The Career Decision Making Self Efficacy Scale is based on self-efficacy and career maturity theories and research showing the strong relationship of career self-efficacy to career indecision. The scale is useful in designing and evaluating education and counseling interventions intended to increase perceptions of self-efficacy. (SK)

Until about two decades ago, researchers considered career maturity primarily in terms of adolescents who struggled with the tasks that, when successfully completed, resulted in a viable career choice. Previously it has been suggested that the term "career adaptability" should replace the term "career maturity" in the study of adult vocational…

The present study examines the relationships among self-concept variables and career maturity attitudes. Variability, self-criticism, and commitment were important predictors of career maturity. In addition, self-criticism and age X commitment were significant, as well as level of self-esteem, as important personality correlates of career…

Scale scores of KOIS profiles of 202 reentry women were converted to within individual form by means of a z-score transformation. Seven factors emerged on the female-normed scales and 11 factors on the male-normed scales. Four factors were similar in both norm sets and two showed some overlap. (Author)

The study compared the career maturity levels of a sample of basic education students to the norms. Following a 10-week career development course, the gains of a treatment group were compared to those of a control group. No gains were found in the control group; however, the treatment group moved from the lowest to the highest norm quartile.…

Describes vocational maturity and assists counselors in identifying what the various career maturity instruments measure. Discusses task variable measures, intervening variable measures, response variable measures, and methods of choosing an instrument. (JAC)

Research has suggested that career maturity, measured by students' readiness to make sound educational and occupational choices, is deficient in learning disabled students. The Career Development Inventory focuses on five dimensions: career planning, career exploration, decision making, world-of-work information, and knowledge of preferred…

Focuses on the ways in which cooperative education can contribute to three areas of personal development: competence, autonomy, and purpose. Investigates ways in which cooperative education programs place students on their own and assist in establishing career objectives. (JOW)

Investigated the role of cognitive complexity in the career maturity of college students. Results generally supported the prediction that career maturity would be positively associated with cognitive complexity. (Author)

Comparison of 167 Anglo-American and 122 Mexican-American ninth graders showed that the former had much greater knowledge of career decision making and greater career awareness and occupational knowledge. Mexican Americans scored higher on Sensing and Thinking and lower on Perceiving scales of the Myers Briggs Type Indicator. (SK)

Effects of career interventions on vocational construct differentiation and integration were tested with 121 undergraduates in 4 groups: Vocational Card Sort (n=31), Self-Directed Search (n=28), System of Interactive Guidance and Information Plus (n=31), and controls (n=31). All three interventions had a substantial impact on vocational cognitive…

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.)…

College freshmen were divided into three groups: (1) 28 completed the Self-Directed Search and attended a 50-minute career exploration workshop based on it; (2) 28 completed the Career Decision-Making System-Revised (CDM-R) and attended a similar workshop; and (3) 28 were controls. CDM-R significantly increased knowledge of decision-making…

A model proposing that causality and work salience moderate the influence of gender, educational level, and socioeconomic status on career maturity was tested with 288 African-American students. Work salience had the strongest direct effect on career maturity. For these students home/family had higher salience than did work. (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…