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The current study examined the contribution of hearing loss, social affiliation, and career self-efficacy to adolescents' future perceptions. Participants were 191 11th and 12th grade students: 60 who were deaf, 36 who were deaf or hard of hearing, and 95 who were hearing. They completed the Future Perceptions Scale, the Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy (CDMSE) Scale, and the Self-Efficacy for the Management of Work-Family Conflict Scale. Results indicated that participants who were deaf reported significantly higher levels of future clarity and intensity than the other groups. However, no significant differences were found in career self-efficacy. Hearing status and affiliation and the efficacy to manage future conflict between work and family roles were significant predictors of participants' future clarity. CDMSE was a significant predictor of future planning. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

This study examined the effect of hearing status on role salience and anticipated work-family relations among 101 unmarried young adults aged 20-33 years: 35 with hearing loss (19 hard of hearing and 16 deaf) and 66 hearing. Participants completed the Life Role Salience scale, anticipated conflictual relations scale, anticipated facilitory relations scale, and a background questionnaire. The deaf participants demonstrated a significantly higher level of commitment to work but anticipated the significantly lowest level of conflict. Hearing status was a significant variable in predicting anticipated conflictual relations among all participants. Mode of communication was a significant predictor of conflictual relations among the hearing loss group. Implications for theory and practice were discussed.

To expand work-family conflict (WFC) research to specific occupations, this study investigated how work and family generic and occupation-specific stressors and support variables related to family interfering with work (F [right arrow] W) and work interfering with family (W [right arrow] F) among 230 Israeli high school teachers. Further expanding WFC research, the authors assessed WFC effects on burnout and vigor. Results indicated that W [right arrow] F conflict was related to generic variables and more so to distinctive teaching characteristics (e.g., investment in student behavior and parent-teacher relations). Both W [right arrow] F and F [right arrow] W predicted burnout, whereas only F [right arrow] W predicted vigor. Implications for WFC research and occupational health programs are discussed. (Contains 3 tables.)

Anticipated levels of 2 types of work-family conflict (WFC) were studied among 358 students from 2 universities. The study examined the contribution of gender, parental models of child care and housework, and self-efficacy to the variance in anticipated WFC. Findings demonstrated that the bidirectionality of the relations between work and family life also exists in anticipated conflicts. A number of gender-related differences emerged: Women anticipated higher levels of work interfering with family and family interfering with work and demonstrated lower efficacy in managing these conflicts than did men. Exposure to an egalitarian child care model correlated with lower anticipated levels of work interfering with family. Self-efficacy correlated negatively with both types of conflict. Implications for further research and career programs are discussed. (Contains 4 tables.)

This study examined 74 deaf and hard-of-hearing (D/HH) and 91 hearing high school students regarding their own occupational aspirations and their evaluations of occupational competence (EOCs) for deaf adults. In the EOC, participants rated the suitability of 25 occupations (varying according to prestige and required level of communication) for deaf men and women. The results showed that occupations requiring intensive communication levels, regardless of their prestige, were evaluated as much less suitable for deaf individuals than were those requiring less communication. D/HH adolescents did not find highly prestigious occupations as suitable for deaf adults even when communication barriers were irrelevant. Both D/HH and hearing participants expressed biased evaluations of deaf women's competence, but no further evidence emerged for stereotypic attitudes. Higher educational aspirations among hearing adolescents, especially hearing males, correlated with a higher EOC of deaf adults. No such associations emerged for D/HH participants. No gender effects emerged. Implications of these outcomes for career development, especially for females, were discussed.

Semistructured interviews were conducted with 16 Israeli adolescents and young adults with mild mental retardation to examine their perceptions of the world of work. A consensual qualitative strategy of analysis (C. E. Hill, B. J. Thompson, & E. N. Williams, 1997) yielded 4 domains (Definitions of Work, Reasons for Working, Self-Awareness, Knowledge About the World of Work) and 12 categories. Although respondents showed strong willingness to participate in the world of work, they had little information regarding this realm. Implications are discussed for career development programs targeting young persons with mental retardation and community and family involvement in such programs. (Contains 1 table.)