Career Factors Inventory Research Articles

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.

Prevalence of Career Indecision and Factors Influencing It Among Medical Students and Interns in Oman: A Cross-Sectional Questionnaire Study.

Career indecision is a broad term that refers to the uncertainty and difficulty of decision-making regarding future careers among junior professionals. This study aims primarily to estimate the prevalence of career indecisiveness among senior medical students and medical interns in Oman. Secondly, it assesses the association of sociodemographic factors influencing it. Finally, it examines the association between participation in career development activities and career indecision among them during the academic year of 2022-2023. A cross-sectional study was conducted using an anonymous self-administered questionnaire in the English language. Unpaired t-test and ANOVA test were used to compare means between groups. A 21-item Career Factors Inventory (CFI) was used to determine thecareer indecision score. These scores were further classified as low-level (score 27-71) and high-level (score 72-105). Results: The total number of participants was 161. The minimum sample size calculated was 153 participants for 95% confidence intervals. The prevalence of high-level career indecision was 63.4% (95%CI 55.4%-70.8%) among the participants. Participants with one of their parents in healthcare professions and those who did not participate in career development activities had high career indecision scores with P-values of 0.002 and 0.022, respectively. Moreover, participants younger than 25 years of age in comparison to older participants had higher need-for-self-knowledge (NSK) scores (p-value 0.018). A high prevalence of high-level career indecision was seen among senior medical students and medical interns in Oman. Few factors were found to be statistically associated with career indecision, especiallyparticipation in career development activities.Further studies are recommended to investigate the causality of high-level career indecision among junior professionals in Oman and the contributing factors. Curricular and extra-curricular career development activities and counseling may reduce career indecision.

Prevalence of Career Indecision and Factors Influencing it among Medical Students and Interns in Oman

Aim and objectives: Career indecision (CI) is a broad term refers to the uncertainty and difficulty of decision- making of the future career among junior professionals. This study aims primarily to estimate the prevalence of CI among senior medical students and medical interns in Oman. Secondly, it assesses the association of socio-demographics factors influencing it. Finally, it examines the association between participation in career development activities and CI among them during the academic year of 2022-2023. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using anonymous self-administered questionnaire in English language. We used a 21-item Career Factors Inventory (CFI) to determine CI score. CI scores were further classified to low-level CI (score 27-71) and high-level CI (score 72-105). Results: Total number of participants was 161. The minimum sample size calculated was 153 participants for 95% confidence interval. Unpaired t test and ANOVA test were used to determine association. The results showed the prevalence of high-level CI is 63.4% (95% CI 55.4% - 70.8%) among the participants. Participants with one of their parents in healthcare professions and those who did not participate in career development activities have high CI scores with P-value 0.002 and 0.022 respectively. Moreover, participants younger than 25 years of age in comparison to older participants had higher Need for Self-Knowledge (NSK) scores (p-value 0.018). Conclusion: Study participants showed high prevalence of high-level CI among senior medical students and medical interns in Oman. Few factors were found to be statistically associated, especially participation in career development activities. Further studies are recommended to investigate the causality of high CI levels among junior professionals in Oman and the contributing factors. Curricular and extra-curricular career development activities and counselling may improve CI and reduce its burden.

The Italian Version of the Career Factors Inventory

This study attempted to examine the validity of the Italian version of the Career Factors Inventory (CFI), a psychometric tool widely used in the assessment of cognitive and personal–emotional dimensions of career indecision, among a sample of 2,060 Italian students attending high school and university. Recurring to both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, the original four-factor structure was confirmed and returned, in line with the literature, satisfactory reliability indices; moreover, CFI subscales showed intercorrelations consistent with previous studies, albeit lower in some cases. Subsequently, convergent validity between the four CFI subscales and other scales via zero-order correlation was tested, confirming previous evidence except for need for career information. In conclusion, consistent with previous studies, the Italian version of the CFI showed to be a valid and reliable instrument for the evaluation of dimensions of career indecision.

