and media career consideration). To

simplify the analysis of the bivariate relationships between factors in the study, some of

the measures discussed earlier in the descriptive portion of this chapter were collapsed

into more general indices. Individual respondents’ scores on various types of media

instruction (i.e. school newspaper, video production) were summed to create an index,

“media instruction” which ranges from “0” for no courses to “5”, the maximum number

of different media-related courses listed on the instrument. Similarly, responses to

questions about involvement in high school newspaper, yearbook and other media

activities were collapsed into the general index, “media involvement.” The media

involvement index could range from “0” for no media involvement to “8” for

involvement all aspects of media listed.

In order to conduct the most useful analysis of race as an independent variable, it

was necessary to use the two groups with the largest number of respondents. As noted in

Table 1, 139 respondents indicated they were African-American (Hispanic and non-

Hispanic) and 332 respondents classified themselves as White, non-Hispanic. For the

purpose of analysis, African-American Hispanic and non-Hispanic were collapsed into

one African-American group, making the variable race, dichotomous with “1”

representing African-American and “6” representing White, non-Hispanic. Finally, all

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cases with missing data on any of the nine aforementioned variables in the model were

eliminated. Henceforth, all analyses in this dissertation focus on 448 cases of African-

American and White American respondents who provided full data. Means and standard

deviations for the remaining factors for the 448 respondents appear in Table 23.

Table 23 Means and Standard Deviations for Indices in Media Career Interest Model __________________________________________________________________________ Index M SD__________________________________________________________________________Race (1=African-American, 2=White, non-Hispanic) 4.58 2.26Gender (1=Male, 2=Female) 1.59 0.49Parent/Teen Career Communication-Exploring 5.25 2.28Parent/Teen Career Communication-Struggling 3.33 1.49Socioeconomic Status 60.23 24.76Media Involvement .69 .82Media Instruction .69 .82Outcome Expectation 19.45 2.61Mass Communication Self-Efficacy 20.46 3.51Media Career Consideration 26.54 8.11__________________________________________________________________________

The first step in the analysis of the relationships of the ten independent variables

to each other was to identify the bivariate correlations. All relationships were shown in a

correlation matrix (Table 24). Statistically significant relationships were indicated with

“*” for those with p-values less than .05 and “**” for those less than .01. Additionally,

given the age of the respondents and their level of understanding about media or careers,

there are some questions about how stable their responses might be over time. Therefore,

it is appropriate to have a less stringent decision rule in evaluating correlational

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relationships. Correlations between .10 and .30 were interpreted as “moderate,” while

those greater than .30 were “strong.” Following the matrix is a brief discussion of how

the factors in the model are related to one another.

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Table 24 Intercorrelation Between Factors in the Media Career Interest Model _________________________________________________________________________________________________________

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 1. Parent/Teen Career Communication-Exploring -- 2. Parent/Teen Career Communication-Struggling -.06 -- 3. Race .35** .03 -- 4. Gender .12** -.11* -.06 -- 5. Socioeconomic Status .12* -.02 .27** .05 -- 6. Media Involvement .06 .00 -.04 .17** .05 -- 7. Media Instruction .07 -.06 .04 .14** .14** .55** -- 8. Outcome Expectation -.00 -.08 -.14** .15** -.02 .04 .05 -- 9. Mass Communication Self-Efficacy -.05 -.05 -.06 .07 .03 .23** .19** .18** -- 10. Media Career Consideration .03 .03 -.07 .08 -.04 .15** .19** .33** .37** -- _________________________________________________________________________________________________________*p < .05 **p < .01

Of the two types of Parent/Teen Career Communication in the Media Career

Interest Model, Parent/Teen Career Communication-Exploring was positively related to

race (r = .35, p < .01). Since white respondents were designated by the higher number

(“7”), the data indicate whites were more likely than African-American respondents to

describe their communication with their parents about careers as “exploring” (Table 24).

There was also a relationship, though not very strong, between Parent/Teen Career

Communication-Exploring and gender (r = .12, p <.05 ) and socioeconomic status (r =

.12, p <.05). Females, coded “2,” were slightly more likely than males to describe their

parent/teen career communication as “exploring.” Also, students from lower

socioeconomic backgrounds were less likely to describe career communication with their

parents as “exploring.”

It is worth mentioning that parent/teen career communication-struggling was

negatively related to gender (r = -.11, p < .01). This indicates that males, coded as “1,”

were more likely than females, coded as “2,” to describe their communication over

careers with their parents as “struggling.” Still, the relationship was not especially

strong.

Finally, it should be noted that none of the parent-teen career communication

variables were related to the outcome variable, media career consideration. Instead, it

appears that types of career communication practices are simply linked with certain

groups, based on race, gender or socioeconomic status.

Among the respondents in this survey, the variable, race, was found to be

moderately related to socioeconomic status (r= .27, p < .01). This is consistent with

previous research that indicates African-Americans (coded as “1”) were more likely than

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whites to be found among those in lower socioeconomic groups. Dating back to the time

of slavery, whites historically have had greater access to wealth and better-paying jobs

than other racial or ethnic minority groups.

Race was also found to be negatively related to outcome expectation

(r = -.14, p <.01). African-Americans, coded with the lower numbers of “1,” were more

likely than their white counterparts to have positive outcome expectations. They were

more likely to believe media careers could be lucrative, prestigious and effective in

changing the world. White students, on the other hand, were more likely to believe media

careers would not be as effective in making a living, winning the envy of friends or

changing the world.

