The Effectiveness of the Strength-Centered Career Adjustment Model for Dual-Career Women in Taiwan

The authors investigated the effectiveness of a Strength-Centered Career Adjustment Model for dual-career women (N = 28). Fourteen women in the experimental group received strength-centered career counseling for 6 to 8 sessions; the 14 women in the control group received test services in 1 to 2 sessions. All participants completed the Personal Growth Initiative Scale (PGIS), Job Satisfaction Inventory (JSI), and Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) before and after the counseling sessions or test services. Analysis of covariancc indicated that there were significant differences between the scores of the experimental and the control group on the PGIS and SWLS but not on the JSI. It is now very common for women to continue working after marriage. The reasons that women enter into the workforce are the same as those for men. In addition to financial independence, women also strive for the sense of achievement, professional identity, and meaning in their Ufe. Their career adaptation is actually an integrating process that involves both the traditional and the modern roles women play in society. Clark (2001) stated that a dual-career woman was one who had a career and was the main home-care provider. Women who play the simultaneous roles of worker, mother, wife, and daughter are inclined to experience difBculties in maintaining the quality of their life and personal growth initiative as they struggle with taking care of both their family and their work. During the counseling process, therefore, it is necessary to investigate ways of maintaining the balance between family and work. Career Adjustment Career adjustment cannot be isolated from one's life. Hansen (1997, 2001) identified an emerging trend - the investigation of the combination of work, family, and life on an individual's career adjustment. Different lifestyles result from an individual's life experiences and environment. Jobs have different meanings at different stages of an individual's career adjustment. It is important for dual-career women to realize the multiple roles they play in their life and to understand how to integrate their work life with their family life (Phillips & Imhoff, 1997). There are two main concepts of career adjustment: (a) Adjustment is viewed across the life span, which includes the combination of the multiple dimensions of one's life experience, and (b) adjustment involves the process of identifying individuals' responses to life experiences and the ability to maintain balance relative to one's external environment. In the current study, we focused on the concept that marriage and family considerably influence women's career adjustment. Netemeyer, Boles, and McMurrian (1996) found that work and family interfered greatly with each other. Dual-career women find more conflicts within their multiple role playing in society than do men (Hammer, Allen, & Grigsby, 1997; Tipping, 1997). Haddock, Zimmerman, Ziemba, and Current (2001), Cook, Heppner, and O'Brien (2002), and Coogan and Chen (2007) suggested that balancing the work and family roles was closely related to women's gender role experiences and observations experienced in childhood. Livingston and Judge (2008) indicated that dual-career women were inclined to feel guilty about how well they fulfilled their family role. Hammer et al. ( 1997) suggested that dual-career women had fewer resources and less flexibility in society. Tien (2007) found that dual-career women were not satisfied with their choices regarding maintaining work-family balance. Chuang (2004) also found that the roles that duai-career women played were associated with their job types and their children's age. Netemeyer et al. (1996) stated that dual-career women found less conflict when they had a stable and flexible job, and they experienced greater conflict when their children were younger. Phillips-Miller, Campbell, and Morrison (2000) found that most women could not get sufficient support from their spouses with housework and child care. …