Demographics, Causality, Work Salience, and the Career Maturity of African-American Students: A Causal Model

This study examined a causal model of career maturity based on Super's theory (1953, 1990) and determined its fit to a sample of African-American male and female university students. Using structural equation modeling with data from 288 African-American students (freshman to doctoral levels), the results confirmed that attributions of causality and work salience moderate the effects of sex, SES, and educational level on career maturity. Work salience exerted the strongest direct effect on career maturity, while level of education had the strongest indirect effect. African-American students appeared to express more salience for home and family roles as compared to work or study roles.