As shown in Table 24, gender is the only variable in the model that was found to

have at least a moderate relationship to media involvement. The positive relationship (r

=.17, p < .01) indicates that female respondents were more likely than male respondents

to be involved in some form of high school media. This is not surprising since women

historically have dominated the staffs of the most traditional of high school newspapers

and yearbooks.

Likewise, gender was positively related to media instruction (r =.14, p < .01).

Both instruction and involvement go hand-in-hand. Thirdly, gender was positively

related to outcome expectation (r =.15, p < .01) In other words, women were more likely

than men to have a higher media career outcome expectation. Their male counterparts,

on the other hand, were more likely to think media careers pay poorly, bring little

prestige, and are not effective in changing the world.

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The data show a moderate relationship (r=.14, p < .01) between media instruction

and socioeconomic status. In other words, the higher the socioeconomic status of the

respondent, the more likely he or she was to be enrolled in a media-related class devoted

to such things as newspaper or literary magazine. This is consistent with literature on

extra-curricular activities and socioeconomic status.

It is not surprising that there was a high correlation between media instruction and

media involvement (r = .55, p < .01). The two go hand-in-hand, as many classes also

served as the conduit for media involvement. It was noted earlier that students were most

likely to list their class time (approximate 5 hours per week) as the time spent on high

school media activities (Table 6). Secondly, as suggested in the model, media

involvement is also related to mass communication self-efficacy (r = .23, p <.01). The

more students are involved in high school media, the higher their beliefs in their own

abilities to perform tasks associated with mass communication industries.

Finally, the data show a moderate relationship between media involvement and

the outcome variable, media career consideration (r =.15, p < .01). Students who were

less involved in high school media were also less likely to consider media careers. The

reverse is true as well—more media involvement is linked to a greater likelihood to

consider a media career.

Similar to media involvement, media instruction was also positively related to

mass communication self-efficacy (r = .19, p <.01) and the outcome variable, media

career consideration (r = .19, p <.01). These data show that a clear link between taking

media-related classes and one’s confidence in his or her abilities to perform tasks related

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to mass communication. Furthermore, they demonstrate that enrolling in a media class is

more likely to lead to a student considering a media career.

Media career outcome expectation was positively related to one’s mass

communication self-efficacy (r = .18, p < .01). The moderate relationship indicates that

the students who feel confident about their own abilities in mass communication are also

more likely to believe those who work in the media industries will make a difference in

the world, make a good salary, and win the praise of their friends and those in the larger

society.

There was a strong positive relationship between outcome expectation and media

career consideration (r =.33, p < .01). Logically, those least likely to consider media

career were more likely to have negative expectations of what a media career can provide

for them.

Aside from the relationship between media instruction and media involvement,

the highest bivariate correlation in this analysis was the one between mass

communication self-efficacy and the outcome variable, media career consideration (r =

.37, p < .01). Students surveyed who had a high opinion of their own abilities in mass

communication were most likely to consider a career in one of the five areas of media

(print, broadcast, media production, ad/pr or web/graphic).

The bivariate relationships described above can be depicted in the Media Career

Interest model, with particular attention to the relationships between those variables that

are hypothesized to be linked (Figure 4).

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Figure 4

Media Career Interest Model with Zero-Order Correlations

Testing the Media Career Interest Model (MCIM)

As a pictorial representation of the relationships among a number of variables, the

Media Career Interest Model (MCIM) may be defined in statistics as a path diagram

(Hoyle, 1995). Each of the factors in the MCIM is a variable related to one another by

one-headed arrows which move from left to right. The model includes two types of

variables: exogenous variables, whose variation is assumed to be determined by causes

outside the hypothesized model and endogenous variables, whose variation is explained

by exogenous or other endogenous variables (Pedhazur, 1997). As Figure 4 shows, the

MCIM includes three endogenous variables (mass communication self-efficacy, media

career outcome expectation, and media career consideration) and seven exogenous

variables (parent/teen career communication-exploring, parent/teen career

communication-struggling, media instruction, media involvement, socioeconomic status,

race and gender). An endogenous variable treated as dependent on one set of variables

may also be conceived as an independent variable. The MCIM has two such factors:

mass communication self-efficacy and media career outcome expectation are dependent

and independent variables.

With no feedback loops and a unidirectional causal flow, this model can also be

defined as a recursive model (Pedhazur, 1997). Such a model makes no allowance for

reciprocal causation between variables. This also means that the MCIM path coefficients

are the same as standardized regression coefficients. In addition to the path coefficients,

error terms are also included in the model for the three endogenous variables. These

error terms, denoted with the symbol, “е,” along with the path coefficients are depicted in

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Figure 5. The error terms represents variance in the dependent variable not accounted

for by the factors in the MCIM.

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Figure 5

Media Career Interest Model with Path Coefficients and error terms

126

The hypothesized model predicts 4% of the variance in media career outcome

expectation, 6% of the variance in mass communication self-efficacy, and 20% of the

variance in media career consideration. These multiple squared correlations are reflected

in the error terms for the three endogenous variables (Figure 5). It is not surprising that

the model is most helpful in predicting media career consideration, since there were

seven factors hypothesized to be related to media career consideration and only two for

mass communication self-efficacy and one for media career outcome expectation.

There were a total of 10 such relationships depicted in MCIM. Of those 10

relationships, only three (3) had statistically significant beta weights (Figure 5). Mass

communication self-efficacy predicts about a third of the variance in media career

consideration (Β= .34, p < .01). Media involvement only predicts 18 percent of the

variance in mass communication self-efficacy (B= . 18, p <.01). Media career outcome

expectation predicts about a quarter of the variance in the media career consideration

(Β=.26, p < .01).

