Career Decision-Making Difficulties Questionnaire Research Articles

The Relationship Between Emotional Intelligence and Career Decision-Making Difficulties: Mediation Role of Career Adaptability of University Students

Rapid changes in the global marketplace and invisible pressures have made career decision-making challenging for students. This article explores the relationship between emotional intelligence and career decision difficulties, as well as the mediating role of career adaptability, in a cross-sectional study conducted among students. A total of 265 students from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (Mage = 19.99; SD = 1.46) were randomly selected and participated through an online questionnaire. The study employed the Career Decision-making Difficulties Questionnaire, which includes 34 questions to assess career decision-making difficulties; the Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale, comprising 16 items to measure emotional intelligence; and the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale - Short Form with 12 items to evaluate career adaptability. The findings reveal two primary outcomes: (1) emotional intelligence significantly negatively impacts career decision difficulties (effect = -0.15, p < .05, 95% CI = [-0.29, -0.01]), and (2) career adaptability significantly mediates this relationship (effect = -0.11, 95% CI = [-0.20, -0.02]). These results suggest that enhancing emotional intelligence and career adaptability may facilitate improved career decision-making among students.

Effects of a career education classroom course on high school students' career management competencies and career orientation in Hungary

AbstractSeveral researchers have highlighted the need to strengthen school-based career education in Hungary. After reviewing the international literature on similar programs, this study reports on the impact of an innovative, multi-method career education course. It aimed to support Hungarian high school (ISCED 344) students in grades 10–11 in making decisions on further education and career choices, and in dealing with related uncertainties and difficulties, mainly through developing career management competence. Using a quasi-experimental design, the intervention group of 92 students showed significantly better results on half of the 20 career orientation variables assessed six months after the end of the intervention of 12 three-quarter-hour sessions, with low effect sizes compared to the pre-intervention assessment, and the 96-student control group. In addition to a self-developed questionnaire, the CDDQ Career Decision-Making Difficulties Questionnaire; and the CFI Career Factors Inventory were used. The effectiveness of the intervention was independent of factors such as gender, age, academic performance, and parental education. The study concludes with the suggestion that an enhanced version of the course could be an officially recommended supplementary career education program in Hungarian high schools.

Patterns of career decision-making difficulties in 16 countries: A person-centered investigation.

Classifying clients into career indecision types can facilitate tailoring interventions to each client's specific needs. The present research examined a typology of career indecision on 50 data sets (N = 31,527) representing diverse populations from 16 countries on five continents. Latent profile analyses of participants' responses on the Career Decision-Making Difficulties Questionnaire (CDDQ) revealed seven replicable career indecision types across samples: unmotivated, unrealistic, generally uninformed, occupations-uninformed, conflicted-uninformed, externally conflicted, and internally conflicted. Age emerged as a negligible predictor of career indecision types, whereas gender predicted membership in the unmotivated type, with men twice more likely to be unmotivated than women. The seven types were similarly predictive of career decision status, decision certainty, and decision self-efficacy. These results largely support using the CDDQ to differentially diagnose career indecision types based on 10 causes of career indecision in different countries, life stages, and genders. Classifying individuals based on their patterns of career decision-making difficulties supports tailoring individual career counseling or group interventions to clients' needs. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

The Adaptation of the Career Decision-Making Difficulties Questionnaire (CDDQ) to a Sample of Hungarian Secondary-School Students

