The Component Structure of Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy for Underprepared College Students

Abstract

Following the successful application of Bandura's (1977) theory of self-efficacy to the treatment of career indecision (Betz & Hackett, 1981; Hackett & Betz, 1981), Taylor and Betz (1983) developed the Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy (CDMSE) scale. CDMSE identifies the extent to which students have confidence (self-efficacy) in their ability to engage in educational and occupational planning and decision-making. The Taylor and Betz (1983) study identified five sub-scales: Self-Appraisal, Occupational Information, Goal Selection, Planning, and Problem-Solving. Each sub-scale consisted of ten items. Using principal components factor analysis with varimax rotation, the total variance accounted for by factor scores of the five sub-scales equaled 52%. However, it was noted that since most of the items had relatively large loadings on more than one factor, the structure was not clear-cut, and therefore, the scale potentially represented a single and rather large general factor. Research has provided support for the validity of the CDMSE instrument (Betz & Hackett, 1986; Robbins, 1985; Taylor & Popma, 1990), and the concept has been widely adapted (Brown, Lent, & Larkin, 1989; Lent, Brown, & Larkin, 1984, 1986, 1987; Lent, Larkin, & Brown, 1989; Nevill & Schlecker, 1988; Peterson, 1993a, 1993b; Rotberg, Brown, & Ware, 1987; Shelton, 1990; Stumpf & Brief, 1987). However, the nature of career decision-making self-efficacy, as a construct is still being explored.