One advantage of using path modeling is the ability to depict both indirect and

direct effects of independent variables on dependent or outcome variables. Just as

important as what was hypothesized is what is not hypothesized. For instance, the MCIM

does not hypothesize a direct relationship between media involvement and media career

consideration. This assumption was correct as the data show no statistically direct link

between the two variables, but does show a statistically significant relationship between

the two when they are mediated by mass communication self-efficacy. Both the

relationship between media involvement and mass communication self-efficacy and the

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link between mass communication self-efficacy and media career consideration were

statistically significant.

On the other hand, the link between media instruction and mass communication

self-efficacy was not statistically significant. However, the data show a statistically

significant relationship between media instruction and media career consideration (Β=.

13, p < .05). Rather than mediated by mass communication self-efficacy, media

instruction is directly related to a student’s likelihood to pursue a media career. This is

an important finding NOT presented in the original MCIM.

While the hypothesized relationship between media career outcome expectation

and media career consideration was supported (Β = .26, p < .01), the data also show a

statistically significant relationship between mass communication self-efficacy and media

career outcome expectation. Outcome expectation predicts mass communication self-

efficacy (Β= .19, p < .01) and mass communication self-efficacy predicts outcome

expectation (Β=.20, p < .01). The MCIM was a recursive model, which only allowed

for arrows pointing in one direction. The data suggest that an arrow going in both

directions would more accurately reflect the relationship between these two factors.

The MCIM failed to accurately predict the effect of gender on media career

consideration. While there was no statistically significant direct effect of gender on

media career consideration, the data do show an indirect effect. The relationship

between gender and media career consideration is mediated by media outcome

expectation. Gender predicts 14% of the variance in media career outcome expectation

(Β = .14, p <.01), which predicts 26% of the variance in media career consideration.

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The picture is much the same for race. While race was not a statistically

significant direct predictor of media career consideration (as hypothesized), it indirectly

predicted media consideration via media career outcome expectation. Race predicted

13% of the variance in media career outcome expectation (Β = -.13, p <.01), which

predicted 26% of the variance in media career consideration. The model failed to

account for this indirect effect of race.

Furthermore, the model failed to predict the effect of gender on mass

communication self-efficacy (Β = -.14, p < .01). Not only is the relationship between

gender and media career consideration mediated by media career outcome expectation,

but also mass communication self-efficacy. If one takes into consideration the

relationship between mass communication self-efficacy and outcome expectation (Β =

.19, p < .01), it would be accurate to say gender predicts mass communication self-

efficacy, which predicts media career outcome expectation, which predicts media career

consideration. This “path” provides a much more sophisticated view of how gender

influences a high school student’s media career consideration, than originally predicted in

the Media Career Interest Model.

Besides multiple regression analysis, another way to test a path diagram is to see

how well it “fits” data collected in the sample. As a type of structural equation model

(SEM), a path diagram can be tested with statistical programs such as LISREL, which

stands for Linear Structural RELations. LISREL uses iterative estimation (informed trial

and error) to determine how well the model fits the data in a particular sample. LISREL

generated several indicators for evaluating model fit. This particular analysis focused on

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three such indicators: Minimum Fit Function Chi-Square (Χ2 ), Goodness of Fit Index

(GFI), and the Standardized Root Mean Square Residual (RMR).

For the hypothesized model, LISREL generated a Chi –Square of 54.49 (p < .01).

Nicknamed by some as the “badness-of-fit” index (Hoyle, 1995), the chi-square when

small indicates better fit. A large, statistically significant chi-square indicates the model

may not be a good representation of the data. A value of zero would indicate perfect fit.

A chi-square of 54.49 is high enough to suggest there may be problems with the fit of

MCIM. Highly significant chi-squares are common with large samples (Loehlin, 1987).

In addition to the chi-square, LISREL generated a GFI of .98, relatively close to

1.00, which indicates a perfect match between the data and model. It has been

documented that obtaining a large goodness of fit index is relatively easy with large

sample sizes (Hu & Bentler, 1995). Given both of these concerns with the chi-square and

GFI, it has been suggested that one also examine the residuals generated by LISREL

(Loehlin, 1987).

The Standardized RMR is an index of the residuals or amount of correlation

between variables not explained by the model. For the MCIM, the Standardized

RMR=.05, close to the “0,” which would mean all correlations were perfectly matched

between the model and sample. With less-than-convincing results from these three

indicators of fit, it was necessary to delve deeper into the LISREL output to determine

exactly where the model is less than convincingly matching the data. The standardized

RMR is often influenced by the number of exogenous variables, which LISREL

automatically assumes to have “0” correlation with one another. In the Media Career

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Interest Model, the majority of the variables are exogenous. Therefore, it is possible that

even the Standardized RMR is influenced by the number of exogenous variables.

Keeping in mind that LISREL only provides residuals for correlations between

exogenous and endogenous variables, one can see from Table 25 how large the

standardized residuals of the correlations between factors in the models were.

Traditionally, residual values greater than plus or minus 2.58 are considered to be

statistically significant (Hair et al., 1998). In this instance, statistical significance is

undesirable. A model that fit its sample well would have few or very small residuals and

none that are statistically significant. Among the largest were the relationships between

outcome expectation and media career consideration (4.08), outcome expectation and

mass communication self-efficacy (3.80), and outcome expectation and gender (3.13).

These fairly large residuals are an indication of a problem of fit between the Media

Career Interest Model and the data.

