Pupils' subject choices at the level of secondary education critically determine the tertiary fields of study that they can pursue. This study used multinomial logistic regression models to investigate the extent to which the final report card grades of ninth-grade students predicted their choices of subject combinations at the senior general…

Although choosing a high school major is often adolescents' first significant career decision, little is known about the factors that enable adolescents to choose a high school major autonomously (i.e., a major that reflects their values and preferences) or the familial and individual constellations that affect this decision. The current study…

This study examines the process and outcome of a life design group intervention with grade 9 students. In a sample of 139 participants (91 girls and 48 boys), a quasi-experimental design was applied to analyse the intervention's effectiveness at fostering vocational identity, career adaptability and career decision-making self-efficacy. Seventy…

Secondary school students in the Netherlands already face future-oriented decisions about their educational careers, which are expected to be informed by their interests in specific vocations or occupations. However, vocational interest assessment tools generally do not account for the possibility that students are interested in multiple…

We empirically investigate whether the relationship between the fraction of filled apprenticeships in a particular occupation in the past and the fraction of prospective apprentices having very early intentions to train in this occupation has an impact on the decision to change the intended choice of occupation. We use a unique dataset from…

This article examines the process and outcome of a life design counseling group intervention with students in Grades 9 and 12. First, we applied a quasi-experimental methodology to analyze the intervention's effectiveness in promoting career certainty, career decision-making, self-efficacy, and career adaptability in a sample of 236 students.…

Context: Following the social cognitive career theory of Lent, Brown, and Hackett (1994), the current study examines the effect of role models' professions and practical internship experiences on the choice of professional environment independent of professional interests. Embedded in the Swiss context with its strong vocational training system,…

Cluster-analytic technique classified 189 rural adolescents according to career indecision type as measured by Career Decision Scale. Resulting three-cluster solution described types of career indecision experienced by adolescents in early exploration stage. Clusters span continuum that includes tentatively decided-crystallizing preferences,…

TWO HUNDRED FORTY-EIGHT NINTH-GRADE STUDENTS WERE GIVEN 4 WEEKS OF DAILY INTENSIVE GROUP GUIDANCE ON VOCATIONAL AND EDUCATIONAL PLANNING PRIOR TO EXPERIMENTAL TREATMENT. STUDENTS WERE RANDOMLY DIVIDED INTO THREE ABILITY GROUPS AND THREE TREATMENT GROUPS. THE CONTROL GROUP RECEIVED NO FURTHER TREATMENT. GROUP 1 RECEIVED TRAINING USING LOCAL…

These ten sequential instructional modules are intended to assist secondary students in the development of occupational decision-making skills. Designed for grades 9 and 10 (but adaptable to grades 8, 11, and 12), the minicourse covers three areas--values, occupational information, and career decision making (which links the other two areas).…

This study examines the influence of two potential sources of strength (i.e., ethnic identity and parent/teacher support) on the cognitive variables of career decision self-efficacy and outcome expectations in a sample of 104 African American ninth-grade students. The results indicate that parental support is positively related to career decision…

As part of continuing research into how individuals decide what to do with their lives, ninth graders in a small town high school were surveyed in 1967 and 1979. Focusing on group differences, results of questions on future time perspectives, career possibilities, interactions with people, family cohesiveness, and autonomy are discussed. (BS)

The study addresses the problems of: (1) how vocational-technical students arrive at their curricular and vocational choices, (2) how the vocational-technical experience that is offered in a vocational-technical school influences various aspects of the students vocational development, and (3) the curricular implications of these findings. A series…

The hypothesis that actual physical involvement (hands-on experience) with the work of a craft will influence the occupational goals of students was tested. The subjects were 2,921 ninth-grade students in Connecticut who were enrolled during 1974-1975 in sixteen area vocational-technical schools which offer Trade and Industrial occupational…

A West Virginia Project revised instruments and processes and developed procedural guidelines for evaluating prevocational exploration programs. Evaluation processes were initiated during the 1978-79 school year, when Berkeley, Fayette, and Ritchie counties entered their third year of this program for ninth and tenth grade students. Instruments…