Discriminant Analysis in Career Studying “Decision/Indecision”: The Career Factors Inventory (CFI) as a Diagnostic Measure

Literature has shown that, nowadays, a multidimensional approach to decision-making has become prioritized. The Careers Factor Inventory (CFI) is, in fact, a multidimensional measurement instrument for evaluating career indecision, which may be useful in the diagnosis of adaptation behaviors in terms of career decision versus indecision. This study emerges as a follow-up to a previous study which used the CFI on a sample of university students in which this measurement instrument was found to be capable of distinguishing Low decided vs. Highly decided groups and to evaluate the discriminatory capacity of the CFI scales. It is the aim, here, to further analyse the results obtained in such study with a view to grounding the importance of the use of this Inventory as an instrument for distinguishing people who present different decision levels in relation to their careers. In this study, 494 university students from a number of higher education establishments and courses are part of the afore mentioned Low decided and Highly decided groups. The collected data were analysed by means of Discrete Discriminant Analysis models and corroborate the discriminant power of the Inventory and its use as a diagnostic instrument in the psychological intervention of career counseling and development.

Effects of problem-solving technique and anxiety management training on career indecision of school-going adolescents in Nigeria

This study investigated the effects of problem-solving technique (PST) and Anxiety Management Training (AMT) on the reduction of career indecision among school-going adolescents. One hundred and twenty-two SS2 students (males = 56, females = 66) randomly selected from three coeducational secondary schools in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria participated in the study. A 3 x 2 factorial pretest­-posttest experimental control group design was adopted for the study. There were two experimental groups and a control group, ‘Career Factors Inventory' for measuring career indecision was administered before and after the five-week experiment. The data derived from the pre and post treatment assessments were subjected to a 3 x 2 factorial analysis of covariance using pre-test scores as covariates. The differences between the groups were established through the use of Fisher's Protected Least Significant Difference Method on the adjusted means. The results indicated that the two treatment methods (PST and AMT) were more effective than no treatment in reducing the students' career indecision. Gender had no significant effect on treatment outcome, while there were no significant interaction effects of gender and treatment on career indecision. Based on these findings the PST and AMT were recommended for reducing career indecision among adolescents in Nigerian schools. Journal of Psychology in Africa 2004, 14(2): 139–145

A Career Readiness Typology and Typal Membership in Middle School

This study explored a career readiness typology of 629 8th‐grade students using the Career Factors Inventory. Data revealed developmentally appropriate elevated needs for information, specifically self‐knowledge. In addition, cluster analysis demonstrated the heterogeneity of career development needs of 8th‐grade students. Typal membership revealed little variance on sociodemographic factors. Career development implications are presented.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the Career Factors Inventory on a Community College Sample

A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted using AMOS 4.0 to validate the 21- item Career Factors Inventory on a community college student sample. The multidimensional inventory assesses types and levels of career indecision antecedents. The sample consisted of 512 ethnically diverse freshmen students; 46% were men and 54% were women. Participants ranged in age from 16 to 50 ( M= 19.3, SD= 3.43). Goodness-of-fit statistics revealed that a minor revision of the four-factor structure proposed by Chartrand and Robbins fit the data, whereas the original model did not. The revision entailed dropping one item while retaining the four factors. Item loadings ranged from .44 to .89; factor intercorrelations ranged from .20 to .80. The internal consistency for the subscales ranged from .77 to .86 and .87 for the total inventory.

Structural and discriminant validity of the career factors inventory

Using a sample of 350 college students, this study examined the structural and discriminant validity of the Career Factors Inventory (CFI; Chartrand, Robbins, Morrill, & Boggs, 1990), a multidimensional measure of career indecision intended to be scored for two informational indecision components (Need for Career Information and Need for Self-Knowledge) and two personal–emotional components (Career Choice Anxiety and Generalized Indecisiveness). Results of confirmatory factor analyses and correlations revealed that: (a) the underlying structure of the CFI was similar for women and men, (b) the original four-factor model corresponding to the CFI’s scoring scheme demonstrated an excellent fit to the data, (c) a non-hierarchical two-factor model and a hierarchical model were both supported by the data, and (d) the CFI demonstrated evidence of discriminant validity. Implications for career counseling and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Mapping the Domain of Career Decision Problems

The domain of career decision problems has not been adequately explored. Consequently, it is difficult to determine how well existing instruments sample the career indecision construct. The authors conducted a factor analysis of the Career Decision Scale, Career Factors Inventory, and Career Decision Difficulties Questionnaire with undecided college students to explore the indecision domain. They found six reliable factors: Lack of Information, Need for Information, Trait Indecision, Disagreement with Others, Identity Diffusion, and Choice Anxiety. They conducted a cluster analysis of these six factors to explore the structure of the indecision domain and found three clusters: Information Deficit/Identity Diffusion, Decision Process Inhibitors, and Choice Inhibitors. The authors propose a definition of the domain of career decision problems, discuss implications of the results for career counseling, and critique existing instruments on their coverage of the domain.