Large standardized residuals usually suggest a parameter, or link between two

factors, is missing from the model. If such a parameter has already been hypothesized,

then a large residual indicates there are other variables not included in the model that

better explain variance in the dependent variable. Examining the three largest residuals,

one could speculate about potential problems with the Media Career Interest Model. The

largest residual, 4.08 between media career outcome expectation and media career

consideration, suggests that other variables need to be included. The Media Career

Interest Model already hypothesizes a relationship between the two variables. The

second largest residual, 3.80, between media career outcome expectation and

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Table 25

Standardized Residuals of Correlations Between Factors in Media Career Interest Model _________________________________________________________________________________________________________

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10_________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 1. Parent/Teen Career Communication-Exploring -- 2. Parent/Teen Career Communication-Struggling *** -- 3. Race *** *** -- 4. Gender *** *** *** -- 5. Socioeconomic Status *** *** *** *** -- 6. Media Involvement *** *** *** *** *** -- 7. Media Instruction *** *** *** *** *** *** -- 8. Outcome Expectation -.10 -1.59 -2.98 3.13 -.48 .00 .80 -- 9. Mass Communication Self-Efficacy -1.42 -.92 -.97 -2.39 .17 -.00 .00 3.80 -- 10. Media Career Consideration -1.18 -1.70 -2.61 0.07 -.17 1.21 2.85 4.08 2.48 --_________________________________________________________________________________________________________***Intercorrelations between exogenous variables treated as "0" in LISREL

mass communication self-efficacy, suggests a different problem. There was no

hypothesized link between these two variables. Perhaps there should be some link

between these two factors. The third largest residual, 3.13, between gender and media

career outcome expectation, again suggests a possible link between two factors in the

model which were not hypothesized to be related. Recall this was also a finding in the

multiple regression analyses. Similarly, the 2.98 residual between race and media career

outcome expectation suggests yet another parameter that might be included. Once again,

this was a finding in the multiple regression analysis. These possible additional linkages

illustrate the advantage of using LISREL to examine model fit along with the multiple

regression analysis.

It can be concluded that several additional links between factors in the Media

Career Interest Model are likely needed. Additionally, even for the hypothesized

relationships, there are some other factors that are not included that might help to explain

variance in the dependent variables, media career outcome expectation, mass

communication self-efficacy, and media career consideration. Given these findings on

the overall test of the fit of the model, it is appropriate to move to the second stage of

model testing involving the individual path coefficients and effects

Post-Hoc Analyses

As a subset of structural equation modeling, path analysis may involve so-called

model modification or respecification, the controversial practice of deleting and adding

paths in order to achieve greater fit of the model to the data in the sample. Such analyses

have been defined as “post hoc” as they are conducted after the initial analysis of the

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data. This dissertation is based entirely on “a priori” or planned comparisons

hypothesized prior to the analysis. However, as a purely “exploratory” final step, the

researcher did some model revision to see if the results of the analysis would change. As

has been noted in previous research, when models are modified and reassessed on the

SAME data, the parameters added to or deleted from the model CANNOT be said to be

confirmed (Hoyle, 1995).

Given the non-hypothesized, statistically significant relationships described

earlier between gender and race and media career outcome expectation and the

statistically significant residual (3.13) in the original analysis, it is plausible to think

additional parameters (arrows) should be drawn from these two exogenous variables to

media outcome expectation. Additionally, the relationship between gender and mass

communication self-efficacy and its relatively large residual (2. 39), would suggest

another possible link. Finally, the bi-directional relationship, which was statistically

significant between mass communication self-efficacy and media career outcome

expectation, combined with its residual (3.80), would suggest a possible link there.

To simply add these parameters to the model based solely on the findings would

be an entirely empirically-driven respecification, and thus extremely undesirable. Some

have nicknamed the practice, “data dredging” or “data snooping.” On the other hand,

there is a theoretical justification for adding the parameters to the model based in the

literature described in Chapter 2 of this dissertation. It was in that spirit that the model

was modified.

The addition of four parameters brings to 14 the number of relationships depicted

in the model. The “augmented” or FITTED model yielded only one statistically

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significant residual (Table 26) and a Standardized RMR of .02. The statistically non-

significant chi-square of 12.20 was much closer to zero than the chi-square of the original

model. Finally, LISREL generated a Goodness-of-Fit Index of .99, near-perfect. This

GFI must be interpreted with some caution because of the large data set. However,

combined with low residuals, it would appear the four additional parameters for Media

Career Interest Model (Figure 6) was exactly what was needed to make the data in the

sample match the model. Figure 6 represents the conceptual model that would likely be

tested with another sample.

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Table 26 Standardized Residuals of Correlations Between Factors in Media Career Interest Model-FITTED Model _________________________________________________________________________________________________________

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 1. Parent/Teen Career Communication-Exploring -- 2. Parent/Teen Career Communication-Struggling *** -- 3. Race *** *** -- 4. Gender *** *** *** -- 5. Socioeconomic Status *** *** *** *** -- 6. Media Involvement *** *** *** *** *** -- 7. Media Instruction *** *** *** *** *** *** -- 8. Outcome Expectation .61 -1.18 .00 .00 .49 .00 .57 -- 9. Mass Communication Self-Efficacy -.97 -1.20 -.55 .00 .18 .00 .57 .57 -- 10. Media Career Consideration -.39 -1.53 -.55 .00 .40 1.22 2.79 -.56 -1.16 -- _________________________________________________________________________________________________________***Intercorrelations between exogenous variables treated as "0" in LISREL

