ABSTRACT

An important goal of the social work profession is to maintain a qualified and accessible professional workforce across all practice areas. Little is known about socio-economic diversity among social work students and potential associations with career choices. The purpose of this project is to describe economic circumstances of social work students and to explore any associations between socio-economic status, debt, intent to stay in the social work profession, and their desired practice area. In this sample of social work students in the Southeastern United States, we find that the majority of students work and accrue student loan debt while in school. Parents’ education level was associated with preference to work in healthcare, mental health/substance abuse, and education settings over nonprofit settings. Parents’ income level had a non-linear association with likelihood of staying in the social work field. Students rated stability and health insurance as more important to choosing a job than salary. We find some potential influence of socio-economic status on career choices of social work students. Given this potential influence, educators should provide information about the features of different practice areas in the social work field and strategies for managing debt after graduation, especially for first generation students.

摘要

社会工作专业的一个重要目标是在所有实践领域维持一支合格且可获得的专业劳动力。人们对社会工作专业学生的社会经济多样性以及与职业选择的潜在关联知之甚少。该项目的目的是描述社会工作专业学生的经济状况，并探索社会经济地位、债务、留在社会工作专业的意图与他们期望的实践领域之间的任何关联。在这个美国东南部的社会工作学生样本中，我们发现大多数学生在学校工作并累积学生贷款债务。父母的教育水平与在医疗保健、心理健康/药物滥用和教育机构而非非营利机构的偏好相关。父母的收入水平与留在社会工作领域的可能性呈非线性关联。学生认为稳定性和医疗保险对于选择工作比薪水更重要。我们发现社会经济地位对社会工作专业学生职业选择的一些潜在影响。鉴于这种潜在影响，教育工作者应提供有关社会工作领域不同实践领域的特征以及毕业后管理债务的策略的信息，尤其是针对第一代学生。