The aim of the research: The goal of the research is to adapt the Career Decision-Making Difficulties Questionnaire (CDDQ; Gati et al., 1996) to a sample of Hungarian secondary-school students.
 Research method: The sample on which the questionnaire analysis was based included 507 Hungarian secondary-school students. Factor analysis was used in order to adapt the questionnaire and to determine the latent variables, that is, factors based on these correlations. With the help of this method, the number of original variables can be reduced and the original data described with the least possible information loss. To this end, the English-language measuring instrument was validated in this study.
 A short description of the context of the issue: The exploration of career decision-making difficulties is crucial for personal fulfilment, optimal career fit, improved decision-making skills, reduced uncertainty and anxiety, avoidance of career dissatisfaction, and long-term career development. By addressing these difficulties, individuals can make more informed and satisfying career choices that align with their unique strengths, values, and aspirations.
 Research findings: The study revealed that the factor structure of the CDDQ varies across different cultural contexts, a finding which suggests that cultural variations impact the underlying dimensions of the CDDQ.
 Conclusions and recommendations: The utilization of the CDDQ allows counsellors and practitioners to obtain valuable insights into the career decision-making difficulties experienced by their clients. This enables them to customize their interventions and counselling approaches to better meet the specific needs of individuals. The questionnaire provides a well-organized and systematic framework for evaluating and tackling these difficulties, thereby facilitating the development of effective strategies and interventions in the counselling process. The diverse sets of factors across different cultural settings highlight the need to consider cultural influences when assessing and interpreting.

Career decision‐making difficulties among career‐decided college students

AbstractThe procedures developed by Gati and colleagues to interpret scores in the Career Decision Difficulties Questionnaire were implemented to examine difficulties’ profiles among self‐identified decided college students who reported being either comfortable or uncomfortable with their career choice. Of the 583 participants, 92.5% were career decided and 7.5% were undecided. Close to half (47.2%) of the career‐decided students self‐identified as uncomfortable with their career choice and reported similar career decision‐making difficulties as their undecided peers. The most salient difficulties among decided uncomfortable students were general indecisiveness and lack of knowledge regarding occupations and the decision‐making process. Greater difficulties related to lack of knowledge about oneself, and internal conflicts predicted membership in the decided uncomfortable group versus the decided comfortable group. Results indicated that career‐decided students are not a homogenous group. Implications of the findings for career counseling with decided uncomfortable college students are discussed.

College Students' Struggles with Career Decisions and Their Personality

Students face challenges while selecting a career in Pakistan is very common. 99% students lack career counselling services in schools, colleges and universities. In the current study career decision-making difficulties faced by students in Peshawar was investigated when they plan to apply in a school, college and university and to evaluate what kind of assistance they need in their career choices related to their personality. Objective: To see how personality affect the decision-making of careers in students at high schools, colleges, and universities.  Methods: The influence of personality traits (Extraversion and Neuroticism) on the decision-making of career difficulties was investigated using a causal-comparative study methodology. In Pakistan, 99 percent of pupils still need career guidance. As a result, three hundred and seventy-six (N=376) students were chosen from Peshawar's various schools, colleges, and universities. Two questionnaires were used to gauge the participants' responses: The career decision-making difficulties Questionnaire and Big Five Personality Inventory.  Results: Findings suggest that most students needed help with professional decision-making and that a small percentage of students were satisfied with their selected disciplines. Conclusions: Students with high neuroticism and low extroversion had difficulty making professional decisions.

Effects of life design counselling on secondary students with career indecision in a resource-constrained community

ABSTRACT This study examined the effects of life design counselling on secondary students with career indecision in a resource-constrained community. Non-probability, purposive sampling was utilized to select 91 secondary students from two schools (intervention group: N = 17, mean age: 18.00; SD = 1.06; comparison group: N = 74; mean age: 17.41; SD = 1.47). A mixed-methods intervention within a pre-test/post-test quasi-experimental design was employed. Data was generated using the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale and the Career Decision Difficulties Questionnaire. The Mann-Whitney U test and related-samples Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test were used to examine the outcomes. The participants did not exhibit a decrease in career indecision after the intervention but there was an increase in their curiosity. The intervention should be repeated in longitudinal research with larger samples of diverse participants and different designs and assessment measures.

The Relationship between Self-Esteem, Self-Efficacy, and Career Decision-Making Difficulties: Psychological Flourishing as a Mediator.

