This study surveyed 925 Australian high school students enrolled in grades 8 through 12 on measures of occupational aspirations, occupational expectations, career status aspirations, and career status expectations; it tested the association between these variables and career maturity, career indecision, career decision-making self-efficacy, and…

Data revealed that the Canadian Vocational Readiness Package for Girls appears to be an excellent program for meeting the special vocational counseling needs of today's female adolescent. (Author)

Australian high school students (n=377) completed the Career Development Inventory and a work commitment measure. Commitment was moderately correlated with career development. Commitment and the knowledge component of career maturity were strongly related for females. Females had higher work commitment scores than males. (Contains 39 references.)…

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…

Adolescents across the five years of high school (169 females and 164 males) completed a survey that identified occupational status aspirations and expectations coded into six types-- realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, or conventional--according to the RIASEC model (Holland, 1997). As the focus of the study was to explore…

This article argues that education has a role in promoting young people's wellbeing. It draws on research on young people's lives to highlight the changing world for which educators prepare young people. While older educational agendas such as literacies and numeracy remain significant, it is argued that education is increasingly important for its…

Comparison of 1,090 adolescents from former West Germany and 584 for former East Germany indicated that East Germans made initial vocational choices one year earlier. Timing and potential disruptiveness of family relocation correspond to earlier choices for East Germany youth. Those making earlier choices revealed more adult life-styles and…

High school students in Korea (n=331) and the United States (n=266) completed the Career Attitude Maturity Inventory in Korean or English versions. Constructs of career maturity were similar across both cultures. Level of maturity was culture related: U.S. students had greater confidence; Koreans were more prepared. (Contains 28 references.) (SK)

Investigated the relationships between career maturity and career curriculum in 38 Melbourne metropolitan secondary schools (N=2280 students) using an Australian adaption of the Career Development Inventory. Results confirmed that schools with career education programs achieved higher gains in student career maturity. (JAC)

Multiple regression analyses of data on career maturity, work commitment, work values, self-efficacy, age, and career decidedness were conducted for 367 Australian students in grades 8-12. Chief predictors of career maturity attitudes were age, gender, and career certainty. Commitment and career indecision were the main predictors of career…

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…

Ethnic identity and vocational maturity were assessed in four cohorts of 466 majority and 175 minority high school students in Quebec. Results show minorities increased in ethnic identity over time and matured significantly earlier than majority students, but fell somewhat behind in vocational maturity by the 11th grade. (SK)

Investigated the development of general attitudes toward work in career transitions of Israeli junior and senior high school students, university students, and vocational and executive trainees. The results confirmed the role of expectations in attitude formation. Similar expectations as to status and advancement led to similar attitudes. (JAC)

Using data for 2,722 British adolescents explores whether work-related skills and career role models are associated with career maturity when sociodemographic characteristics, family support, and personal characteristics are controlled. Having work-related skills and having a career role model were positively associated with career maturity.…

This article reports on a further exploration into the reliability and validity of the shortened form of the Career Development Inventory-Australia (Creed & Patton, 2004), a career maturity measure being developed to meet the need for a shorter and more up-to-date measure to provide data on this career development construct. Data gathered from…