Intrapersonal, familial, and cultural factors in the commitment to a career choice of Mexican American and non-Hispanic White college women

These 2 studies assessed intrapersonal, familial, and cultural factors in the process of committing to a career choice of 91 and 71 Mexican American (MA) and 52 and 76 non-Hispanic White (NHW) college women. Factors different from what previous theory and research have suggested may propel the commitment to a career choice in these 2 groups. MA women's commitment to a career choice was influenced more by their instrumentality and less by their expressiveness or their parents; NHW's commitment was influenced by familial factors rather than by intrapersonal factors in Study 1 and by instrumentality in Study 2. These findings underscore the need to investigate intrapersonal, contextual factors and culture in women's processes of committing to a career choice.