The Association Between Self-Defeating Personality Characteristics, Career Indecision, and Vocational Identity

Research on Schill's Self-Defeating Personality Scale (SDPS; Schill, 1990) has focused primarily on interpersonal relationships and less on self-defeating behavior in other contexts. The SDPS was correlated with the Career Decision Scale (CDS; Osipow, Carney, Winer, Yanico, & Koschier, 1976), My Vocational Situation (MVS; Holland, Daiger, & Power, 1980), and the Career Factors Inventory (CFI; Chartrand, Robbins, Morrill, & Boggs, 1990). Participants with more self-defeating characteristics were more career indecisive, had less vocational identity, and were more indecisive in general. Women with higher scores on the Self-Defeating Personality Scale had significantly greater career choice anxiety and less need for self-knowledge, although men with higher scores did not. The effect of depression contributed substantially to the higher scores for career indecision and vocational identity among men with more self-defeating characteristics, and it accounted entirely for lack of desire for self-knowledge among women with more self-defeating characteristics. However, a general characteristic of indecisiveness in persons with more self-defeating characteristics was present and was independent of depressive affect. The differential effects among the CFI subscales support claims that the scale is factorally pure.

The Career Factors Inventory: Theory and Applications

The Career Factors Inventory (CFI; Chartrand, Robbins, Morrill, & Boggs, 1990) is a multidimensional measure of antecedents of career indecision. The first part of this article describes the purpose and theoretical origins of the CFI, as well as the psychometric characteristics of the instrument. The second part of the article discusses potential applications of the CFI and includes a number of examples that illustrate how the CFI has been used in problem prevention, counseling, career development, and administrative planning situations.

Validity of the Career Factors Inventory

The present study examined the construct and concurrent validity of the Career Factors Inventory (CFI; Chartrand, Robbins, & Morrill, 1989). The CFI, along with the Career Choice Status Inventory (Savickas, 1993), the Vocational Identity Scale (VIS; Holland, Daiger, & Power, 1980), and the Career Development Inventory—Adult Form II (CDI-A; Super, Zelkowitz, & Thompson, 1975), were completed by 227 college students. Strong support for the CFI's construct validity was provided by a principal components analysis showing four components that paralleled the four scales in the inventory and correlations in the expected direction with age and year in school. Evidence in support of the CFI's concurrent validity was provided by correlations in the expected direction with career decidedness, vocational identity, and career development.

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.

How Similar are the Factor Structures of the Career Decision Scale, the Career Decision Profile, and the Career Factors Inventory?

A sample of 332 undergraduate psychology students completed the Career Decision Scale (CDS), the Career Factors Inventory (CFI), and the Career Decision Profile (CDP). Factor analyses were conducted and four stable factors emerged, namely: Indecision, Need for Self/Career Information, Career Choice Anxiety, and Indecisiveness. The CDP and the CFI both measured Need for Self/Career Information and Indecisiveness. The CDP overlapped in part with the CDS to form the Indecision factor, whereas certain CFI items formed the Career Choice Anxiety factor. The Career Decision Profile and the Career Factors Inventory appeared to be more multidimensional than the Career Decision Scale which was found to be unidimensional.

Using Multidimensional Career Decision Instruments to Assess Career Decidedness and Implementation

Multidimensional measures of career indecision have been constructed to aid in the differential diagnosis of career problems. This study examined the relative efficacy of individual scale scores on the Career Factors Inventory (CFI) and two calculations of the Career Deciion Scale (CDS‐A and CDS‐B) in predicting career decidedness and career implementation. Results from separate simultaneous regression analyses indicated that different scales of the CFI and the CDS‐B made unique contributions to the prediction of career decidedness and implementation. On the other hand, only one predominant scale emerged in the CDS‐A regression analyses. Results supported the use of individual subscales to identify antecedents of career indecision.

Development and validation of the Career Factors Inventory.