Well-being associated with optimism, social support, and self-esteem is positively correlated with career decision. In this perspective, a rather recent concept of flourishing as an integrative notion incorporating these different resources, positive affect, and positive experience is particularly relevant to better understand the relations and correlations between self-evaluation, well-being, and career decision-making difficulties. The present study then examines the relationship between these possible difficulties, self-esteem, self-efficacy, and flourishing. One hundred and seventy-two higher education students participated in the study and completed a four-part questionnaire with the Career Decision-Making Difficulties Questionnaire, the Flourishing Scale, the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale, and the General Self-Efficacy Scale. The results highlight the mediation of psychological flourishing between personality dimensions-self-esteem and self-efficacy-and career decision difficulties and the fact that those who are most flourishing in their lives will also have the least difficulty in making a career decision. As for the practical implications, guidance counselors for students and young adults need to identify resources and difficulties they have to cope with. This study emphasizes the importance of guiding students in three areas: self-esteem, the perceived quality of social relations, and the meaning attributed to one's existence. Finally, the contribution of positive psychology to career development will be discussed.

Career decision-making readiness among students’ in the system of higher education: career course intervention

Career decision-making is a complicated process in which students must understand themselves. In this paper, the influence of the implemented “Career development” course on the Toraighyrov University undergraduate students’ readiness for career decision-making was analyzed. The Career Decision-making Difficulties Questionnaire (CDMDQ) and it was used to test the hypothesis that by implementing “Career Development” course the level of students’ career decision-making readiness would increase. The participants were 104 students at Toraighyrov University, divided equally into the control and experimental groups (52 students each). The experimental group, unlike the control group, took the “Career Development” course for 15 weeks. Students were randomly chosen from humanities (psychology, education, journalism, and social work) and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (electrical engineering, computer science, and metallurgical engineering) fields. The average age of participants was 21 years. The results show that there is significant difference in pre-course and post-course testing in each of the career decision-making difficulties cluster: (1) Lack of Readiness; (2) Lack of Information and (3) Inconsistent information in experimental in comparison to control group.

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF AN ONLINE INTERVENTION PROGRAM IN VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE

The current study is a test-retest design with the presence of both experimental and control groups. We proposed to present information about an online intervention program for reducing career decision-making difficulties (caused by lack of information, lack of readiness and inconsistent information) and to present results of its effectiveness. This research was designed in 2020 and the intervention program (7 sessions) started at the beginning of lock down due to COVID-19 pandemic. Participants were 11th high school students from Chişinău, Moldova. 13 students participated in the experimental group, which attended at least 6 of 7 online sessions and 18 in the control group. Career decision-making difficulties ware assessed with the CDDQ – Career Decision-Making Difficulties Questionnaire (Gati & Osipow, 2000). We found that there are differences between the results obtained by the participants of the intervention program and the results of the students in the control group for the lack of readiness scale (F (1, 29) = 16.388, p = 0.000). There was a reduction of career decision-making difficulties caused by lack of readiness for the experimental group, at the time of the retest (t(12)=3.30, p=0.006, Mretest=4.02) compared to the initial testing (Mtest =5.36) and at the time of the retest for the experimental group (Mretest=3.51) compared to the control group (Mretest= 4.04). After attending the intervention, differences related to the lack of information scale were recorded (F(1, 29)=16.925, p=0.000). Students in the experimental group obtained lower scores in the retest moment (t(17)=-3.073, p=0.007, Mretest=3.5128) than in the test moment (Mtest=5.5192). There are no significant differences in retest time between groups, t(29)=0.83, p=0.41. Difficulties caused by inconsistent information did not change between assessment times F(1, 29)=2.273, p=0.142, there are no significant differences between groups t(29)=0.43, p=0.67.

