Career indecision and career exploration among older French adolescents: The specific role of general trait anxiety and future school and career anxiety

This study examined the relationship between two forms of adolescent anxiety, career exploration and career indecision. Two-hundred and forty-two French senior high school students filled out a self-report questionnaire that measured career indecision, frequency of career exploration, general trait anxiety, and fear of failing in one’s academic and occupational careers. The results showed that adolescent career indecision and career exploration were positively and significantly related to general trait anxiety and career anxiety. Nevertheless, career anxiety accounted for an additional part of the variance in career exploration and, to a lesser extent, in career indecision. General trait anxiety accounted for an additional part of the variance in career indecision only. In addition, general trait anxiety and career anxiety mediated the relationship between career indecision and career exploration. The discussion focuses on the role of anxiety (personality trait anxiety or an emotion connected to one’s future) in career development. It also addresses the implications of these results for improving counseling practices.     

Time perspective in vocational maturity and career decision making

This study investigated the hypothesis that time perspective is a component in vocational maturity and career decision making. Ninety-seven college freshmen responded to two measures of time perspective and seven measures selected to represent attitudinal vocational maturity, cognitive vocational maturity, and career decision making. The nine variables were intercorrelated and the resulting matrix was subjected to alpha factor analysis. Three factors were extracted and titled Attitudinal Vocational Maturity, Cognitive Vocational Maturity, and Career Decision Making. As predicted, time perspective was a component in the Attitudinal Vocational Maturity and Career Decision-Making factors. The results supported the hypothesis and specifically linked time perspective to planfulness and degree of indecision.     

高三学生生涯未决的类型研究

生涯未决是生涯决策研究的一个重要问题。本文通过生涯决策困难和职业认同等测量工具调查了300名高中生,试图探讨生涯未决的类型。采用聚类分析,结果发现了5类未决类型:不知所措型、犹豫不决型、不良信念型、动机不足型、应对良好型。对总体决策困难和职业认同的差异检验证实了这五种类型。     

The predictive efficiency of Holland's SDS summary codes in terms of career choice: A four-year follow-up

This study was designed to investigate the predictive efficiency of the primary and secondary summary codes of Holland's Self-Directed Search for Educational and Vocational Planning (SDS) in terms of expressed career choice 4 years later. In 1974, 126 voiationally undecided high school seniors were given the SDS, followed by a revision of Trow's Vocational Choice Inventory (VCI) in which they were asked to express a career choice or a state of indecision. In 1978, this same group was mailed a posttest VCI; the responses of 84 subjects were then analyzed. The subjects' expressed career choices on both the 1974 and 1978 VCI were compared to the primary and secondary summary codes on the SDS which they had taken in 1974. Inspection of the responses indicated that 21.4% of the subjects had made career choices predicted by their primary summary codes and 51.2% had made vocational choices found among their secondary summary codes. Only 27.4% chose a career area not predicted by their 1974 SDS results. The results of this study appear to lend support to the validity of using the SDS summary codes to predict eventual career decisions.     

Persistent career indecision over time: Links with personality,barriers, self-efficacy,and life satisfaction

Taking control over one's career requires the ability to make career decisions; thus, remaining in a state of career indecision is problematic. However, the stability of career indecision has not yet been investigated using advanced statistical modeling approaches. We present two studies of German university students applying three-wave, longitudinal designs. Study 1 investigated the stability of career indecision by means of latent state-trait analysis within two samples with different time lags (Sample 1: N = 363, 7 weeks; Sample 2: N = 591, 6 months). The results indicated that career indecision was determined by a stable component (i.e., trait career indecisiveness) that was associated with lower core self-evaluations, lower occupational self-efficacy, and higher perceived career barriers. Study 2 (N = 469) examined career indecision over one year. We found that the stable career indecision component explained 5% of the variance in student life satisfaction beyond self-evaluated generalized indecisiveness.     

The effect of Decisions and Outcomes on the career maturity of high school students

Most high school students have difficulty making effective career decisions. To address this problem, the investigators examined the impact of the College Entrance Examination Board's Decisions and Outcomes Program on the career maturity of 11th-grade high school students. The study demonstrated that the program can increase students' career maturity in specific areas. In addition, the study supported previous research that has demonstrated that students with greater ego identity produce higher scores on certain attitude components of career maturity. Overall, Decisions and Outcomes was most successful in facilitating the affective domain of career maturity.     

The effect of a career adaptability psycho-educational programme on coping with career indecision and career adaptability: A pilot study

This study aimed to examine the effects of a career construction theory-oriented Career Adaptability Psycho-educational Programme on career adaptability and coping with career indecision in Turkish high school students. Twenty-six participants took part in the experimental design. A split-plot (mixed) design of 2 × 3 (experimental/control groups X pretest/posttest/follow-up test) was used. It was found that the Career Adaptability Psycho-educational Programme has a significant effect on coping with career indecision and career adaptability; the same effect was found for the follow-up measures completed 4 months later.     

