Past research has found that characteristics associated with giftedness make career decisions dificult for gifted youth. This study investigated the difficulties experienced by gifted youth and the factors they consider as they make career decisions. Interviews were conducted with 30 gifted adolescents a t three strategic decision-making points. A content analysis of the interview transcripts found 20 factors that gifted adolescents identified as important to their career decisions. These factors clustered into fivc groups: ( a ) sensitivity to others' expectations, ( b ) perfectionism, (c) developmental issues, (d ) superior intelligence, and (el multipotentiality. Sensitivity to others' expectations and perfectionism were the factors considered most frequently. Implications of the findings include preventive work with parents and teachers of gifted youth, use of career role models and exploratory work experiences, and research into the actual expectations held for gifted youth by the adults who influence them.

A comprehensive conceptualization of concerns and benefits experienced by dual career couples is presented. Counseling implications are provided to address the concerns. Counselors are asked to expand their roles to help couples challenge unquestioned societal values and practices and uniquely define their own standards for success in career and family roles.

A report of the 1989 NCDA survey of the perceptions of American adults of their career planning, the nature of their workplaces, and the availability of and utility of occupational information is presented. The survey, which was administered by the Gallup Organization, included an oversampling of Hispanics, African Americans, and Asian‐Pacific Islanders. Although the results for all groups including Whites are presented, the emphasis is upon the perceptions of minority groups.

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This study investigated the influences on the career decisions of women who grew up in a rural community. Forty women were interviewed who graduated in the upper 10% of their high school classes in the 1950s, '60s, '70s, and '80s. The results are described in three components: gender role beliefs, factors, and contexts. Gender role beliefs were the most pervasive influences found. Other factors were (a) information, (b) meeting others' expectations, (c) barriers, (d) sense of empowerment, (e) conditions of work, and (f) personal values. The participants were also affected by their social and historical contexts and their development stages.Little research has examined the rural community as a context of women's career choice. Most ofthe research on women's career development has studied women from urban areas (), few included the factor of rural upbringing in their analysis. Fitzgerald and Betz (1994) noted the disproportionate focus of career theory and research on White, middle-class, heterosexual individuals and their inattention to the effects of structural and cultural factors on vocational behavior. The rural community provides a different set of structural and cultural factors than does the more commonly studied urban community. Information about rural influences will help clarify the role of context in the career development and choice processes of women. Thus, this study identified influences on Mary E.