States that the construct of maturation's central role in career development theory seems outdated. Introduces the five articles concerning career maturity contained in this journal issue. (MKA)

Investigates the level of career maturity of adjudicated and nonadjudicated high school students with and without disabilities. No significant differences existed between nonadjudicated and adjudicated students without disabilities. Adjudicated students with emotional and learning disabilities scored significantly lower than nonadjudicated…

A literature review on the Career Development Inventory since 1979 found support for its sensitivity and specificity as a measure of readiness to make educational and vocational choices. Research is needed on its predictive validity. Revision should address increasing the reliability of the two cognitive scales. (63 references) (SK)

Reports cross-sectional data from 1,971 Australian adolescents who completed the Career Decision Scale and the Career Development Inventory. Results illustrate a developmental progression in career maturity, although a less uniform pattern emerged with gender differences. Findings regarding career indecision also presented a complex picture and…

A review of literature on three career development constructs--career maturity, career decision-making self-efficacy, and career indecision--identified the usefulness and validity of each and strengths and weaknesses of relevant research. A close relationship suggests they should be investigated together and more systematically. Revision of career…

Westbrook (1983) challenged the validity of the construct "career maturity" because measures such as the Career Maturity Inventory Attitude Scale (Crites, 1973) correlate to measures of mental ability. Rather than interpreting this association as evincing lack of discriminant validity, the association should be interpreted as supporting…

Compares the expectations for career counseling and the level of career maturity among trauma survivors and nonsurvivors who participated in a program at a social service agency. Findings indicate that trauma survivors were more motivated and open to counseling, but expected their counselors to be less empathic. No differences were noted on career…

Demonstrates difficulty in proving medium-term and long-term effects of career maturity on career adjustment and the connection with research and theoretical shortcomings. Presents empirical evidence supporting self-concept orientation in choice of present major and realization of preferences acts as mediating factors between career development…

Argues that career maturity gives insufficient attention to the contexts of time and culture. Suggests the use of recent advances in developmental theory as an alternative for understanding developmental transitions. Cites findings from a study highlighting how individual differences and contextual factors contribute to the school-to-work…

Discusses family influences on vocational development and maturity, and on perceptions of the vocational counseling client. Briefly describes family systems theory and applies it to the career counseling process. (WAS)

As a reaction to the article by D. M. Tokar et al. (this issue), discusses the most pressing methodological and theoretical challenges embedded in the study of family relationship factors in the career decision making of college students. Reviews outstanding theoretical and empirical issues characteristic of structural equation modeling, with a…

In his comments regarding Tokar et al.'s article (this issue) Blustein offered several useful suggestions for future research in the area of relationship variables and career development and raised several concerns about the rationale for and use of structural equation modeling in testing their models. In this reply, the authors note points of…

This review of vocational psychology research in Singapore, 1985 to 1997, addresses career development, interests, sex stereotypes, work values, job satisfaction, and home/family influence. The review shows an increase in research on school-aged populations and a need to study the vocational behavior of the work force. (SK)

This book discusses career unrest (defined as a sense of dissatisfaction associated with one's work), as a potential source of creativity. In the first of three parts, the author's point of view on career unrest is presented. Following a question and answer introduction to career unrest, the problem and the opportunity it presents are discussed.…

Explores the relationship between retirement planning and demographic and attitudinal factors. One-third of the sample had planned for retirement. Planning was more common among males and high-status individuals. (Author)