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Figure 6

FITTED Media Career Interest Model with Path Coefficients and error terms

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References

Hair, J. F., Anderson, R. E., Tatham, R. L., & Black, W. C. (1998). Multivariate data analysis (Fifth ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Hoyle, R. H. (1995). The structural equation modeling approach: Basic concepts and

fundamental issues. In R. H. Hoyle (Ed.), Structural equation modeling: Concepts, issues and applications. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Hu, L.-T., & Bentler, P. M. (1995). Evaluating model fit. In R. H. Hoyle (Ed.), Structural

equation modeling: Concepts, issues, and applications. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Loehlin, J. C. (1987). Latent variable models: An introduction to factor, path, and

structural analysis. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Pedhazur, E. J. (1997). Multiple regression in behavioral research: Explanation and

prediction (Third ed.). Orlando, FL: Harcourt Brace College Publishers.

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CHAPTER 5

DISCUSSION

Results of a test of the Media Career Interest Model revealed that additional

parameters needed to be drawn to make the model fit the data. Some hypothesized

relationships were not statistically significant, while other relationships that were not

hypothesized were, in fact, statistically significant. When these results are viewed within

the context of the literature reviewed in Chapter 2, what does this all mean? What can

one take away from this research project? Did the project truly offer some possible

solutions to the problem presented in Chapter 1? This final chapter aims to answers these

and other questions on the “bigger picture” of which this dissertation is a part. More

specifically, this chapter revisits the 10 hypotheses presented in Chapter 2 and addresses

the limitations of this research.

For more than three decades, media industry leaders have been trying to make

those working in the media industries reflect the racial diversity of the media consumers.

Today, even as such efforts continue, both broadcast and newspaper newsrooms are more

racially diverse, but parity (as has been the goals for newspapers) has not been achieved.

It would be incorrect to suggest that the results from this study can have a direct effect on

efforts to establish racial parity within the media institutions. In fact, race is not at the

core of this dissertation. While it is a key independent variable that must be a part of the

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discussion on career decisions, race is but one possible predictor of a high school

student’s career consideration.

The lack of racial diversity in the media industry prompted the author of this

study to examine the media career considerations of urban high school students. By

understanding the process of one’s career consideration, one could potentially influence

those from certain populations to consider certain careers. The Media Career Interest

Model is an important step toward increasing this understanding. With regards to race,

the data suggest rather than a direct effect, race has an indirect effect on one’s media

career consideration. The effect of race is mediated by outcome expectation. African-

Americans are more likely than whites to have a positive media outcome expectation.

Those wanting to attract more African-American high school students to the industry

would be well served to capitalize on this finding in their recruitment efforts.

At the same time, a re-analysis of the data shows African-American high school

students were more likely to be found in broadcast media activities such as school

television show and less likely than their white counterparts to participate in print

activities such as newspaper or literary magazine. This suggests that the positive

expectations African-American students have about pursuing a career in the media are

more related to broadcast outlets than print outlets. The differences in individual types of

media involvement and media instruction experiences are masked by the use of a general

media involvement index.

Beyond the finding about the independent variable race, the “bigger picture” issue

presented in this dissertation is that outcome expectation, as a cognitive influence, is

more important than race in determining one’s likelihood to consider a media career.

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That cognitive influence along with media career self-efficacy had direct effects on one’s

media career consideration.

Like outcome expectation, mass communication self-efficacy mediates the

influence of one’s involvement in high school media on his or her likelihood to pursue a

media career. Depending on whether a student feels efficacious in his or her media skills

(i.e. writing, talking on camera, editing), he or she will then be more likely to pursue a

media career. Again, it is the cognitive factor that is directly linked to that decision.

Given these findings about the role of cognitive factors in media career

consideration, media industry leaders must develop strategies for influencing these

cognitive factors. The data show that the more a student is involved in high school

media, the higher his or her mass communication self-efficacy. Therefore, increasing

opportunities for involvement and skills development might be a viable strategy.

On the other hand, the data also show taking an actual media class such as ones

focused on newspaper or television program has a direct effect on a student’s likelihood

to consider a media career. Therefore, enrolling a student in such a class would be the

fastest way to have an impact on a student’s likelihood to pursue a career in media.

Perhaps those in the media industry might work with high school educators to ensure

more students had the opportunity to take actual classes. Current initiatives that train

teachers are the first step. However, more must be done to ensure those teachers are

being able to use their training to teach the classes, which this dissertation has found

plays a direct in a student’s ultimate career decision.

With the knowledge of the role of the cognitive variables, researchers should

conduct more sophisticated analyses that identify influences on these variables. The

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post-hoc analysis shows that additional links are needed between media career self-

efficacy and outcome expectation. From a theoretical perspective, these data argue for a

more robust model that includes multiple parameters showing the interrelationships

between cognitive variables and predictors such as one’s gender or socioeconomic status.

Women in this study were more likely than men to perceive positive outcomes of

pursuing a media career. This would suggest that even as the media industry may be

attracting more women, the change might be due, at least in part, to the fact that the men

do not perceive it as attractive as other professions. This finding would argue for the

importance of perceived outcomes in the one’s career decision-making process.

Media instruction and media involvement are highly correlated. Thus, it is

difficult to say for certain whether instruction influences involvement or vice versa. The

data show that media instruction predicts only 12% of the various in media career self-

efficacy. However, media involvement was not a significant predictor of media career

self-efficacy.

The Hypotheses

H1: Race will be negatively related to media career consideration.

