Super theorized that "career choice was a process, not an event" (Gysbers, p. 23). He emphasized the relation that various life roles had to one another and suggested that our decision to pursue a certain occupation is based on our career's relation to these other roles. These roles change over one's lifetime and require different allotments of time at various developmental stages.
Career maturity/career adaptability: "a readiness to engage in the developmental tasks appropriate to the age and level at which one finds oneself" (Gysbers, p. 24)
- Self-concept is central to Super's theory; the way you perceive yourself and your situation changes over time based on life experiences
- Six major roles:
- Child
- Student
- Homemaker
- Worker
- Citizen
- Leisurite
- Developmental stages:
- Birth
- Growth (0-15)
- Exploration (15-25)
- Establishment (25-45)
- Maintenance (45-65)
- Disengagement (65+)
- Maxicycle and minicycle: Developmental stages listed above (maxicycles) are not necessarily sequential; people cycle back through them within each of these stages (minicycle)
Web source: http://www.careers.govt.nz/educators-practitioners/career-practice/career-theory-models/supers-theory/
