PARENTAL INFLUENCE ON CAREER CHOICE OF THEIR CHILDREN: LITERATURE REVIEW

Background:Parental perception plays a vital role in the life of children including their academic, professional and personal lives. The objective of this study was to search the literature to determine the influence of parents on career choice of their children. Methods: This is a narrative literature review in which iterative approach was used to detect pertinent literature. It concentrated on literature published between year 1990 and 2018. We ran PubMed searches using a variety of combinations of different search terms, related to parental influence on career choice of their children. The initial search focused on career development process in the light of theories of career development. Later on search was narrowed down by concentrating on parental perceptions and influences on career choice of their children. Almost 100 papers were initially assessed and 47 eventually included in the review. Findings: Different definitions of career and career development were explored and career development theorieswere read in detail. It was found that career development is a lifelong process dependent on many factors including, basic personality type and self-concept, family influence, social interactions and academicexcellence. It was also found thatparental perceptions plays dynamic role in childrens? education with respect to academic performance, vocation choice and eventually influence behavior of their children towards career choice. Conclusion: It was concluded from the literature search that parents had a strong influence over the career choices their children make, which can be both intentionally and inadvertently. Their influence can either inspire children to explore a diverse set of potential occupations or to stick to a path they think their parents will approve.