Career/Life

Emergence

Career/life first emerged in the 1970s as theorists and practitioners sought a new model and language (career/life or life/career) to more effectively describe and deal with the realities of individuals struggling with problems associated with balancing work and other life roles such as homemaking, marriage, parenting, and attending school to either enter or advance within the labor market. Many of these persons were midcareer changers, some of whom were women labeled as displaced homemakers and enrolled in women in transition programs. The new term, career/life, coined by E. A. Colozzi in 1977 and reported by E. A. Colozzi and F. P. Haehnlen in their work in Hawaii and the Pacific Basin Rim region, was initially utilized for older adults in transition and later expanded to younger students in college and school-aged youth. Perhaps the most articulate and visually appealing representation of this model is D. E. Super's life/career rainbow that depicts the nine major roles played by people throughout the life-space and life-span continuum of their lives. His conception of the term life/career and subsequent writings have introduced many graduate students to this new paradigm as they are taught how to effectively assist their clients with making decisions about work and life roles.

Intertwined Career and Personal Issues

Paramount in the early development of this paradigm was recognition that people's lives were complex and woven together with rich stories across life roles that provided important threads of relevance, informed decision making, and were all part of a continuous life journey that involved constant change and multiple transitions. Career and personal issues were now seen as intertwined, as they always have been. Work situations and relationships affect nonwork roles, and all of the nonwork roles directly affect the work role, including productivity and job satisfaction.

A divorce or unexpected death of a spouse can trigger a major transition for a woman who has primarily [Page 1489]been a homemaker and finds herself trying to support her three children as a single parent while taking classes at a community college to prepare for employment. Suddenly the old rules are no longer relevant, and dramatic changes may have occurred across several life roles requiring adjustment, coping skills, and a discovering of a whole set of new rules for survival during her continuing life journey.

Vocational Guidance Roots

This paradigm shift has challenged the vocational psychology and the career development professions to better understand vocational behavior and to develop effective interventions that are relevant to this context of career/life. A brief review of the history of vocational psychology and vocational guidance will help one understand the emergence of career/life during the past 30 years.

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