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO THE CAREER DECISION MAKING DIFFICULTIES AMONG ISRAELI PALESTINIAN HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

The present study aimed at investigating the role of emotional intelligence on career decision making difficulties among Israeli Palestinian high school students. The Bar-On Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire was used to assess emotional intelligence and the Career Decision-Making Difficulties Questionnaire was used to assess and career decision making difficulties. 715 students took part in this study. Data was collected through a convenient sampling technique. Descriptive statistics, t-test, and Pearson correlation coefficient test were the methods used to analyze the data. The findings showed that female students are more emotionally intelligent than male students, whereas female students face more career decision making difficulties than male students. Furthermore, the findings showed that there is a significant negative correlation between emotional intelligence and career decision making difficulties among Palestinian high school students in Israel (r = -.101, p< .01). The significance of the current study is its contribution to examining the role of students’ emotional intelligence in predicting the students’ career decision making difficulties. The findings will help school counselors shape new strategies in career guidance and school counselling.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/soc/0001/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

A latent profile analysis linking career learning experience profile to career decision‐making difficulties

AbstractAlthough both theoretical and empirical studies have revealed the impact of career learning experiences on career decision‐making, most studies have ignored the interwind relationships between different career learning experiences. Thus, the present study employed a person‐centered approach to explore the different latent profiles of the career learning experiences that arise among Chinese college students and to examine how these profiles are related to career decision‐making difficulties. A sample of 1737 college students (72.7% females) completed the Chinese version of the Career Exploration and Decision Learning Experiences (CEDLE‐C) and Career Decision‐making Difficulties Questionnaire (CDDQ). Four career learning experience profiles were identified: the multi‐source profile (5%, 79) characterized by high levels of personal mastery experience (PME), verbal persuasion (VP), vicarious learning (VL), and positive emotion (PE) and very low level of negative emotion (NE), the high‐mid‐source profile (42%, 723) characterized by these experiences slightly above mean levels, the mid‐source profile (45%, 789) characterized by mean levels of these experiences, and the unconfident profile (8%, 146) characterized by very low levels of PME, VP, VL, PE, and high level of NE. These four profiles differed in career decision‐making difficulties. Students in the unconfident profile experienced the most career decision‐making difficulties. The implications of these findings for further research and practices are discussed.

High School Student’s Career Indecision Reviewed Based on Major and Gender

Career indecision is a condition that occurs in individuals when experiencing problems or difficulties when starting or being in the career decision-making process that causes incompetence or uncertainty in determining their career choices. Career indecision is caused by various factors, both internal and external factors of the individual. In this study, the factors studied were major and gender. The analytical method used in the study was a two-way ANOVA. The study sample was 148 high school X students.  The collected data with the form of a scale. The scale used in the study was a career indecision scale compiled based on the Career Decision-Making Difficulties Questionnaire (CDDQ). the significance value of the sex variable is 0.029 (< 0.05). The significance value of the major is 0.06 (> 0.05). The results showed that there was no difference in high school students' career indecision based on major, while by gender, male students experienced greater career indecision compared to female students.

Career decision-making difficulties among socioeconomically disadvantaged students (Bidikmisi Students)

This study aims to explore the career decision-making difficulties (CDMD) of Bidikmisi students, especially the factors that may cause difficulties, such as parents’ education level and students’ gender. The measuring instrument used was Career Decision-making Difficulties Questionnaire. Random cluster sampling was conducted, and there were 154 Unpad students from four selected faculties.  The CDMD data were analyzed using descriptive and differential tests. The results of the study showed that the majority of Bidikmisi students had moderate CDMD, with the highest difficulty in the Lack of Readiness category.  There was a significant difference in CDMD based on parents’ education level in which individuals with parents with secondary and college levels of education had higher CDMD. There was no significant difference between male and female students regarding CDMD. These findings highlight the importance of career guidance for Bidikmisi students to make appropriate career decisions, mainly those with parents from specific educational backgrounds

Transforming the “SEAD”: Evaluation of a Virtual Surgical Exploration and Discovery Program and its Effects on Career Decision-Making

