Judy M. Chartrand

Peeling Back the Onion: Personality, Problem Solving, and Career Decision-Making Style Correlates of Career Indecision:

A model to predict affective and informational antecedents of career indecision was proposed. The model attempted to explicate paths between personality dispositions, appraisal of problem-solving skills, career decision-making styles, and antecedents of career indecision. Both personality and coping constructs were posited to examine the relative contribution of dispositional and perceived skill variables. Using a college student sample, results from a path analysis indicated that the disposition of neuroticism was a powerful predictor of perceived problem-solving skills, a dependent decision- making style, and both affective and informational antecedents of career indecision. The predicted effects of the coping constructs were of a much smaller magnitude. Directions for future research are discussed and several suggestions for career counseling assessment and intervention selection are made.

A comparison and evaluation of interest congruence indices.

Abstract This investigation compared 13 measures of Hollands congruence construct. Significant variability was found in the correlations among congruence measures and between congruence and outcome measures. Specifically, the Primary Interests Congruence Scale had the lowest correlations with the other scales, and Iachans M index, the Rank Comparison Congruence Scale, and the Kwak-Pulvino Index had the highest correlations with the other scales. Congruence-achievement and aptitude-congruence correlations ranged from .00 to the .20s. Academic adjustment, career indecision, and satisfaction with major did not correlate significantly with congruence for any of the 13 indices. Results were related to the explication of the congruence construct and the refinement of Hollands theory.

Advances in the measurement of career development constructs: A 20-year review

Abstract This article reviews and critiques developments in the measurement of career development constructs between 1971 and 1990. Changing trends in conceptualization, instrumentation, and sampling practices are examined across the career development literature as well as within the Journal of Vocational Behavior . Four substantive career development research areas are covered: stage-based and process-oriented models, career decision making, intervention evaluation, and organizational development and career orientation. Reporting practices listed under Methods are then analyzed. The article concludes with suggestions for future measurement directions.

Relationships between Career Indecision Subtypes and Ego Identity Development.

The relationship between career indecision subtypes and ego identity development was examined in a study of 423 college students (aged 18-26) who were attending undergraduate psychology classes at five southeastern universities and colleges and who had not yet decided upon a career. The students were divided into the following four cluster groups on the basis of their scores on the Career Factors Inventory: ready to decide, developmentally undecided, choice anxious, and chronically indecisive. A profile analysis technique that included a multivariate analysis of covariance was used to identify relationships among the four cluster groups and the first five stages of Eriksons psychosocial model of identity development--trust, autonomy, initiative, industry, and identity. The ready-to-decide group scored significantly higher on the trust, industry, and ego identity subscales than the developmentally undecided, choice-anxious, and chronically indecisive groups did. The ready-to-decide group also scored highest on the autonomy subscale. On the initiative subscale, however, no significant differences were found between the scores of the ready-to-decide and developmentally undecided groups. Career counseling interventions were suggested for each of the four career decision groups. (Contains 31 references.) (MN) *********************************************************************** Repro,:uctions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ***********************************************************************

A Causal Analysis to Predict the Personal and Academic Adjustment of Nontraditional Students.

A causal model of nontraditional student adjustment was developed from sociopsychological concepts and a person-environment fit paradigm. Measures of student role evaluation, commitment to the student role, and self-good student role incongruence were collected at the beginning of an academic year and used to predict the level of personal distress experienced at the beginning of the next spring quarter and academic performance across that academic year

The Utility of Career and Personality Assessment in Predicting Academic Progress.

We examined the ability of four career and personality assessment inventories to predict students’ first-year college performance and persistence. Among our sample of 677 college freshmen who enrolled in a freshman orientation course, subscales from the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Strong Interest Inventory, and Social Skills Inventory uniquely predicted first-year college GPA, and subscales from these three instruments and the Career Factors Inventory uniquely contributed to the prediction of freshman-to-sophomore persistence, each after controlling for ACT/SAT scores. Our findings suggest that college counseling and career center staff may provide valuable retention-promotion efforts by helping to identify students at risk for poor academic performance or attrition on the basis of commonly used career and personality assessment inventories.

Testing a Level Versus an Interactional View of Career Indecision

A cluster analysis procedure was used to test a continuum versus an interactional view of career indecision. It was hypothesized that cluster groups would differ across cognitive and affective dimensions of career indecision. Clients experiencing career decisional problems were identified using a sample of college students from career planning courses (N = 325). Responses to the Career Factors Inventory (CFI; Chartrand, Robbins, Morrill, & Boggs, 1990), which measures both cognitive and affective dimensions of career indecision, were cluster analyzed using a disjoint nonhierarchical procedure. A four-cluster configuration, which revealed interactions between cognitive and affective dimensions of career indecision, was identified as the optimal cluster solution. This cluster solution was validated and results were discussed in terms of integrating career decisional typologies into a theoretical framework.

Goal instability and later life adjustment.

A series of analyses on the goal instability personality construct, as measured by the Goal Instability Scale (GIS), was conducted to establish the construct validity of goal instability as it relates to older adults. This construct was derived from Heinz Kohuts psychology of the self. The sample consisted of a total of 157 voluntary early retirees representing a cross section of worker types from a manufacturing industry. In the first analysis, a series of confirmatory factor analyses supported the hypothesis that the 10-item GIS measures a unitary construct. In the second analysis, GIS was found to be similar across age groups. These findings enhance the conceptual clarity of the goal instability construct and its relevance with regard to older adults. Goal instability may represent 1 negative aspect of a quest for self-continuity.

Using the Strong Interest Inventory® and the Skills Confidence Inventory to Explain Career Goals:

This article describes how interests and self-efficacy constructs contribute to a better understanding of career behaviors and goals. Specifically, the Strong Interest Inventory and the Skills Confidence Inventory instruments are reviewed and research is presented to illustrate their combined theoretical utility. Examples of how collectively to apply these tools in career assessment are presented. Finally, areas for future research are proposed.

Strategies for Career Assessment Research on the Internet.

Research is essential for the development of Internet career assessment, yet little research has been published to date. This paper describes several different data collection approaches suitable for the Internet, including survey research, case studies, and participant observation. Areas of needed research are identified including the evaluation of measures and interventions on the Internet and recruiting sites and the examination of other career-related Internet phenomena, such as chat rooms and message boards. Aspects of Internet career research are described in the context of intervention models and research questions that may differ from those of traditional research. Finally, challenges researchers may encounter are presented, such as the ease and rapidity of site changes and the difficulties associated with funding site research and development.