Holland's SDS: Is its effectiveness contingent upon selected variables?

This study was designed to investigate the differential effectiveness of Holland's Self Directed Search (SDS) as a vocational guidance tool for 166 junior-class students in a suburban regional high school. The SDS was administered to 90 girls and 76 boys who were subsequently interviewed and asked to state current first and second vocational choices. The relation between these choices and the students' three-letter SDS codes was translated into numerical Congruence Scores. Students were also grouped according to: (1) their SDS codes' level of consistency with Holland's hexagonal model; (2) differentiation of codes; (3) level of mental ability; and (4) level of achievement. Four two-way analyses of variance were used to assess the effect of these variables on Congruence Scores; in each analysis, sex was the second classification in order to measure interaction-effects. Results indicated no significant mean differences on Congruence Scores attributable to these variables. The effectiveness of the SDS as a career inventory does not appear to be contingent upon them.     

Career salience,work values,and vocational indecision

The purpose of this study was to relate vocational indecision to (a) the level of career salience or priority and (b) the importance attached to specific work values. One hundred fifty-three students participated in the study. It was found that low career salience was associated with a relatively high incidence of vocational indecision. In addition, students who were vocationally undecided tended to place less importance on intrinsic work values than did students who were committed to an occupation. The results suggest that there may be two sources of vocational indecision: high career-salience students who value intrinsic rewards and low career-salience students who do not value intrinsic rewards. Given the relatively small percentage of variance in vocational indecision accounted for in the present study, the need for future research was emphasized.     

Derivatives of the Self-Directed Search: Potential clinical and evaluative uses

Four derivatives of the Self-Directed Search (SDS), accuracy in estimating one's profile, differentiation of one's six SDS personality types, consistency of the types within one's summary code, and congruence of the summary code with the preferred occupational area, were computed and correlated with other indices of career maturity for 138 community college students. Accuracy in estimating one's SDS profile correlated significantly with five other career maturity indices, but the other derivatives tended not to relate to the other career maturity criteria. The discussion examines the implications of using the Accuracy derivative to identify clients in need of assistance with career development and to unobtrusively evaluate career development interventions, and it suggests ways of increasing the reliability of the derivatives and promising directions for further research.     

Career Decision‐Making Self‐Efficacy Change in Italian High School Students

The authors explored the effects of a structured‐group career intervention among 280 Italian high school students. Hierarchical linear models indicated the intervention's effectiveness in increasing career decision‐making self‐efficacy and, consequently, career exploration, but not in decreasing career choice anxiety. In addition, partial confirmation was found for the moderating effects of participants' expectations and motivation to change on the relationship between career decision‐making self‐efficacy and career choice anxiety. The findings support the development of a systematic vocational guidance program in Italian schools.     

Personality,interests, and career indecision: a multidimensional perspective

Researchers have consistently linked neuroticism to career indecision; however, other personality traits have been inconsistent predictors despite sound theoretical arguments. Similarly, little research has examined a trait‐based analysis of the relationship between vocational interests and career indecision. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the structure of career indecision and to examine the prediction of this construct as both a unidimensional and multidimensional construct. Results suggest that career indecision is multifaceted and that both personality and vocational interests are more strongly related to career indecision than has been suggested by past research. Furthermore, consideration of this multidimensional nature can explain past inconsistencies in the relationships between indecision and personality.     

The influence of a career group experience on the vocational maturity of college students

The effects of a career group experience on the vocational maturity of theoretically grouped college freshmen and sophomores were investigated using Super's Career Development Inventory as the dependent measure. The dimensions of consistency/inconsistency and differentiation/nondifferentiation, as identified utilizing Holland's Vocational Preference Inventory, were investigated along with the dimensions of treatment/nontreatment and interaction effects. Predictions related to change in vocational maturity as a result of treatment were made for each dimension. The analysis sample was a group of 68 volunteer freshman and sophomore college students. Results indicated that students did significantly increase their vocational maturity as a result of the group experience. Furthermore, it was found, as predicted, that within experimental groups inconsistent and nondifferentiated students improved significantly more on some vocational maturity measures than consistent or differentiated students. Students who were both inconsistent and nondifferentiated showed consistently greater increases on virtually all vocational maturity measures than all other theoretical groups.     

Reference group perspectives and the vocational maturity of lower socioeconomic black youth

The reference group perspectives of 188 lower socioeconomic black high school seniors were found to be related to their career maturity. Students who evidenced an orientation toward middle-class reference group perspectives obtained higher vocational maturity scores than those who subscribed to reference perspectives traditionally associated with the lower class. Students' sex and family background were not related to their reference group perspectives or to their vocational maturity ratings. It was found that students' post-high school plans (either work- or college-bound) and their views of the opportunity structure of America were related to both their reference group perspectives orientation and their career maturity scores. Questions are raised concerning the relevance of the term career maturity for analyzing the career development of lower socioeconomic black youth.     