The abrupt cessation of in-person education due to the COVID-19 pandemic has made it difficult for preclerkship students to explore a career in surgery. To supplement the lack of exposure, the Surgical Exploration and Discovery (SEAD) program was transitioned to an entirely virtual format. This study aims to describe the virtual SEAD program and evaluate its effectiveness as a career decision-making (CDM) intervention. The week-long program was delivered on Microsoft Teams, featured 11 surgical specialties, and comprised four activities: live demonstrations, virtual operating room observerships, career talks, and technical skills workshops. The program was evaluated using the four levels of the Kirkpatrick model: (1) reactions, (2) knowledge, (3) CDM behaviors - assessed using the Career Decision-making Difficulties Questionnaire (CDDQ) - and (4) results. The latter was indirectly assessed using CDDQ scores from an in-person SEAD program, where lower CDDQ scores indicate less difficulty with CDM. Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ottawa in Ontario, Canada. Forty pre-clerkship students (27 first and 13 second year students) at the University of Ottawa RESULTS: Level 1: 97.5% of participants rated the program as good or very good. Live demonstration and technical skills workshops were the highest rated activities. Level 2: participants' scores on knowledge-based questions about a surgical career significantly increased following the program (pre: 9/25 vs post: 15/25, p = 0.008). Level 3: overall mean CDDQ scores (±SD) decreased difficulties with significantly following the program (pre: 45.6 ± 10.5 vs post: 38.8 ± 10.9, p < 0.001), which indicates decreased CDM difficulties. Level 4: Except for one sub-category, the difference in mean CDDQ scores between the virtual and in-person programs were not significantly different. The program received the positive reactions and significantly increased participants' knowledge. The change in CDDQ scores following the virtual program suggests it may reduce career decision-making difficulties in the short-term. In-person surgical exposure remains important; however, a hybrid model may be valuable in resource limited settings. WC: 300.

The identification and validation of five types of career indecision: A latent profile analysis of career decision-making difficulties.

Diagnosing the causes of clients' career indecision is among the first steps in career counseling. The present study applied latent profile analysis to identify career indecision types using the 10 difficulty scale scores of the Career Decision-Making Difficulties Questionnaire (Gati et al., 1996). In two random U.S. samples (Ntotal = 8,918; age range = 14-50), five profiles of career indecision were identified and replicated: (1) unmotivated (6%), (2) generally indecisive (31%), (3) unrealistic (12%), (4) uninformed (39%), and (5) conflicted (12%). Age and gender negligibly predicted career indecision type, thereby supporting the stability of the five-profile typology. Nonetheless, the female gender was associated with a greater likelihood of being classified as indecisive as opposed to unmotivated (OR = 2.13). Furthermore, the five types differed in career decision status (η² = .28) and perceived career decisional distress (η² = .29). Uninformed and conflicted individuals reported multiple career decision-making difficulties and were still considering many career alternatives, whereas the three remaining types had one salient difficulty and had already identified a few (or even one) preferred alternative(s). Typological classification of individuals based on their salient causes of career indecision facilitates intervention planning as well as prescreening clients for individual counseling or group interventions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

The Structure of the Career Decision-Making Difficulties Questionnaire Across 13 Countries

Assessing the causes of career indecision is among the first steps in career counseling. Gati et al. (1996) proposed a multidimensional taxonomy of career indecision and developed the Career Decision-Making Difficulties Questionnaire (CDDQ), consisting of 10 scales that cohere into three higher-order clusters and a total score. However, studies investigating the CDDQ reported cross-cultural variations in its factor structure. To examine the cross-cultural generalizability of the CDDQ, we compared four alternative factor models using data from 39 diverse samples from 13 countries with nine language versions ( N = 19,562). Using weighted least squares mean- and variance-adjusted estimation, a robust estimator for nonnormal data, comparison of fit indices supported the original CDDQ structure across countries and languages. These findings support the cross-cultural generalizability of the structure of the CDDQ and the use of 10 scale scores, three cluster scores, and a total score, consistent with the taxonomy underlying the CDDQ.

