This study investigated the effects of a career exploration intervention (CEI) on career maturity and self-concept among Malaysian high school students, using a true experimental design (pretest--posttest with a control group). One hundred thirty-nine high school students in Malaysia were recruited and randomly assigned to receive either a CEI or…

We surveyed Australian adolescents and parents to test differences and congruence in perceptions of adolescent career development tasks (career planning, exploration, certainty, and world-of-work knowledge) and vocational identity. We found that, for adolescents (N = 415), career development tasks (not career exploration) explained 48% of the…

Public schools, colleges, and universities all strive to prepare students for the workforce or further education through career development activities and career education. Research shows many high school students have had insufficient exposure to and have inadequate information about career related tasks and duties. Studies also show that many…

The study for this article examines growth in various aspects of career development for longitudinal and nationally representative cross-sectional samples of high school students. Implications for practitioners who wish to improve upon normal growth are presented. (Author)

The career maturity of a private school group of adolescents with learning disabilities was assessed. Significant differences emerged in the affective dimensions but not in the cognitive variables. (Author)

Two studies were conducted in which low achieving high school students were given motivational workshops in order to help them improve their career maturity and to understand the processes involved in making wise career choices for themselves. It was hypothesized that in the experimental groups which received career counseling the student's career…

Examined career maturity in high school females by using a set of general career-maturity and gender-specific, career-related measures, and an alternate career-maturity criterion measure, career-planning involvement. Results indicated significant relationships between achievement orientation and occupational information and knowledge of women's…

Examined the effects of a life role planning program on 152 high school students. Compared to controls, the experimental group showed greater career decisiveness, and greater independence, involvement, and compromise in career decision making. Results dealing with work and family roles were inconsistent. (JAC)

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…

This study compares effects on high school students (N=959) of the Self Directed Search (SDS), the Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI), and no treatment. Students taking the SDS or the VPI evaluated the instruments, felt more satisfied with current occupational choices, and considered more occupational alternatives. Differences between the…

Because existing experimental measures of vocational maturity were too narrow or difficult to administer and score, the Career Development Inventory (CDI) was developed to evaluate the effects of a computer-based vocational guidance system on the vocational development of high school students, and early research suggests that the CDI promises to…

The reference group perspectives of 188 lower socioeconomic black high school seniors were found to be related to their career maturity. Students' post-high school plans (either work- or college-bound) and their views of the opportunity structure of America were related to both their reference group perspectives orientation and their career…

A survey compared the career development and vocational maturity of 26 New Zealand adolescents with deafness and their hearing peers. Significant differences were identified between the two groups on career measures. In particular, adolescents with hearing impairments were identified as having less career awareness. Gender differences were also…

A study charted family, school, workplace, and community experiences that are relevant to the vocational development of high school students, focusing on five areas of influence: allowance practices within the family, economic status, paid work experience, volunteerism, and gender differences. The data were from the "Youth Development…

This study explores how women make decisions about educational transitions, focusing on the complex interaction of personal, social, cultural, economic, and institutional factors that influence women as they move from high school to work, from high school to college, and from the workforce back to school. It also compares men's and women's…