Career Choice, Barriers, and Prospects of Asian American Social Workers

Abstract

The current study explored factors influencing career choices of Asian American social workers and assessed if their personal characteristics and career-related experiences affected their perceived glass ceiling, perception of ethnic discrimination, and perception of career prospects. A total of 208 Asian American social work administrators, supervisors, practitioners and graduate social work students participated in a comprehensive online survey. Participants provided basic demographic and career-related information and completed a set of measures to explore their reasons of choosing social work as their career, and their career perceptions and prospects. Correlation analyses and multiple regression analyses were used to identify predictors of their perception of ethnic discrimination, perceived glass ceiling, and perception of career prospects. The findings showed that altruistic reasons were very important to extremely important in their choice of social work as their career. Social work idealism was found to associate positively with both altruistic reasons and professional concerns of choosing social work. There was a significant relationship between participant’s immigration status and family influence on their career choice. Those who were not born in the U.S. were more likely to be influenced by their family in their career choice than those who were born in in the U.S. Those whose parents were not born in the U.S. were more likely to be influenced by their family expectations on their career choice than either of their parents was born in the U.S. Perceptions of organizational fairness was found to be a strong predictor of perceived glass ceiling, perception of ethnic discrimination, and perception of career prospects. Implications of the findings for social work education and future research were discussed.

Asian American social workers’ experiences and perspectives on anti-Asian hate

“…According to 2015 data reported by the Council of Social Work Education (CSWE, 2017), Asians represent 3.6% of active social workers; and although underrepresented in human and social service fields, reports indicate that the number of Asian American social workers have been growing steadily over the past decade (Salsberg et al, 2017). It is also worth mentioning that Asian American college students found that their interest in social work was strongly influenced by: (a) the congruence between their personal values and social work values (Lee, 2008;Kwong, 2018); and (b) their commitment to helping people with social problems as opposed to desires of becoming a therapist or the perceived prestige of the profession (Lew, 2005). These examples underscore Asian American's recognition of the social, health, and systemic challenges that uniquely impact historically marginalized groups and their intrinsic motivation for social change.…”

Uno strumento per l’orientamento differenziale in professioni di confine: educatore, insegnante, assistente sociale, psicologo

“…Sono stati elaborati anche strumenti per rilevare motivazioni e interessi specifici sottostanti alla scelta dei percorsi in ambito psicologico (Anja & Diseth, 2020) o alla scelta delle professioni sociali (Kwong, 2018).…”

Perceived barriers to career progression amongst female students: evidence from India and the United Arab Emirates

“…To address gender disparities, there is a greater need for preparedness for younger women, owing to societal and community influences (Kwong, 2018;Paris and Decker, 2016). However, some studies in the past on perceived barriers have proposed that challenges in professional and occupational attainment may be negatively anticipated by marginalized groups (Ó N araigh, 2020).…”