Family Dysfunction, Parental Attachment, and Career Search Self-Efficacy Among Community College Students

The relationship between family dysfunction, parental attachment, and career search self-efficacy was examined using a sample of 220 community college students. For the total sample, attachment to mother and father, and degree of family dysfunction combined to account for 14% of the variance in career search self-efficacy. Data were analyzed separately for men and women, which yielded results consistent with the literature. For women, attachment to mother and degree of family dysfunction combined to account for 17% of the variance in career search self-efficacy. For men, attachment to mother was the only significant predictor and accounted for 9% of the variance in career search self-efficacy. Implications for research and practice are described.