This longitudinal study examined the relationship between Zimbardo time perspectives (TPs) and career decision-making self-efficacy (CDMSE). In total, 1,753 young adults participated in the longitudinal study. For the present study, we selected only participants who were students and provided information on TPs, CDMSE, and sociodemographic characteristics (n = 492, M = 22.97 years, SD = 1.32, 82.9% women). The results of multilevel modeling showed that future orientation and present-hedonistic TPs were positively related to CDMSE, whereas present-fatalistic and past-negative TPs were negatively related to CDMSE. These findings indicate that besides the beneficial effect of widely studied future TP, the negative role of past-negative and present-fatalistic TPs should be considered in connection with the career development of emerging adults.

We explored the relations among relational victimization and career-related variables in a sample of 174 non-violent female felony offenders residing in a community corrections residential facility. Archival data was used from a larger career-related reentry program that represented a joint effort between investigators at the VCU Department of Psychology and staff from the Virginia Department of Correctional Education. Data analyses focused on the association between (a) recent experiences of relational victimization and (b) career aspiration complexity code, (c) career aspirations towards or away from socially-oriented careers, (d) perceived occupational barriers, and (e) career decision-making self-efficacy. Hypothesized associations among this set of variables were not seen in the data; however, offenders’ aspirations appeared to deviate from established norms. Implications for female offenders reentering the workforce were discussed.

The purpose of this study was to develop a questionnaire to measure career self-efficacy for undergraduates. The theoretical framework of the questionnaire was based on Bandura¡¦s self-efficacy theory. A total of 409 participants were selected by judgment sampling from the first- and second-grade undergraduate of six colleges in national Sun Yat-sen university. The newly developed career efficacy and motivation questionnaire (CEMQ) was modified from Taylor & Betz's CDMSE scale. The content validity was informed by three experts, and the data were analyzed by rating scale model (RSM) by ConQuest. After removing the items that did not fit the model, seventy-two items were retained in the CEMQ questionnaire.

abstract: The present study of two hundred and seven university students examined the structural relation of future-orientation (both valence and instrumentality), career decision-making self-efficacy and career indecision (choice/commitment anxiety and lack of readiness). Structural equation modeling results indicated that while the overall proposed model fit the data well, my hypotheses were partially supported. Valence was not significantly related to career decision-making self-efficacy, choice/commitment anxiety and lack of readiness. However, instrumentality completely mediated the relation between valence and career decision-making self-efficacy, choice/commitment anxiety and lack of readiness. Instrumentality was significantly related to career decision-making self-efficacy and lack of readiness. Career decision-making self-efficacy completely mediated the relation between instrumentality and choice/commitment anxiety; however, it only partially mediated the relation between instrumentality and lack of readiness. Although the proposed model was invariant across gender, the findings indicate that women reported higher instrumentality and lower lack of readiness than did men. No differences were found for career decision-making self-efficacy and choice/commitment anxiety across gender. The findings suggest that psychologists, counselors, teachers, and career interventionists should consider the role future time perspective in university students' career development. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Counseling Psychology 2014

Cooperative education research suggests that co-op participation results in enhanced career maturity, yet little is known about the vocational behavior constructs that may produce these results. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between co-op work experience and career decision-making self-efficacy, an individual's confidence to successfully perform various career decision-making tasks. Another purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that only the co-op work experience group adheres to an internal career locus of control, a belief that one can control career outcomes by exercising effort. Based on social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1986), it was hypothesized that co-op work experience would provide the greatest exposure to sources of self-efficacy information, namely performance accomplishments, vicarious learning (i.e, exposure to role models or mentors), and verbal persuasion (encouragement). Thus, college students having co-op work experience were expected to report significantly higher career decision-making self-efficacy (CDMSE) compared to college students having non-co-op work experience. Survey data were collected from 415 engineering and computer science students, sophomores through seniors, who had acquired co-op work experience or non-co-op work experience (both related and unrelated to the student's field of study or career interests). There was a 69.75% survey return rate in this (3 x 3) ex-post facto design study. One-Way ANOVAs revealed that CDMSE was significantly higher in the co-op work experience group than in the non-co-op (unrelated) work experience group at the completion of the second work term only. Also, CDMSE in the first work term was significantly higher than the second work term in the non-co-op (unrelated) work experience group. No evidence was found to support a significant cumulative effect in CDMSE. A Two-Way ANOVA revealed no significant interaction effect; however, the main effect of type of work experience was significant (p = .049) for CDMSE. No significant difference was found in the proportion of internal career locus of control between the co-op and non-co-op group. This study's findings did not support prior investigations that found a relationship between engagement in career exploration activities and an internal career locus of control. One-Way ANOVAs revealed a distinct pattern of significance among groups on work experience satisfaction, regardless of the work term completed. Though the co-op group and non-co-op (related) work experience group were comparable on work experience satisfaction, the non-co-op (unrelated) work experience group reported significantly lower work satisfaction from the single most significant work experience acquired during the college years. Survey feedback indicated that co-op students were well pleased with the opportunity to reality-test their career goals in the cooperative education program. Implications of the findings are discussed, and suggestions for future co-op research are provided. / Ph. D.