The hypothesis was not supported. Despite the literature on the differences

between races when it comes to making decisions, that variable alone does not explain

the differences in students’ media career consideration. Research completed in the 1980s

documented that minority students make career decisions before they reach the college

campus (Becker, Fruit, Caudill, Dunwoody, & Tipton, 1987; Burgoon, Burgoon, Buller,

Coker, & Coker, 1987). The data from this study would suggest that whether one makes

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a decision before or after they reach college may have nothing to do with his or her

likelihood to consider a particular media career.

H2: SES will be negatively related to media career consideration.

This hypothesis was not supported. While earlier research found career influence

of fathers and mothers depends on one’s race and class (Bennett & Gist, 1964), it would

appear such is not the case with media career decisions as socioeconomic status, like

race, was also not related to media career consideration. The Bennett & Gist study

involved parental influence, which was not a part of the Media Career Interest Model.

One important finding in Johnstone, Slawski & Bowman’s (1971) research is that

journalists from higher socioeconomic status (as measured by father’s years of schooling

and father’s occupational prestige), were more likely to attend highly selective colleges

and universities and less likely to take journalism as a major. That particular finding

does seem to hold up in this dissertation study. The literature cited here is a bit dated

and thus may explain the inconsistency with the findings in this dissertation.

H3: Gender will be positively related to media career consideration.

This hypothesis was not supported. Even though previous studies in

journalism/mass communication literature found female high school students thought

more highly of journalism as a career and developed their interest in journalism earlier

than the male students (Cranford, 1960; Lubell, 1959), the data in this sample would

suggest otherwise. Rather than a direct influence on career consideration, gender may

have an indirect influence. Such an indirect influence was not hypothesized.

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H4: Parent/Teen Career Communication-Exploring will be positively related to media career consideration.

This hypothesis was not supported. While research has suggested that structuring

parental involvement in adolescent career development is a key element in adolescent

career development (Lankard, 1995), apparently that “structuring” parental involvement

is not a direct influence on the consideration of one’s career. On the other hand, perhaps

it is the specific “exploring” communication strategy of not reaching agreement but

generating and considering information about career possibilities that is not related to the

ultimate likelihood to consider a career.

H5: Parent/Teen Career Communication-Struggling will be positively related to media career consideration.

This hypothesis was not supported. Just because parents and teens had a

communication relationship characterized by cross-complaining, mutual criticism, verbal

fighting and debating (Young et al., 1997) does not mean those teens will gravitate

toward careers in the media. By using these two specific communication patterns

(exploring and struggling) rather than a generic involvement/non-involvement variable,

the researcher thought more would be learned about parental influence in careers. Instead,

no significant relationships were found with these variables. One has to wonder if the

positive involvement, noninvolvement and negative involvement categories used in

previous research on parental influence (Lankard, 1995) would have yielded different

results.

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H6: Media Instruction will be positively related to mass communication self-efficacy.

This hypothesis was supported. This positive relationship between media

instruction and mass communication self-efficacy is only identified in a Pearson’s

Product Moment Correlation. When mass communication self-efficacy is regressed

against media instruction along with other independent variables, the effect of media

instruction washes out. The beta weight’s p-value of .09 suggests it is very close to

being statistically significant. This is a perfect example of the value of using more

powerful multiple regression analyses in addition to zero-order correlations. In using

zero-order correlations, one misses the collinearity of media instruction and media

involvement. When both are factored in, media involvement neutralizes the effect of

media instruction.

H7: Media Involvement will be positively related to mass communication self-efficacy.

This hypothesis was supported. In their groundbreaking research in the

counseling and vocational psychology literature, Betz and Hackett (1981) took a concept

previously only connected to such things as human fears and phobias and linked it to

what, for some, is a fearful or intimidating stage of life-- making a career decision. As

with other vocational development studies involving self-efficacy (Anderson & Betz,

2001; Betz & Voyten, 1997; Post-Kammer & Smith, 1986; Taylor & Betz, 1983), their

theory is supported by the high school students in this sample. Vocational psychologists

have found that self-efficacy beliefs are largely determined and modified by such things

as personal performance accomplishments, vicarious learning, social persuasion and

physiological states and reactions. The data in this study would show that these MAY be

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some of the benefits of being involved in high school media. It should be stressed that

no individual measures of the dimensions of self-efficacy (as prescribed in vocational

psychology literature) were administered. Such measures would require a much more

elaborate and longer instrument, which was not feasible given the number of other

variables needing to be tested in this study.

H8: Media Involvement will be positively related to outcome expectation.

This hypothesis was not supported. As a form of cognitive motivation, outcome

expectancies are derived from expectancy value theory, which says that motivation is

regulated by the expectation that a given course of behavior will produce certain

outcomes and by the value placed on those outcomes (Bandura, 1995). The specific

outcomes measured in this study were related to finances, prestige and social change. It

is conceivable that such outcomes may not be derived directly from most high school

media activities, which usually do not involve compensation and a long-term effect such

making society better. Only a small minority of respondents was involved in their local

newspaper or worked at other media outlets outside of their high school. Therefore, most

probably have not had enough experiences to develop expectations for finances, prestige

or social change.

H9: Mass Communication Self-Efficacy will be positively related to media career consideration.

This hypothesis was supported. The literature in vocational psychology

suggested the range of occupations for which a person feels efficacious (that he or she is

capable of doing) predicts the range of occupations he or she is willing to consider

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(Bores-Rangel, Church, Szendre, & Reeves, 1990; Teresa, 1991). The data in this study

support that conclusion. Indeed, it is logical that if a person feels he or she can perform

certain tasks, he is or she is more likely to be willing to consider doing a job involving

such tasks.

