Social support has been identified as an important component of planning for careers among high school students. Lent, Brown, and Hackett (2000) advocated for the importance of this support within Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT). These authors identified a need for further research with better measurement for examining contextual support and its connection to career decision-making. Ali et al. (2011) developed a set of measures to address this need for better measurement, but identified the need for more nuanced examination of specific types of contextual support. The current study was designed to assess the importance of nuanced measuring of different types of support in career-decision making. Specifically, two scales, School Personnel and Community, from the Contextual Support of Post Secondary Planning Scales (CSPSPS) are analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis to force the scales into the factor structures proposed by Ali et al. (2011). Additionally, exploratory factor analysis was used to further examine the school personnel scale. Finally, interventions to aid School Personnel and Community in ways to support students in career decision-making are considered.

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.

Everyone has to make different choices when they are in different career stages. Individual choices for study subject and occupation lead to individual career directions and future developments. So this research aims to listen to individual life stories and influence factors through narrative analysis to understand why R&D people choose R&D engineer as their occupation. This research applies narrative analysis of Qualitative research by using intensive interviews to collect life experience of each participant. Individual story style showed individual decision experience and related analysis factors. This research aims to focus on seven participants concerning the issue of career decision making of R&D people in the high technology industries. In order to select a model containing participants¡¦ decision making processes to each of their selecting factors are adequately analyzed with respect to abstracted issues and messages based on their experiences sharing.

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

Mindfulness, characterized with present-moment awareness, non-judgment, and non-reactivity, has demonstrated its potential in contemporary counseling psychology as a cultivatable coping mechanism for healing against negative emotions and symptomology. Researchers have identified health benefits for those who possess higher levels of this trait without practice. Limited research has explored the potential benefits of mindfulness in contributing to the cultivation of adaptive career decision-making. In particular, there is no study investigating the the role of mindfulness on college students' coping with career indecision stemming from emotional and personality concerns, or its influence on their occupational engagement. This study was a survey-based investigation of the relations among dispositional mindfulness, occupational engagement, and emotional career indecision in a diverse sample of college participants (N = 166). The results from analysis indicate that dispositional mindfulness is significantly related to emotional career indecision and occupational engagement, with multiple facets of mindfulness contributing a significant amount of variance in emotional career indecision. Future research and clinical implications are also discussed.

abstract: Research has revealed that familial concerns and obligations do impact the career decision making of people who shift their career goal away from the research academy and towards careers that are perceived as less intensive in terms of time and productivity demands. However, this same research line does not explain whether or not those who persist in a research professorship career aspiration experience the same familial concerns and obligations as those who shift or compromise on that goal. In line with the theory of circumscription and compromise (TCC), the current study examined specific accessibility concerns, or perceptions of barriers associated with implementing a preferred career, that contribute to doctoral student career decision making. More specifically, two groups including those who shifted their career path away from the research professorship (compromisers) and those whose career paths remain geared towards the research professorship (persisters) were examined by multivariate analysis of variance with a covariate (MANCOVA) to determine how accessibility concerns differ according to group membership. Accessibility concerns were also examined for gender differences. Results from multivariate and between-subjects follow up tests point to significant differences between the two groups on two accessibility concerns, planning for a career and family and some components of work-time flexibility preferences. Compromisers reported significantly higher preferences for work-time flexibility and scored higher on the planning for a career and a family measure when compared to persisters. No gender differences in accessibility concerns were found but female persisters were less likely than male persisters to indicate plans for children/presence of children. This study provides support for the TCC as applied to doctoral student career development and provides evidence that doctoral student persisters and compromisers do not experience accessibility concerns in the same way. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Counseling Psychology 2018

The theoretical part of this diploma thesis consists of four basic areas which are crucial for better understanding of profession choice difficulties and subsequently provides an introduction to the second part of the thesis - the empirical part. In the first chapter, the reader will be informed about the definition of the profession choice, its historical development, which covers a pretty wide context, in which the profession choice is being accomplished. The following chapter deals with career development theories focusing on personality, development theories targeting career and theories solely focused on social influences effecting the career development. The last two chapters deal with an adolescence period which plays the key role in the further career path of the individual. There is also a chapter describing and sorting difficulties while choosing a profession. The aim of the empirical part is to describe the development of profession choice difficulties at the end of secondary education - the period of life which is considered by many authors to be vitally important for the adolescent profession development. Hypotheses are verified by comparison of the results of the questionnaire that investigates profession choice difficulties in between third, fourth and fourth grade - directly before...

