REVISITING THE BOTTLENECK HYPOTHESIS: EXAMINING THE CONTRIBUTION OF SEXUAL IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT TO THE CAREER EXPLORATION AND DECISION-MAKING OF SEXUAL MINORITY COLLEGE STUDENTS

Abstract

Cheryl Hetherington (1991) proposed that sexual minority (LGBQ) college students’ sexual identity development conflicts with their career development, creating a “bottleneck” of limited time and psychological energy to contribute to both processes (which may be referred to as the bottleneck hypothesis). A small body of literature has supported this hypothesis but given both methodological limitations in the prior research and societal shifts regarding sexual minority individuals, a reexamination is warranted. This study used a social cognitive career theory framework to investigate whether sexual minority college students have greater difficulties in the career exploration and decision-making process than heterosexual students and whether indicators of both psychological and social aspects of sexual identity development explain unique variance in several career decision-making outcomes. The sample consisted of N = 512 undergraduate students who completed an online survey (n = 225 sexual minority and n = 287 heterosexual). Results showed no significant differences in the mean scores of the two groups on career decision-making process and outcome variables, such as career decision-making anxiety and level of career decidedness. The same sets of social cognitive predictors also accounted for significant variance in career-related exploratory goals, career decision-making anxiety, and career decidedness in both groups of students. One group-specific difference was, however, observed at the level of individual social cognitive predictors: the presence of social support for career decision-making uniquely predicted exploratory goals in the heterosexual sample but not in the sexual minority sample. In addition, a few indicators of sexual identity development explained unique variance in the career exploration and decisional outcomes beyond the social cognitive predictors. Notably, sexual minority students reporting higher levels of identity concealment held relatively fewer career-related exploratory goals. The study’s implications for Hetherington’s (1991) hypothesis of a bottleneck effect and for future research on sexual minority students’ career exploration and decision-making are discussed.