The aim of the current study is to investigate the some potential factors that contribute to career indecision of university students. In accordance with that, a mediational causal model based on Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) was proposed to test / a) the direct and indirect relationships of locus of control, perceived parental attitudes, career decision-making self-efficacy, and career outcome expectations with career indecision and b) to what extend the combination of these variables explain career indecision. The sample of the study was composed of 723 (338 female, 383 male, 2 unspecified) university students. Demographic Information Form, Career Decision Scale, Career Decision Self-Efficacy Scale Short-Form, Career Outcome Expectations Scale, Parental Attitudes Scale, and Rotter

Career education has become an integral part of high school programming in Canada (Gibbons, Borders, Wiles, Stephan & Davis, 2006). Research on school-based career interventions is on the rise throughout North America (Hiebert, 2010; Roest & Magnusson, 2005). The current study is intended to contribute to this growing area by examining the impact of an elective career education class offered in Saskatchewan public schools called Career and Work Exploration 30 (CWE30). CWE30 combines experiential classroom activities and work placements. Experiential learning has long been regarded as an effective way of increasing self-efficacy, as described in Social Cognitive Theory (SCT; e.g., Bandura, 1977), a factor shown to play a role in encouraging career exploration and confident career-related decision-making (e.g., Blustein, 1989). Another contributor to active career exploration is intrinsic motivation, described in Self-Determination Theory (SDT) as the innate desire to seek out knowledge and growth and to therefore engage in activities that foster this development (Deci & Ryan, 1985). Given the complex and relatively nascent nature of research in this area, the chosen methodology was a case study (Yin, 2014). Multiple types of data were collected. Fourteen grade 11 and 12 high school students from Saskatchewan completed the Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy Scale - Short Form (CDMES-SF; Taylor & Betz, 1983) and a motivation questionnaire (adapted from Kerner et al., 2012) at the beginning and end of the second semester of the 2013-2014 school year. Two students and one teacher were interviewed. Further, the class curriculum, student attendance, blank copies of in-class activities, and homework that was assigned were collected. Results included significant differences in scores on the CDMSE-SF from pre to post testing and common themes on the qualitative measures such as frustration with assignments and placement time commitments; excitement about experiential learning; fears and uncertainties related to career decision-making; and suggestions for improvements emerged. Course documents provided further evidence as to the implementation of the CWE30 curriculum and the inclusion of factors thought to promote intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy as described in SDT and SCT respectively. Implications within the current literature as well as for future research are discussed.

No description available.

Career decision-making is complex and dynamic. Cognitive factors that influence career choice are of interest to researchers. In particular, negative career thoughts and career self-efficacy have been found to influence career decidedness. Similarly, cognitive expectancy has been linked to career decidedness through the locus of control construct. Where locus of control has demonstrated salutogenic stress reducing properties in health literature it has also been widely used in career research. Other cognitive expectancies could contribute to the literature pertaining to career choice. In particular, sense of coherence has begun to make inroads to career psychology. Where career decision-making research has been universally conducted with student populations, little has been conducted with adults. Because of developmental factors, student based research may not readily generalize to non-student adult based populations. Researching the career indecision of non-student adults could broaden the literature. Establishing the relationship between career thinking (negative career thoughts & career decision-making self-efficacy) and salutogenic functioning (locus of control & sense of coherence) would provide initial research into the nature of career indecision in non-student adults. A survey design assessed the relationship between career thinking and salutogenic functioning in an adult, career decision-making milieu. Two hundred and twenty five unemployed career undecided adults were sampled from community based career exploration programs. Correlative and regression analysis were conducted on career thinking and salutogenic functioning measures. Data analysis indicated statistically significant findings between career thinking and salutogenic functioning. In particular, negative career thoughts, career decision making self-efficacy, locus of control and sense of coherence were all found to have significant correlations between each other. Career thinking and sense of coherence strongly correlated with level of education, while locus of control negatively correlated with age. Regression analysis indicated that sense of coherence demonstrated stronger relationships to career thoughts than locus of control. Further, sense of coherence significantly predicted negative career thoughts and career decision-making self-efficacy. Locus of control maintained a weak and non-significant predictive relationship with negative career thoughts or career self-efficacy. Results suggest that sense of coherence may contribute to further understanding of career decidedness in adults. Implications for Industrial/Organisational psychology are discussed. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / D. Litt. et Phil.(Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

While there is evidence about the relationship between career development and psychological outcomes, more work is needed to understand how career development is related to personal mental health outcomes in college students. Studying some of the social and cognitive predictors of self-efficacy, this study espouses a holistic perspective to career development and aims to better understand its impact on well-being. Using social cognitive career theory (SCCT) and Super's life-span, life-space theory, this study examines how social (e.g., parental support) and cognitive (e.g., career values awareness) factors influence career decision-making self-efficacy, and furthermore, how this impacts well-being in undergraduate students. Specific mediation hypotheses were assessed, including the mediating role of career values awareness in the relationship between parental support and career decision-making self-efficacy, and the mediating effect of career-decision-making self-efficacy on well-being. Data were collected from 1446 undergraduate students at a large Midwestern public land-grant university through an online survey. Using structural equation modeling to analyze the data, results indicated that: (a) career values awareness mediated the relationship between parental behaviors and CDMSE; (b) CDMSE mediated the relationship between parental behaviors and well-being; and (c) CDMSE mediated the relationship between career values awareness and well-being. In an alternative model, parental support and socioeconomic status (SES) were also found to be significant positive predictors of well-being. Post hoc analysis revealed that academic standing (i.e., year in school) did not moderate the relationship between CDMSE and well-being. Limitations of the study and recommendations for future research are suggested along with implications for clinical practice.