The literature on the career development of First-Generation College Students of Color (FGCSC) lacks a focus on the career decision-making difficulties consequently from racial microaggressions, academic self-efficacy, academic stress, and mental well-being at PWIs. Furthermore, there is a lack of empirical studies related to FGCSC help-seeking behaviors for racial microaggressions and the utilization of university counseling and career services on these campuses. The following research questions guided this study: a) What is the relationship between help-seeking attitudes and behaviors and racial microaggressions, academic self-efficacy, academic stress, mental well-being, and career decision-making difficulties among first-generation college students of Color (FGCSC) attending PWIs? b) Can the help-seeking behaviors of (FGCSC) attending PWIs be predicted by age, gender, ethnicity, racial microaggressions, academic self-efficacy and stress, mental well-being, and career decision-making difficulties? FGCSC present distinct personal, social, emotional, academic, and cultural needs. The growth in racial microaggressions and racial insults manifested within PWIs requires an examination into how services are tailored within university counseling and career advising centers to meet these needs. Racial microaggressions can result in stress that negatively influences both mental well-being and career decision making. Thus, career and personal counseling services provided on college campuses should be able to help students combat and cope with these stressors. In addition, these services should provide culturally-informed counseling interventions to help FGCSC determine how skills, values, and interests align with a future job that fits their personality and cultural background. A need for more literature that examines the relationship between these variables will assist university counselors and career centers within predominantly White institutions with interventions for this special group of students. The stressors related to racial microaggressions may result in career decision-making difficulties that contribute to low self-efficacy that increase low retention rates and lack of matriculation. A better understanding of the relationships between racial microaggressions, mental well-being and career decision making can result in the tailoring of counseling and advising services on PWIs. Practitioners employed in counseling centers, advising offices, and career services must have a working knowledge of FGCSC experiences with racial microaggressions at the societal, institutional, interpersonal, and individual levels to deliver effective services.

The work is focused on desision-making about the next university studies and future profession of the students at grammar schools and maps the situation in our country and the situation in foreign countries, especially Europen, it is focused on comparison of posibilities of studies in the Czech Republic and in Europe.. The research took place in the time period of November - October 2018 in Pilsen region. The main objective of the exploration was to map the situation of the desision-making about future profession of the students of grammar schools. The partial objectives were to map the reasons that influence the most the desision-making about future profession, to discover the differences between students of four-year and more-year form of the schools and what is the proportion of the students who change their high school during their studies at grammar school and to find the proportion of the students who want to continue their stuies at university. The paper analyses the opinions of the respondents - students of the graduation grades of two grammar schools and the data gived by the leaders of these schools. Nine schools (of fifteen in Pilsen region) were addressed and two took the part of the research (22,22 %). It was found out that the strongest motivations to choose the profession are...

<p>Three research studies were conducted to explore and explain the Colombian rural youth decision-making process regarding migration, university education and careers. The first study was a review of literature about Latin American rural youth. Forty-five peer-review articles that conducted in 13 Latin American countries, including Colombia, during the last 20 years were reviewed and analyzed. After conducting a systematic review, four main approaches of research were identified: (a) rural youth migration, (b) education and/or communication programs (e.g., rural extension), (c) rural youth expectations or futures perspectives, and (d) characterization of rural youth. Regarding methods, quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-method analyses were performed in these studies. Finally, main findings suggested that the rural context in these developing countries imposes socio-economic barriers for rural youth academic or professional development. Some authors also highlighted the importance of education or extension programs developed by local governments to empower Latin American rural youth. </p> <p>The second study was a quantitative analysis that explored factors concerning the Colombian rural youth migration expectation using a multi-level approach (Level 1 = individual variables; Level 2 = family variables). Data came from 945 Colombian rural youth that responded to a national survey in 2016. Results showed that age, gender, and school grade were positively correlated to the migration expectation. Moreover, the family socioeconomic status was negatively correlated to the outcome. Family level variables explained 9% of the total migration expectation. </p> <p>The third study explored and explained the Colombian rural youth perceptions about barriers they experienced during their career decision-making. This study used a convergent parallel mixed-method design. Participants of the quantitative phase were 155 Colombian youth that responded to a survey. On the other hand, the qualitative phase was made-up by five female and five male. These 10 people participated in an interview and wrote a short essay. All participants were members of the Colombian Rural Youth Network. Results showed that the career decision-making process for this Colombian occurred in a marginalized context, in which they did not have the same resources and/or tools to compete for university careers access with their urban peers. </p> <p>As general conclusion of this dissertation, the Colombian rural context imposes restrictions for rural youth to pursue their career aspirations, which results in a push factor for youth to migrate to urban areas for career opportunities.</p>