Exploring the Relationship between Career Indecision and Career Exploration of Agriculture Students

NACTA Journal, Mar 2007 by Esters, Levon T

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore factors which influence the level of career exploration of students enrolled in a college of agriculture. The major objective was to explain variance in the level of career exploration that could be explained by selected factors. Data for the study were collected using the three factor solution of the Career Decision Scale and the Career Exploration Survey. The three career indecision factors were: Identity Diffusion, Positive Choice Conflict, and Tentative Decision. Career exploration was measured using a composite score of the self and environmental career exploration scales of the Career Exploration Survey. Low negative relationships were found among Identify Diffusion, Tentative Decision, and level of career exploration. Thus, higher levels of career indecision were associated with lower levels of career exploration. Regression analysis revealed that two career indecision factors, Identity Diffusion and Positive Choice Conflict, explained seven percent of the variance in the level of career exploration. Although two career indecision factors were found to predict undergraduate students' level of career exploration, these factors were fairly weak predictors. Recommendations and implications for future research are discussed.

Introduction

Career indecision is one of the major career-related problems students have to contend with and has been a major focus of vocational research over the last few decades (Guay et al., 2003; Osipow, 1999). Career indecision has been used to refer to the problems individuals may have in making their career decision (Slaney, 1988) as well as the precursors that may influence or impede career choice (Swanson and D'Achiardi, 2005). Historically, research on career indecision has focused on the differences between decided and undecided students in order to understand factors that might explain a student's inability to choose a major or occupation (Callanan and Greenhaus, 1992). Individuals who are undecided often delay the process of making career-related decisions while they acquire additional information about themselves, occupations and the world of work, or the decision-making process.

There have been several measures of career decision-making developed to help researchers better understand career indecision (Hackett and Watkins, 1995). However, the Career Decision Scale (CDS; Osipow, 1987) is the most widely used scale and has stimulated a large body of research (Osipow, 1991). The CDS is designed to identify barriers that prevent individuals from making career decisions (Osipow and Fitzgerald, 1996). It is based on the rationale that a finite number of relatively discrete circumstances are responsible for the problems people have in implementing career decisions.

Although the CDS has been used for years, the factor structure of the CDS has been the subject of debate. In particular, some have questioned whether or not the CDS should be considered a multidimensional or a unidimensional measure of career indecision. For example, researchers have found four factor-based scales within the CDS are better than a single decision score (Shimizu et al., 1988). The four factor-based scales are: Diffusion, Support, Approach-Approach, and External Barriers (Whitson, 1996). Stead (1991) also found the CDS to be multidimensional in nature, identifying a two factor structure when the CDS was used with South African adolescents. However, other researchers (Laplante et al., 1994; Martin et al., 1991) contend the CDS is unidimensional and the use of multiple subscales is not appropriate.

More recently, Kelly and Lee (2002) investigated the factor structure of several career assessment instruments which measure the construct of career indecision including the CDS, Career Factors Inventory, and the Career Decision Making Difficulties Questionnaire. Kelly and Lee (2002) concluded that the CDS was a multidimensional measure of career indecision comprised of three factors. The first factor, Identity Diffusion, is the inability to adequately crystallize one's career relevant characteristics or to see how one's personal characteristics can be implemented in careers. The second factor, Positive Choice Conflict, represents the indecision of choosing one career from a number of attractive alternatives. The third factor, Tentative Decision, indicates that a career decision has been made and that there are questions on how to implement the decision. In summary, empirical evidence indicates that the underlying factor structure of the CDS is not unidimensional, thus efforts to diagnose career indecision should not rely on a unidimensional global index as the total CDS score (Schulenberg et al, 1988).

Another area critical to the career decisionmaking process is career exploration. Career exploration is defined as the self-appraisal and external activities that provide individuals with information to foster progress in the selection of, entry into, and adjustment to an occupation (Blustein, 1989a; Jordann, 1963; Stumpf et al., 1983). The purpose of career exploration is to collect and analyze career-related information in order to enhance the individual's career management process (Stumpf, 1992).