Refining Measurement of Career Indecision Types: A Validity Study

The authors conducted this study to address some of the limitations in previous indecision typology research and to provide validity evidence for the indecision types that were derived. The participants were 566 first‐semester, undecided students enrolled in a career exploration course. Career indecision, personality, and ability measures were used to derive career indecision types through cluster analysis. Four distinct career indecision types were identified. Subsequently, the effect of indecision type on response to a career exploration course was examined. Level of career indecision, the criterion variable, was not differentially affected by indecision type. Implications of the findings for career counseling are discussed.     

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.     

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.     

The relationship of career indecision and anxiety: A multivariate examination

Authors have usually concluded that attempts to determine the factors that constitute career indecision have led to a confusing picture. Anxiety is one factor that has been typically related to career indecision. Because of the central role that anxiety plays in theories of personality and human behavior, its relationship to career indecision is particularly important. This article reports an empirical study of the relationship of anxiety and career indecision. Canonical correlation analysis and factor analysis were used in examining the relationship of a set of four measures of career indecision and a set of four measures of anxiety. Results suggest a substantial, unidimensional relationship exists between the two sets of measures.     

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.     

Career indecision: Three factors from decision theory

Three factors of indecision are derived from decision theory: being insufficiently informed about the alternatives, valuation problems, and uncertainty about the outcomes. The three factors are studied in high school students’ career decision process of choosing further studies. Using factor analysis, we found empirical evidence for a differentiation between the three theoretical sources of career indecision: an information factor, a valuation factor, and an outcomes factor, but only the valuation factor and the outcomes factor seem to associate empirically with career indecision. The importance of both factors for career indecision was further supported by their intermediate role between general indecisiveness and career indecision.     

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.     

青少年早期职业不确定性及其影响因素

本文首先总结了国外有关青少年早期职业不确定性的研究进展,包括职业不确定性的认知和情感成分、早期职业不确定性与有效求职行为之间的联系;其次,进一步分析了影响青少年早期职业不确定性的各种主要因素,如个性差异、职业兴趣、人口学变量、早期工作经验和家庭环境;最后,对未来有关早期职业不确定性的研究方向提出展望。     

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。     

高中生职业生涯困惑、自我同一性和亲子依恋之间的关系研究

对700名高中学生进行问卷调查,考察高中生职业生涯困惑、自我同一性地位和亲子依恋之间的关系。结果发现:(1)意识形态领域中的四类同一性地位和人际领域的弥散型地位对职业生涯困惑有直接影响。(2)母亲依恋中的沟通因子和父亲依恋中的三个因子对中学生职业生涯困惑有直接的影响。(3)亲子依恋中的母亲沟通、父亲沟通和父亲信任因子对中学生职业生涯困惑具有直接和间接的影响;母亲疏离因子和父亲疏离因子通过自我同一性地位间接地影响中学生职业生涯困惑。     

The role of ambiguity tolerance in career decision making

The role of ambiguity tolerance in career decision making was examined in a sample of college students (n = 275). Three hypotheses were proposed regarding the direct prediction of ambiguity tolerance on career indecision, the indirect prediction of ambiguity tolerance on career indecision through environmental and self explorations, and the moderation effect of ambiguity tolerance on the link of environmental and self explorations with career indecision. Results supported the significance of ambiguity tolerance with respect to career indecision, finding that it directly predicted general indecisiveness, dysfunctional beliefs, lack of information, and inconsistent information, and moderated the prediction of environmental exploration on inconsistent information. The implications of this study are discussed and suggestions for future research are provided.     

Role of perfectionism and Five-Factor model traits in career indecision

Although perfectionism has been linked to a variety of mental health problems, the relevance of perfectionism in other life domains is just beginning to receive attention. Given the evidence that personality plays an important role in career choice and adjustment, the present study evaluated whether aspects of perfectionism make any unique contribution to the prediction of career indecision beyond certain traits of the Five-Factor model that may also be related to career indecision. Results showed that both maladaptive and adaptive perfectionism accounted for unique variance in career decision-making self-efficacy beyond variance predicted by neuroticism, extraversion, openness, and conscientiousness. In contrast, only maladaptive perfectionism accounted for unique variance in certainty of career commitment beyond variance predicted by neuroticism and conscientiousness. Results are discussed in terms of perfectionism, the role of personality in career indecision, and implications for career counseling.     

Career Indecision: A Family Systems Perspective

In existing theories of vocational development career indecision is generally attributed to character deficits in the young adult. The authors present an alternative, family systems perspective on career indecision. Also, they speculate on the family patterns that contribute to career indecisiveness and on the functions that this problem may serve within the larger family network.     

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.     

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.     

An examination of career indecision and application to dispositional authenticity

Authenticity has been viewed as a dimension related to life satisfaction, but we propose that authenticity is related to career outcomes. In this study, we examined the relation between authenticity and career indecision. Authenticity was assessed by the Authenticity Scale and it was found to be moderately related to different indices of career indecision in a sample of 537 undergraduate university students. Results are discussed in terms of their clinical and research implications and encourage a broader perspective in conceptualizing vocational concerns.     

The reliability/generalizability of the construct of career indecision

When examining the reliability of measures of career indecision an expectation has been stability of scores between test and retest. It has been suggested that perhaps the construct of career indecision was not stable and modest test-retest correlations would be an accurate reflection of an inherently unstable construct. Using generalizability theory, we found that stability (i.e., the person × occasion variance component) varied according to the difficulty in making a career decision.     

Mapping the Domain of Career Decision Problems

The domain of career decision problems has not been adequately explored. Consequently, it is difficult to determine how well existing instruments sample the career indecision construct. The authors conducted a factor analysis of the Career Decision Scale, Career Factors Inventory, and Career Decision Difficulties Questionnaire with undecided college students to explore the indecision domain. They found six reliable factors: Lack of Information, Need for Information, Trait Indecision, Disagreement with Others, Identity Diffusion, and Choice Anxiety. They conducted a cluster analysis of these six factors to explore the structure of the indecision domain and found three clusters: Information Deficit/Identity Diffusion, Decision Process Inhibitors, and Choice Inhibitors. The authors propose a definition of the domain of career decision problems, discuss implications of the results for career counseling, and critique existing instruments on their coverage of the domain.