The aim of the study is to understand how the family influences the choice of
becoming a psychologist and how an occupational choice is repeated in the family, via
intergenerational transmission. We interviewed seven female students in a Master of Science
in Psychology : first, they filled in a genosociogramm including data about occupations of
their ancestors on about four generations ; then, they took part into a semi-structured
qualitative enquiry. Our results have shown that a little bit less than half of the subjects have
a parent who have social or care jobs, but more than half if we add the grand-parents. In a
conscious level, subjects tend to deny any kind of family influence, in the majority ;
afterwards, they discover influences they didn't notice. Secondly, the content analysis
reveals five categories of family influence : the educational path (doubts, choices), the choice
of psychology via the development of self-efficacy (interest, personality and soft skills), the
exploration of occupations and activities during childhood and adulthood (leisure activities,
professional world, suggestions, advice, education), the transmission of values (immaterial
and material) and the family relationships during childhood and teenage years (relationship
issues and difficulties, confidences and secrets, relationships and role in the brotherhood
and/or sisterhood). The importance for the career counselor to investigate the relational
context of his/her consultant is discussed, as much as the need for him to think about his
own motivations to help others, linked with his family background.