Mixed methods study of online career messages among formerly incarcerated individuals and families

One of the most significant challenges that formerly incarcerated individuals and their loved ones face during their reentry process concerns employment. With the goal to better understand these career barriers and the types of resources needed by this community, this study, employing vocational anticipatory socialization (VAS) framework, explored different kinds of career messages that formerly incarcerated individuals and their loved ones seek and provide. More specifically, computational and thematic analyses were used to analyze 10 years of accumulated posts from a Reddit forum (r/ExCons), an online community supporting these highly stigmatized individuals. Results are currently being analyzed, with emerging findings providing valuable practical and theoretical insights on career support gaps for this community as well as VAS research.