H10: Outcome Expectation will be positively related to media career consideration.

This hypothesis was supported. Career outcome expectations have been shown to

be strongly related to one’s career exploratory intentions (Betz & Voyten, 1997). In the

journalism/mass communication literature, values such as “interest,” “usefulness,”

“prestige,” “family life,” and “financial rewards” were cited by student respondents as

outcomes of decisions to enter journalism (Lubell, 1959). The data in this study appear

to be consistent both with those findings of studies on journalism careers and other

vocations.

Problem Solved?

It should be reiterated that race as a variable was not at the center of this study.

Yet, the data from this dissertation do suggest specific action steps that those in industry

can take in making their diversity initiatives more successful. In this way, this

dissertation does offer potential solutions to the diversity problem. First and foremost,

sponsorship of journalism institutes for teachers or forging partnerships between

newspapers and high school are just the starting point for generating new interest in

newspaper careers. Such efforts by American Society of Newspaper Editors do not go

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far enough. Given the role of outcome expectation, it would behoove editors to address

some of the outcomes such as financial rewards in the newspaper industry.

Similarly on the broadcast side, organizations such as the Radio-Television News

Directors Foundation, which launched an initiative “to identify, inspire, train and

challenge the next generation of electronic journalists and First Amendment advocates”

need to invest in research that allows them to better under where the next generation is

“cognitively” when it comes to making media careers decisions. Offering a web site with

resources or training teachers will do little good if the prospective journalists’ ideas about

their own abilities or the profession are not changed.

For high school teachers, the data suggests more attention must be placed on how

well students feel about their own abilities in media if they are to be inspired to pursue

media careers. This may involve more individual assessment, rather than focusing on the

overall success of the final product (i.e. the newspaper, yearbook or literary magazine).

Such individual assessment is most likely to come in a formal class, rather than an after-

school extracurricular activity. Given the direct effect of media instruction, as found in

this study, the formal class would be most beneficial to the student in making his or her

media career decision.

Finally, high school instructors must create more opportunities for students to

have contact with media people, who are important in helping students form ideas about

outcomes of pursuing a career in the media. How can they be expected to know or

understand these outcomes if they’ve never had contact with someone or has successfully

pursued a media career? The image of those in other professions such as law or medicine

is clear and convincing for many students. However, such images are not as clear-cut

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when it comes media careers. Visits to local media outlets and short-term internships are

also opportunities to influence a student’s media career outcome expectation.

Limitations

The major limitation of this study is the sample bias toward students in higher

socioeconomic status. By deliberately selecting students in media classes and 12th grade

on-level or honors English classes, the research effectively excluded students from lower

socioeconomic levels. These on-level and honors English classes as well as media

courses also tend to have fewer minority students. This would explain the high number

of white respondents in a sample drawn from mostly predominantly black urban high

schools. This pre-selection bias and low variability on race and socioeconomic status

variable are unavoidable if one is to assess the role of media instruction or media

involvement on one’s likelihood to pursue a media career.

This limitation raises the question of the generalizability of the results. Clearly,

the sample does not represent ALL urban high school students in media-rich (with at least

three media outlets) schools. However, it does assess the relationship of predictors such

as media involvement, media instruction, parent-teen communication, race and gender on

one’s likelihood to pursue a media career. Better understanding the relationships

between these factors and their influence on media career decisions is ultimately what

this study tried to accomplish. In essence, this dissertation did accomplish what it set out

to do—establish a conceptual model linking predictors of one’s media career decision-

making. Future research might examine a subset of these factors which could be tested

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with students from lower socioeconomic status levels. That subset of factors would not

include such variables and media involvement or media instruction.

The lack of respondents from racial minority groups other than blacks is a

problem simply solved by drawing a sample from urban areas where those minority

groups are higher in number. A future study could be conducted, for instance, in Texas

where Hispanic high school students would be higher in number. The Media Career

Interest Questionnaire could easily be administered in the Pacific Northwest where Asian

Americans are said to be higher in number. For this dissertation, data were collected

from two Southern States where African-Americans are the predominant racial minority

group.

An additional limitation was the use of different types of students at the eight data

collection sites. Some schools were magnet schools while others were traditional, or

non-magnet schools. At one school, there were a large number of underclassmen who

responded to the survey. A re-analysis of the data showed that even when controlling for

grade level, the results were the same. In other words, the relationships identified as

statistically significant were still significant in a group of only senior respondents.

Therefore, differences between the eight data collection sites were not a confounding

factor.

Low response rate at some sites because of the required parental consent resulted

in a somewhat lop-sided responses from some of the larger schools in this study. An

additional 200 students could have potentially been involved in the study except for the

fact that some school systems required signed written consent. Additionally, officials at

one site, which has a mass communications magnet, were hesitant to grant permission to

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all senior media activities. Generally, research of this type was viewed at most of the

schools as a chore and interruption, rather than something which could aide teachers in

structuring learning activities.

With a few exceptions, the relationships between the variables in the model were

not especially strong. This suggests there are likely many other variables which

influences one’s media career consideration, which were not hypothesized in the Media

Career Interest Model. Causation, in the purest sense of the word, cannot be argued in a

nonexperimental study such as this one. Without creating some media opportunities for

high school students and conducting pre and post-tests, one cannot rule out the possibility

of alternative explanations for the relationships between media career outcome

expectation, mass communication self-efficacy and media career consideration.