Applications of self-efficacy theory to the understanding and treatment of career indecision

The present study was designed to investigate the utility of Bandura's self-efficacy theory to the understanding and treatment of career indecision. More specifically, the study involved the development of a measure of self-efficacy expectations with regard to 50 tasks or behaviors required in career decision making and the examination of the relationships of career decision-making self-efficacy to several components of vocational indecision. A total of 346 subjects, 154 students attending a private liberal arts college and 193 students attending a large state university, were administered the measure of career decision-making self-efficacy expectations and the Career Decision Scale (Osipow, Carney, Winer, Yanico, & Koschier, Columbus, Ohio: Marathon Consulting and Press, 1980). In addition, Scholastic Aptitude Test verbal and math scores were obtained for the liberal arts students, and American College Test math and English subtest scores were obtained for the state university students. Results indicated first that college students in general express considerable confidence in their ability to complete the tasks necessary to make career decisions. In addition, however, the strength of students' career decision-making self-efficacy expectations was strongly and negatively related to overall levels of career indecision and was, in particular, related to the component of indecision described as a lack of structure and confidence with respect to career decisions. Relationships of career decision-making self-efficacy expectations to ability level were negligible. Based on the findings of this study it is suggested that the concept of career-related self-efficacy expectations provides a useful framework for the understanding, assessment, and treatment of at least some of the antecedents to vocational indecision.     

Relieving career anxiety and indecision: the role of undergraduate students’ perceived control and faculty affiliations

As educators and mentors, we often focus on helping undergraduate students make career decisions. However, there is also value in helping alleviate career anxiety and indecision, both of which impede decision-making and are not automatically resolved once a decision is made. This research examined the role of individual differences (age, gender, and perceived control) and learning environment variables (year in university, participation in an orientation program, and faculty affiliations) as predictors of undergraduates’ (n = 844) career-related anxiety and indecision. Traditional individual difference variables like age and gender had little effect whereas perceived control (primary and secondary) predicted lower levels of career anxiety and indecision. The outcomes were not influenced by environmental factors such as year in university or completion of an orientation program, but students’ self-reported faculty affiliation had significant effects. Students who were not affiliated with any specific faculty reported more indecision than students in arts, science, and professional faculties. Likewise, students in professional faculties had less career anxiety and career indecision than arts students. The implications of these results for potential interventions and future research are discussed.     

Sex differences in coping with career decision making

Sex differences in coping with career decision making were investigated among 247 undergraduate students. Men and women differed on three of four coping factors. Men scored significantly higher on Self-Efficacy Behavior (p < .05) while women scored higher than men on Reactive Behavior (p < .01) and Support-Seeking Behavior (p < .001) strategies. Coping factors were investigated in relation to career decidedness. Although men and women differed on the coping factors, the pattern of relationships between coping and career indecision was virtually identical for both sexes. Self-Efficacy Behavior (Factor 1) was negatively related to career indecision while Symptom-Altering/Avoidant Behavior (Factor 2) was positively related to indecision for both men and women.     

Inter-relationships among attachment to mother and father, self-esteem, and career indecision

This study investigated the mediating role of adolescents’ global self-esteem, based on the relationship between adolescents’ mother or father attachment and their career indecision; as well as the mediating role of adolescents’ career indecision on the relationship between mother or father attachment and self-esteem. Two hundred and forty-one adolescents completed a self-report questionnaire that measured the difficulty in making decisions about their future academic and vocational careers, their global self-esteem, and their attachment to their parents. Results showed that the more adolescents felt attached to their mother and father the easier it was for them to make career decisions. The self-esteem mediation hypothesis is supported as a function of parent and adolescent gender. Similarly, the mediating role of career indecision is confirmed and depends on the gender of both parents and adolescents. Interpersonal context, identity development, adolescent career development and the relationship between them are discussed.     

Insecure attachment and career indecision: Mediating effects of anxiety and pessimism

The purpose of this study was to examine a theoretically-based model in which insecure attachment is related to career indecision through the mediation of negative emotions. Two hundred college students completed questionnaires measuring anxious and avoidant dimensions of insecure attachment, negative emotions (trait and career-choice anxiety, trait and career-choice pessimism), and career indecision. Path analysis indicated that anxious attachment was indirectly related to career indecision through a full mediation of career-choice anxiety and career-choice pessimism (but not through the trait emotions). Avoidant attachment was neither related to the negative emotions nor to career indecision. These findings contribute to the understanding of the linkage between internalized relationships with significant others and career planning and development, and highlight the important role that career-choice-related emotions play in the process of career decision making. In light of the findings, implications and recommendations regarding career development, career counseling interventions, and preventive measures aimed at reducing career indecision are presented.