Rural high school students (32 with learning disabilities and 40 nondisabled) were compared on career maturity. Results indicated that learning-disabled students were less mature on both career attitude and competencies. The underlying structure of subjects' attitude was distinguished by Involvement and Independence. In the competence area, the…

Explored the relationship between career maturation and chronic anxiety in 142 community college students. Anxiety was found to interfere with acquiring career decision-making skills and vocational identity by disrupting experiences in which they develop. This supports the idea that candidates for counseling to reduce anxiety would profit most…

Administered career development instruments to Asian-American (n=63) and White-American (n=83) college students. Compared to White Americans, Asian Americans had greater preferences for dependent decision-making styles and lower level of career maturity and placed greater emphasis on extrinsic and security occupational value clusters. Found no…

A study examined the role of career maturity in the college persistence of 307 freshmen at a public, residential, four-year college. Results indicate that the My Vocational Situation instrument is reliable and valid, although theoretical formulations should be reexamined. Career maturity was positively associated with several variables important…

Examined the relationship between career aspiration-current occupation congruence and the career maturity of 134 undergraduates (103 women and 31 men) attending a large Midwestern community college. Results revealed a significant relationship (p<.01) between aspiration-occupation congruence and two separate measures of career maturity. (Author)

A study evaluated the effects of a four-part decision-making workshop on students who were undecided about their selection of a major field of study. More than 1,500 freshmen at a midwestern university who had not declared majors received letters inviting them to the four 2-hour sessions of the workshop. Forty-two students volunteered to enroll in…

A series of explorations of faculty goals drawn from a survey of academic careers is described, providing a view of academic career goals as the faculty see them. The study was conducted at a mid-sized comprehensive state university in the rural midwest. Data were collected as part of a 1984 survey of critical events in faculty careers. Faculty…

This paper demonstrates how issues of lifelong development are cogent at the undergraduate level by discussing the results of a study which explored individual differences among the preservice population. Fuller's developmental model of teachers' concerns combined with theories of life-span development provided the conceptual and operational bases…

The United States Department of Defense Dependents Schools (DoDDS) conducted a career education assessment during May of 1978 which involved approximately 1,300 nine-, thirteen-, and seventeen-year-old students in three regions. The tests were objective-based, criterion-referenced tests which assessed systemwide student achievement in the areas of…

Simulated Occupational Choice (SOC) was developed to measure competencies in career decision-making. SOC is a structured, individually-administered simulation exercise designed to elicit career decision-making behaviors and enable those behaviors to be observed, recorded, and scored in meaningful ways, particularly for diagnosis. It was…

Investigated construct of career maturity in United States and Israel by assessing attitudes about career decision making among U.S. and Israeli ninth and twelfth grade students on the Career Maturity Inventory (CMI). Indicated differences across cultures in career maturity and sex differences on some individual subscales of the CMI. Showed grade…

Outlines a study determining which of two career guidance methods was most effective. A didactic and structured guidance approach proved more effective in promoting career maturity than the more flexible method. Results reveal students' need for structure and suggest beneficial effects of using career guidance in the academic curriculum. (JAC)

Assessed the effects of a career awareness program on the career maturity of ninth-grade students. No difference was discovered on overall career maturity between experimental and control groups. Results indicate that a developmental approach is needed that can regularly be evaluated and restructured. (JAC)

Analyzed answers of college freshmen who completed the Strong Interest Inventory and who were retested 12 years later. Results show that the presence or absence of well-defined vocational interest patterns among college freshmen bears little relationship to later vocational achievement (a career and annual earning) and to job and career…

The vocational development of 547 disabled students (ages 10-24) in the United States and the Federal Republic of Germany was classified by disability type and compared with able-bodied students, in terms of plans, realism, initiative, work values, commitment, and occupational awareness. Germans made specific training plans whereas U.S. students…