According to Anne Roe, a child’s family dynamics early in their life go on to influence their career choices in adulthood. How could that be? Is that actually how it works? What is Roe’s Early Childhood Needs Theory? We’ll cover that and more in this post!
In the category of Career Development on the National Counselor Examination (NCE), the Counselor Preparation Comprehensive Examination (CPCE), or another counseling exam, having a basic understanding of Anne Roe and her theory will be important.
Anne Roe (pronounced Ann Row) was an American psychologist who is famous not only for her work in the area of occupational psychology, but also for her work related to creativity. Roe both founded and directed Harvard’s Center for Research on Careers, and was the 9th woman to become a tenured faculty member at Harvard.
Her theory of early childhood needs is what we’re highlighting here. The basic idea behind this theory is that the personality of a child will impact their career choice later on. She believed that the influence of the family on the child’s personality development was one of the main pieces of this, and placed emphasis on the relationship of the child with their parents.
In other words, she felt that the relationship the child had with their parents would be a key part of their personality development. But, also felt that their relationship and interactions with other family members were also important.
Based on how the child’s early life was, Roe felt that the child would then go on to choose a career that helped meet unconscious needs from their early childhood. That said, she didn’t believe this to be the only influence. She also thought that genetics, intelligence, education, and a person’s ability to handle responsibility were other factors in career choice.
Roe believed that families were either person-oriented or nonperson-oriented. What this meant was that person-oriented families were more warm, accepting, and loving. Roe believed that people who grew up in a person-oriented environment were more likely to go on to have a career that focused on helping others, like counselors, or generally had more contact with people.
For nonperson-oriented families, these were believed to have less importance placed on the interpersonal dynamics within the family. She thought these people would then go to have careers that were not as interpersonally focused.
From her work, Roe was the first to create a classification system for occupations that was two-dimensional in nature. Her system had fields and levels, which were used in the Vocational Interest Inventory and the Career Occupational Preferences System. We’re going to break down these fields and levels next.
Earlier we discussed person-oriented and nonperson-oriented families. The fields of her theories can be split into these categories as well. Meaning that people who are raised in one family type or the other are more likely to choose specific fields.
Person-Oriented Fields
Let’s cover the person-oriented fields first. These four fields are more likely to be a career area for people who were raised in a person-oriented family that placed more emphasis on their interpersonal relationships, as well as love and warmth.
Field 1: Service
The first field is Service. This category is for occupations that serve other people, specifically related to their needs and the welfare of others. Careers in counseling and social work would fit into their category.
Field 2: Business
Second is the Business field. Careers in their area are going to involve working with others with the relationship being limited to the business setting. Careers will be focused on investments, profits, or other similar business matters. An example of a career in this field would be real estate agent.
Field 3: Organization
Organization is the third field. The organization category includes careers with private companies or government agencies. Relationships will tend to be formal in these careers. Often, jobs in this area will focus on the efficiency and productivity of the organization.
Field 4: Culture
Fourth is the field of Culture. A function of these occupations is that they can pass along and help preserve the culture. There is often a focus on groups with these careers rather than the individual. Occupations in this category include journalism, language, and teaching.
Field 5: Arts & Education
The fifth category is Arts and Education. With these careers, people will need to have skills related to their form of art or the style of entertainment that they do. This field may include actors.
Nonperson-Oriented Fields
Now, let’s move on to the nonperson-oriented fields. There are three fields in this category. As a reminder, nonperson-oriented means that there is less importance placed on interpersonal interactions.
Field 6: Technology
The first of these fields is Technology. In this field, careers will work with good, transportation, and maintenance. These occupations tend to be more hands-on and work with tools or equipment more than people. This category might include computer technicians or assembly line work.
Field 7: Outdoor
Outdoor is the next field. These occupations work less with other people and focus more on work with plants, animals, or natural resources. Occupations in this category are often related to plants, drilling or mining, marine life and other wild animals, and more. Loggers and farming jobs would fit into this category.
Field 8: Science
Finally, the last category is Science. These occupations work with developing scientific theories and how they can be applied. Depending on the area of study, more or less contact with people may be involved. For example, work with the natural sciences may have less human contact, and social science work may involve more.
As mentioned earlier, Roe had a two-dimensional system for categorizing careers. We covered the fields, which is the first dimension. The second dimension now are the levels. This means that within each field are the following levels of careers.
Level 1: Unskilled Work
The first level relates to unskilled work. The name is deceiving as it is not that these occupations require no skill. Instead, this category is related to occupations that do not require any special training. These occupations tend to be more repetitive and will require the employee to follow directions.
Level 2: Semi-Skilled Work
Second is the semi-skilled level. These occupations may require experience or some level of training. Those working these jobs may not have much freedom in what they do or how they perform their role.
Level 3: Skilled Work
Skilled work is the next level. Occupations in this category will require special training. This could be in the form of experience or apprenticeship.
Level 4: Semi-Professional Work
The fourth level is semi-professional. There are a few criteria for occupations in this category. They will tend to have a low-level of responsibility, be responsible for applying a policy or only in charge of themselves, and have some level of education.
The next two categories are quite similar and are differentiated by the extent or degree to which they have responsibilities.
Level 5: Professional Managerial 2
The first of these is called Professional Managerial 2. The criteria for this level is a medium level of responsibility for oneself and others, needing to interpret policy, and education at the bachelor’s level or above but below a doctoral-level of education.
Level 6: Professional Managerial 1
Finally, the seventh category is called Professional Managerial 1. At this level, there is independent responsibility. People who are in positions where they are innovators, creators, top managers, and administration likely fit here. Professionals with independent responsibility also fall here. One way to differentiate occupations at this level might be that there are no higher levels of authority. Careers at this level will have a high level of responsibility, make policy, and, when needed, have a high level of education. Meaning, for creative occupations, a high level of education may not be needed. For occupations where education is required, this education is at the doctoral level, or the equivalent in that area.
While Roe’s theory has been studied quite a bit, it might be helpful to know that it has not been well-supported by research. That said, it is a theory that is difficult to study. There are some aspects of the theory, such as a person’s personality influencing their career, that do have some support from the research. However, other aspects are not as well supported, such as the dynamics of the family influencing career choice.
Here’s a final bit of info to help with any counseling exams. Rosenthal suggests that if you have questions related to fields and levels, these questions are likely asking about Anne Roe. Keep this in mind for your next exam!
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