Analysis of Relationships between High School Students’ Career Maturity, Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy, and Career Decision-Making Difficulties

The study analyzed the relationships between high school students’ career maturity, career decision-making difficulties, and career decision-making self-efficacy and aimed to investigate whether career maturity, career decision-making difficulties and career decision-making self-efficacy altered according to gender, type of school, and grade level. The study sample was composed of 665 high school students attending five different high schools in Bursa. The data collection tools included the Career Decision-making Difficulties Questionnaire, the Career Maturity Scale, and the Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy Scale. Among quantitative research methods, a correlation model was applied. The analysis results revealed a weak but significant negative relationship between career maturity and career decision-making difficulties scale in terms of total scores and subscale scores. Additionally, there was a medium- and low-level significant negative relationship between the career decision-making difficulties scale total and subscale scores, and the career decision-making self-efficacy total and subscale scores. The subsequent analysis to describe the mediating role of career decision-making self-efficacy demonstrated that career decision-making self-efficacy had a partial mediating role. Furthermore, male students were found to have a more disadvantaged status than did female students in terms of career maturity. Based on the fact that students’ career decision-making difficulties stemmed from the aspect of a lack of readiness, psycho education programs can be organized to determine the reasons for the lack of lack of readiness, find solutions, and provide the necessary information and skills. Future studies may focus on examining the reasons for the career maturity level differences.

Personal Identity and Vocational Decision Difficulties: The Teenager Greek Immigrants of the Hellenic High School of Wuppertal, Germany

The purpose of this research was to examine the relationship between the identity formation of adolescent Greek immigrants in Germany and the difficulties they encounter in making vocational decisions, as a prerequisite to the consequent selection of relevant education and training. The psychometric tools Ego Identity Process Questionnaire (EIPQ) and The Career Decision Making Difficulties Questionnaire (CDDQ), as well as an improvised demographic questionnaire, were handed out to 100 pupils of the Hellenic High School of Wuppertal. The research results were interpreted in the light of Marcia’s identity typology and Gati’s theoretical model and revealed that: (a) Adolescents with an Identity Achievement had little difficulty in choosing a career, while others had considerable difficulty. (b) There was no relevance between age groups and identity typology. (c) Genders did not differ in identity typology and vocational decision-making difficulties. Both sexes seemed to have equal difficulty in their vocational pursuits. (d) School performance did not differ according to the type of identity. (e) The higher the school grades/performance, the higher the identity inquiry. (f) The greater the difficulties of adolescents in their vocational choices, the less committed they became. (g) The high and middle educational level of mothers (but not of fathers) led to higher rates of Identity Achievement. The difficulties of adolescents’ vocational decision-making did not differ according to the educational level of their parents. (h) The duration of staying of adolescent immigrants in Germany was not correlated with difficulties in their vocational choices.

Validation of a French Version of the Career Decision-Making Difficulties Questionnaire: Relationships With Self-Esteem and Self-Efficacy

The aim of this study was to validate the French version of the Career Decision-Making Difficulties Questionnaire (CDDQ) and to assess its measurement invariance across gender, age groups, countries, and student versus career counseling samples. We also examined the sensitivity of this instrument to discriminate a career counseling population from a general student sample. Third, we studied the relationship between career decision-making difficulties, career decision-making self-efficacy, and self-esteem in a sample of 1,748 French and French-speaking Swiss participants. A confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the overall hierarchical structure of the CDDQ. Multigroup analysis indicated that the level of invariance across groups almost always reached configural, metric, and scalar invariance. Differences between countries were very small, whereas differences between the general population and career counseling subsamples were much larger. Both self-esteem and self-efficacy significantly predicted career decision-making difficulties. Moreover, as expected, self-efficacy partially mediated the relationship between self-esteem and career decision-making difficulties.