Research
Why Career Puppy? The Research Behind the Model
Career Puppy provides a powerful opportunity that may be especially important for those who otherwise lack access to career development resources. Having an expanded view of career options and the resources to help guide decisions is linked to a strengthening of self-confidence and future goal setting, which have been shown to provide youth with positive decision-making skills to avoid risky behaviors, including drug and alcohol use.
Career Puppy and the 40 Developmental Assets TM
Teaching youth life skills promotes healthy development to adulthood, acts as a protective factor against substance use and other risky behaviors, and broadens the horizon of opportunities (1). CareerPuppy.com™ aims to foster growth in each subcategory of the 40 Developmental Assets TM (2). The assets are building blocks that are necessary for youth to develop into thoughtful, capable and dynamic adults. A key objective of CareerPuppy.com™ is to promote assets in each of these categories by providing youth with the resources to explore and discover more about themselves and their career identity, to deliver support and guidance from Career Puppy, Inc. ™ mentors, and to furnish tools to aid in their journey; all fortifying self-efficacy and future orientation. By providing youth with information and guidance, CareerPuppy.com™ encourages independent decision-making: a skill that can be translated into all domains of life, particularly with decisions about risky behaviors (1).
Career Puppy and Vicarious Learning
Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory (3) states that vicarious learning occurs by observing models that perform behaviors; observers then learn “knowledge, values, cognitive skills, and new styles of behavior” (4 ). One of the main tenets of CareerPuppy.com™ is vicarious learning. Viewing streaming videos of people who have had similar beginnings or possibly share the same ethnicity or race will raise their confidence that they can engage in the career and succeed.
Career Puppy and Mentors
Many youth do not have an appropriate frame of reference for the vast landscape of potential careers available to them. They may lack mentors who are in the careers they might want to explore (5, 6). It is important for them to be able to fully investigate career options from sources that are compelling so they can find the best fit (7, 8-9). It is important for youth to have adult mentors. This is significant as a protective factor against substance use. A goal of Career Puppy is to remove these barriers so youth can have a richer experience during their career quest.
Career Puppy and the Prevention of Risky Behaviors
CareerPuppy.com™ provides exposure to careers that youth may have never considered and develop a stronger confidence that they will be able to achieve the careers they have developed an interest in pursuing. This self-efficacy will lead to their constructing goals for a career path and education to accomplish those goals. This future orientation will empower them to persevere in school and give them the confidence to avoid risky behaviors such as substance use. As they achieve those goals, they continue to build self-efficacy, future orientation and improve their vulnerabilities which will improve their life situation.
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