| This dissertation reviews a social cognitive framework for career development, which has been applied to adults and adolescents, and examines the framework's relevance to elementary school students. In addition, a social cognitive intervention consisting of self-regulated learning strategies (SRL) was examined concerning the intervention's influence on various career development variables. Measures of mathematics self-efficacy, outcome expectations, interests, and intentions were selected for two major purposes: (a) to test the hypotheses that the SRL strategies intervention influences each of these constructs in fifth-grade students, and (b) to examine the career development framework's applicability for use with children. The results revealed that the SRL strategies intervention effectively increased the mathematics self-efficacy of students in regular track (as opposed to gifted track) classes. For students in gifted track classes, however, the SRL strategies intervention did not influence mathematics self-efficacy. With respect to the career development framework, the results suggest that the framework is applicable for use with children. A particularly noteworthy finding was the absence of gender differences in mathematics self-efficacy for fifth-grade students, given previous research revealing lower math/science self-efficacy in women than in men. Specific directions for future research are identified and arguments supporting the importance of early intervention in enhancing girls' mathematics self-efficacy are presented. |