The Next Step

Despite the limitations of this project, the researcher considers it a starting point

for other research on high school student’s media career decisions and perceptions. At

the top of that list will be a study that tests the FITTED Media Career Interest Model that

resulted from the post-hoc analysis. Hopefully, tests of this new model will conclusively

document the relationships between variables in the MCIM. Such a model test should be

done with a similar urban high school sample.

The next phase of the research should shift the attention to students in other types

of media-rich environments such as those in suburban and rural areas. Additionally,

future research needs to re-incorporate the qualitative group interview technique to help

explain some of the findings in this broad-based study. For instance, queries with

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students about their interactions with parents might explain the lack of linkage between

the parent/teen career communication variable and media career consideration. Delving

deeper into the data is definitely warranted given the plethora of things learned from this

study on the Media Career Interest Model.

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References

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Bandura, A. (1995). Exercise of personal and collective efficacy in changing societies. In

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Becker, L. B., Fruit, J. W., Caudill, S. L., Dunwoody, S. L., & Tipton, L. P. (1987). The

training and hiring of journalists. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing Corporation. Bennett, W. S., & Gist, N. P. (1964). Class and family influences on student aspirations.

Social Forces, 43(2), 167-173. Betz, N. E., & Hackett, G. (1981). The relationship of career-related self-efficacy

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Betz, N. E., & Voyten, K. K. (1997). Efficacy and outcome expectations influence career

exploration and decideness. The Careeer Development Quarterly, 46, 179-189. Bores-Rangel, E., Church, A., Szendre, D., & Reeves, C. (1990). Self-efficacy in relation

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Burgoon, J. K., Burgoon, M., Buller, D. B., Coker, R., & Coker, D. A. (1987). Minorities

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Taylor, K. M., & Betz, N. E. (1983). Applications of self-efficacy theory to the understanding and treatment of career indecision. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 22, 63-81.

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Young, R. A., Valach, L., Paseluikho, M. A., Dover, C., Matthes, G. E., Paproski, D. L.,

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APPENDIX A

ANALYSIS OF PILOT STUDY FINDINGS

Research Question

Factors In Career Decision (R1)

Role of Self-Efficacy (R2)

When Decision Is Made (R3)

Role of Intervention Programs (R4)

School A Location: Rural Class: Newspaper

“I want to pursue a career in criminal justice because I’m interested in the mind of a criminal and I’m concerned about other people’s well being” “I want to do elementary education because I have an extreme love for children” “I think it’s an honorable profession. I think it’s a needed profession because somebody has to report the news whether it be broadcasting, newspaper”

“You’re influencing people through your writing and you know that’s a lot of responsibility” “I think that because it makes you want to like push the truth out there and make people see it, open their eyes and stuff like that” “It’s made me really passionate about censorship. I never really experienced censorship until this year and now I have a huge thing about this

“My dad is a writer. I don’t know if he really influenced me. I guess it’s really in my blood” “My parents have always supported my writing. They’ve always thought that was something I should choose as a career—some field that involved writing”

“I was leaning toward law and I’m still kind of on that but I really like the journalism class. I love being editor” “I’m choosing to major in clinical psychology. The reason why is I’ve been taking college classes in psychology and I really enjoy them.

School B Location: Suburban Class: Television

“Through my teacher, I learned that I think this is the career I want to take” “My teacher she really made broadcasting seem fun to me” “Ms. — I went to her one day after school I said ‘thank you for inspiring me’ and she was like if you really want a career in journalism, I’ll help you.” “My grandfather died of cancer and being he died I told him I was going to find a cure for cancer. So, I started pursuing going into a medical career.”

“It’s kind of the recognition that you get for being in front of the camera” “I feel I believe that to actually do something good I have to enjoy it and I feel I enjoy so I will do good in the future” “One of those things I look forward to doing is being in the studio behind the scenes like a technical director.. I like being in authority”

“I took the class second semester last year and had a lot of fun. It reminded me of when I was in sixth grade and I was the anchor for one of the shows there” “When I grew up, I always watched the news and I would say that’s the most boringest thing. I never really developed an interest in being in it because I was always interested in math and science.”

“Being in front of the camera and being in the studio has given me a lot of real-world, hands-on (experience), helped me improve a lot” “Before this class, I had no clue what I was going to do. I really think broadcasting is what I want to do.” “We should have more programs like this because we go to college not knowing what we might want to do for the rest of our lives.”

School C Location: In-town Class: Newspaper

“Now that I’ve taken this class, I feel this is something I want to spend the rest of my life doing” “I enjoy writing but I don’t see it as what I want to do for the rest of my life” “It definitely has to be something you enjoy doing for the rest of the time that you work. “ “I like the idea I’m doing something that’s fairly easy.”

“The editors come to you and say ‘hey this article was really great. this article was really great’.. I think I’m a better editorials writer” “I didn’t realize how important a lot of articles are.. when it actually comes down to awards, people actually reading it- that makes a difference, that’s the big thing.”

“Everything I have chosen from probably since sixth grade has always tied into journalism” “Ever since I was a little kid, I would write” “I have been doing this for just a year but I’ve been writing since I was able to pick up a pen. I always knew I wanted to do the journalism thing.”

“I always kind of had an inkling that I wanted to write for a living. After I’ve been in this class for three years, it sort of solidified that” “The fact that I went to camp played a major role in changing my desire to be a journalist as a major as a career” “I also think the competition helped me figure out what I’m better at.”

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APPENDIX B

SURVEY INSTRUMENT

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APPENDIX C

PARENT LETTER AND CONSENT FORMS

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