The relation of social status to the career decision-making process

The relation of social status to individuals’ career decision self-efficacy (CDSE) and choice certainty was explored using a new, multifaceted measure of social status, the differential status identity scale (DSIS;, Brown, M. T., D’Agruma, H. D., Brown, A., Sia, A., Yamini-Diouf, Y., Porter, S., et al. (2002). Differential status identity: Construct, measurement, and initial validation. In Symposium presented during the annual convention of the American Psychological Association, Chicago, Illinois.). CDSE was also examined as a potential mediator between social class and career choice certainty. Pilot data and exploratory analyses supported the psychometric properties of the DSIS and the incremental utility of the DSIS over traditional, sociological indices of social class. Results for our college student sample indicated that greater access to economic resources, social prestige, and social power each related to higher levels of CDSE, but that the three facets did not contribute incrementally to CDSE. In addition, social status was related to career choice certainty, but this relation was fully mediated by CDSE.