Affiliations: Indiana State University, Terre Haute, IN, USA | West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA
Note: [] Address for correspondence: Angela Zimmerman, Indiana State
University School of Education, Department of Counseling, Terre Haute, IN
47809, USA. Tel.: +1 954 464 6024; E-mail: healthy.relationships@hotmail.com
Abstract: Many career development studies have linked career indecision, an
inability to make a decision about the vocation one wishes to pursue, to
interpersonal and intrapersonal processes. Systems theory can help to explain
the processes behind these concepts in a way that other theories have not been
able to explain. Systems Theory Framework, (STF, Patton and McMahon, 1997),
incorporates both the contextual system, e.g., parents and peers, and the
individual system (i.e., STF's content component). Process, the
second component, identifies the presence of recursive interaction processes
within the individual and the context, as well as, between the individual and
the context. STF brings back the value of interdependence. Specific systemic
constructs are useful in career decision-making and can add a practical
dimension on to the counseling process.
