Self-determination theory (SDT) was used to explain the relation of parental autonomy support for making their own decisions and career well-being (i.e., more academic major satisfaction and less subjective career distress). Perceived academic competence and perceived volitional autonomy were posited to mediate the relation of mother’s and father’s autonomy support and career well-being in 113 university students. Perceived academic competence mediated the relation of father’s support and both indicators of career well-being. Perceived volitional autonomy mediated the relation of mother’s support and both indicators of career well-being. A bootstrap procedure yielded significant mediation effects of mother’s and father’s autonomy support on career well-being. Results are discussed in terms of SDT and career well-being.

Self-efficacy in the mathematics/science domain is conceptualized as partially determining whether science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students would persist toward reaching important milestones like graduating with a bachelor’s degree. The authors conducted a longitudinal study to examine if mathematics/science self-efficacy would significantly predict graduation status 4 to 8 years later after high school academic performance and mathematics aptitude were controlled in a university sample of introductory science students. Moreover, they looked at whether mathematics/science self-efficacy would significantly predict graduation status 4 to 8 years later after first semester grade point average (GPA) was controlled in addition to prior performance and aptitude. The sample consisted of 211 university students who graduated with a bachelor’s degree and 69 university students who did not graduate with a bachelor’s degree. The authors reported that mathematics/science self-efficacy significantly predicted graduation status 4 to 8 years later after controlling for prior performance and aptitude. The addition of mathematics/science self-efficacy improved the accuracy of identifying which participants dropped out before graduation by 4.4% in this sample. When first semester GPA was included in the control variables, the incremental contribution of mathematics/science self-efficacy to the prediction of retention status was null as expected. Findings are related to theory and prior research.

The underrepresentation of women in

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Using hierarchical regression, the authors investigated the hypotheses that parental and self-stigma would differentially and negatively predict intentions to seek counseling for White American (n = 318), Asian American (n = 153), and Asian international students. (n = 312). The online study was cross-sectional. Parental stigma positively predicted intentions to seek counseling among Asian international students. The magnitude of this association was significantly greater than it was among White and Asian American students. As expected, self-stigma negatively predicted intentions to seek counseling among White and Asian American students. The magnitude of this association was significantly greater for White American students than it was for Asian international students, for whom self-stigma was not a significant predictor of intentions to seek counseling. This research suggests that the processes through which (a) stigma is felt and (b) stigma impacts psychological help seeking may be associated with one’s ethnicity and culture of origin.