Department of Educational PsychologyUniversity of UtahThe Career Factors Inventory (CFI) was developed in this article. This is a multidimensionalmeasure of career indecision containing 2 information factors (Need for Career Information andNeed for Self-Knowledge) and 2 personal-emotional factors (Career Choice Anxiety and Gen-eralized Indecisiveness). A rationale and corresponding descriptions for each scale were developedand the structure of the CFI across 2 samples was tested with confirmatory factor analyses.Reliability and concurrent validity analyses were conducted, and the CFI was empiricallycompared with career decision and other related scales. Suggestions for Attribution x Treatmentinteraction research were presented, along with possible counseling applications.The effectiveness of career counseling interventions hasbeen established (Oliver & Spokane, 1988; Spokane & Oliver,1983), but the that lead to effective change and thedifferential effectiveness of interventions for different clientsubgroups is not fully understood. In order to gain a clearerunderstanding of career process issues and to improve theefficacy of career intervention outcomes, investigators willneed to explicate interactions between attributes and treat-ments (Fretz, 1981; Oliver & Spokane, 1988). In a discussionof treatment parameters, Fretz (1981) concluded that there isa to consider the distinctive effects of content domainssuch as occupational information, self-information, and in-formation and decision-making processes (pp. 83-84). Heidentified content domain as one of the more promisingparameters on which treatments can be expected to havedistinctive and additive effects. Similarly, several authors(Campbell & Cellini, 1981; Rounds & Tinsley, 1984) havepointed to the need for diagnostic classification of careerclients as a basis for identifying different client subtypes andevaluating the differential effectiveness of particular interven-tions.Career indecision is a client problem that is applicable to adifferential diagnostic approach. Career indecision is a mul-tidimensional problem (Hartman, Fuqua, & Jenkins, 1986),and individuals who are undecided about career plans repre-sent a number of different subtypes (Crites, 1981; Gordon,1984; Holland & Holland, 1977; Jones & Chenery, 1980;Larson, Heppner, Ham, & Dugan, 1988; Osipow, 1983). Twointervention outcome studies that have examined the inter-We thank John White for his contribution to the development ofthe original instrument, Constance Google for her assistance withdata analysis, Jeff Chartrand for his assistance with figure graphics,and the reviewers for their helpful comments.Correspondence concerning this article and requests for permissionto use the Career Factors Inventory should be addressed to Judy M.Chartrand, Department of Psychology, Box 2018, 810 West FranklinStreet, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia23284.action between subtypes and treatments reported differentialoutcome gains based on indecision subtype (Barak & Freidkes,1981; Jones & Chenery, 1980). More studies of this type areneeded for progress to continue in the development of careerindecision interventions (Larson et al., 1988; Slaney, 1988a).An important step in extending this line of research is thedevelopment of multidimensional career indecision assess-ment tools. Efforts to construct such instruments have re-sulted in the development of two multifactorial career deci-sion scales (Jones & Chenery, 1980; Osipow, Carney, Winer,Yanico, & Koschier, 1976) and several scales measuring re-lated constructs, including vocational identity (Holland,Daiger, & Power, 1980), self-concept crystallization (Barrett& Tinsley, 1977a), decision-making self-esteem (Barrett &Tinsley, 1977b), decision-making self-efficacy (Taylor & Betz,1983), and decision-making style (Harren, 1979). Only theCareer Decision Scale (CDS) and the Vocational DecisionScale (VDS) are reviewed in this article, as these instrumentswere designed to measure multiple dimensions of career in-decision.Jones and Chenery (1980) constructed the VDS using arational-empirical approach. They posited a three-dimen-sional model of vocational decision status consisting of levelof career decidedness, comfort with career decidedness, andreasons for indecision. The 38-item VDS was then constructedwith single items for the comfort and decidedness dimensionsand 36 items for the reasons dimension. An orthogonal ex-ploratory factor analysis of the reasons dimension yieldedthree significant factors totaling 23 items and accounting for65% of the variance. These factors were labeled Self-Uncer-tainty, Choice/Work Salience, and Transitional Self.Recently, Jones (1989) developed the Career Decision Pro-file, a revised version of the VDS. In this instrument one itemwas added to both the comfort and decidedness dimensions,and the reasons dimension was restructured to include fourfactors: Lack of Self-Clarity, Lack of Occupational-Educa-tional Information, Indecisiveness, and Choice-Work Sali-ence. The reasons factors were extracted from a principalcomponent analysis designed to locate up to seven factors491

Development and validation of the Career Factors Inventory.

Development and validation of the Career Factors Inventory.