Stress Mediates the Relationship between Personality and the Affordance of Socially Distanced Online Education

The novel coronavirus pandemic has made life significantly more stressful for large populations of people. As one such demographic, university students worldwide have experienced a sudden shift toward the provision of socially distanced online education, often in the absence of a coherent institutional plan. The mechanisms of stress appraisal and response differ between individuals in part determined by personality. With a sample of 293 undergraduate students at a Japanese university operating under prohibitions relating to face-to-face education, this article examines the impact of personality on the affordance of socially distanced online education mediated through generalized life stress and online learning stress appraisal. A retrimmed structural model returned an acceptable goodness of fit accounting for 31.6% of the criterion variance. The model indicates that conscientiousness (positive) and neuroticism (negative) hold a significant mediated impact on the affordance of socially distanced online education through generalized life stress and online learning stress appraisal. Moreover, and in the absence of face-to-face social interaction, the model shows that extroverted students experience greater online learning stress appraisals than neurotic students. Neurotic students were, however, negatively impacted by appraisals of generalized life stress but not online learning stress. Informed by personality characteristics and stress appraisals, the outcomes are discussed in relation to educational improvements and appropriate pedagogies for the delivery of socially distanced online education.

Coping with Stress During the Coronavirus Outbreak: the Contribution of Big Five Personality Traits and Social Support

This study investigated the relationships between active, problem-focused, and maladaptive coping with stress during the Coronavirus outbreak, the Big Five personality traits, and social support among Israeli-Palestinian college students (n = 625). Emotion-focused coping negatively correlated with social support, openness, extraversion, conscientiousness, and agreeableness, while it positively correlated with neuroticism. On the other hand, problem-focused coping was found to positively correlate with social support, openness, extraversion, conscientiousness, and agreeableness, but negatively correlate with neuroticism. Thus, positive social support may increase one's ability to cope actively, adaptively, and efficiently. In addition, Israeli-Palestinian college students high in openness, extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness tend to use active problem-focused coping while those high in neuroticism tend to use maladaptive emotion-focused coping.

Openness to Experience Moderates the Association Between Problem-Solving Style and Negative Affect

Abstract. Everyday problem-solving situations can be approached on an independent or interdependent basis. The current article investigated the moderating effects of openness to experience and self-efficacy on the relation between an independent versus interdependent problem-solving style and negative affect (stress, anxiety, depression, and neuroticism). Australian university students ( Ns = 399, 186, 337, and 248) and international academic researchers ( N = 199) took part in research studies examining the relations between personality, problem-solving-style, and mental health. Openness to experience moderated the association between problem-solving style and negative affect in all five studies. When openness was low, independent problem-solvers reported greater negative emotionality compared to interdependent problem-solvers. Further, the moderating effect of openness to experience on trait-based negative affectivity (i.e., neuroticism) was mediated by state-based negative emotional experiences of anxiety and stress. The moderating effect of self-efficacy appraisals was only statistically significant on specific anxiety about solving problems. Openness to experience seems to help alleviate the negative mental consequences of independent problem-solvers. These findings have implications for clinical practice with regard to building a therapeutic relationship and retaining clients.

Building a solution-focused career counselling strategy for career indecision

The literature contains quite a few theoretical and case study articles with respect to the development and use of solution-focused brief therapy. However, very few of these studies focus on the effects of using solution-focused therapy principles and techniques in career counselling. This study is aimed to examine the effect of a five-session solution-focused brief career counselling on reducing a university student’s career indecision. A university student who had a career indecision problem participated in the research. The career counselling process was assessed by using pre- to post-test result changes of the counselee. In order to measure the career indecision level of the counselee, Career Decision-Making Difficulties Questionnaire was used. The Career Decision-Making Difficulties Questionnaire was administrated before the beginning of the first session and after the termination session as a pre- and post-test. At the end of the five-session solution-focused brief career counselling process, the results demonstrated that the client’s career decision-making difficulty level was reduced. The findings of the study were discussed based on the results of the research in the relevant literature.

Relationship between big five personality factors, problem solving and medical errors

Background

Human behavior is recognized as the main factor in the occurrence of accidents (70–90 percent), with human personality and problem solving ability as two related factors in the occurrence of medical errors (annually 42.7 million in the world). The objectives of this study were to investigate the relationship between personality factors, problem solving ability and medical errors.

Material and methods

This study was a questionnaire case control study. Information on 49 members of medical and nursing staff with medical errors (case group) and 46 without medical errors (control group) were analyzed. To collect the data, two Heppner problem solving questionnaires and the NEO-Five Factor Inventory were used, which were completed by the study population.

Results

The results illustrate that individuals without medical errors showed higher scores in contentiousness, extraversion and agreeableness and lower scores in neuroticism than those with medical errors. Individuals without medical errors also showed higher scores in problem solving ability scales than those with medical errors.

Conclusion

Results of this study, suggest that personality factors and problem solving ability are related to medical errors and it may be possible for hospital authorities to use this knowledge when selecting capable medical staff.

The Role of Emotional Stability and Competence in Young Adolescents’ Career Judgments

A transition from elementary to high school represents a very profound change and a potential source of stress, as it often requires young adolescents to make significant professional decisions. This topic was the focus of the present study in which 303 Croatian students attending their final year of elementary school completed measures of career decision self-efficacy, emotional stability, emotional competence, and concerns regarding the upcoming transition. The results indicated emotional competence as a statistically significant predictor of career decision self-efficacy, whereas emotional stability was revealed as a significant predictor of career concerns. Furthermore, a moderating effect of gender and a mediating role of career decision self-efficacy were revealed in this context. These findings provide novel evidence regarding the complex relationship between individuals’ vocational self-beliefs and emotional processing and may be informative for vocational guidance interventions targeted at young adolescents undergoing similar educational transitions.

Personality Characteristics as Predictors of Personal Indecisiveness

The purpose of the present study is to evaluate the construct validities of two subtypes of personal indecisiveness (exploratory indecisiveness and impetuous indecisiveness) by examining their relationships to certain personality characteristics (locus of control, self-esteem, and irrational beliefs). The sample consists of 399 Turkish freshman university students (194 male and 205 female) from Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey. The results indicate that low self-esteem is a strong predictor of exploratory indecisiveness. External locus of control and high level of irrational beliefs are also positively predictive of exploratory indecisiveness. External locus of control is a strong predictor of impetuous indecisiveness. However, self-esteem and irrational beliefs are not significant predictors of impetuous indecisiveness. The implications of these findings for career counselors and for future research are discussed.

Current Trait Factor Career Assessment: A Cognitive-Interactional Perspective

A trait factor perspective on career assessment is presented. Adult career client and initial assessment issues are emphasized. A diagnostic taxonomy and conceptual models within person- environment psychology are used to guide the discussion. Specific assessment issues, strategies, and instruments for career choice and adjustment difficulties are reviewed. Trait factor career counseling is characterized as a model that is evolving through integrative efforts. Advances are moving this model in the direction of an articulated theory of career counseling.

Motivations Underlying Career Decision-Making Activities: The Career Decision-Making Autonomy Scale (CDMAS)

The purpose of the present research was to develop and validate a measure of motivation toward career decision-making activities, the Career Decision-Making Autonomy Scale (CDMAS). The CDMAS is designed to assess the constructs of intrinsic motivation, identified regulation, introjected regulation, and external regulation. A longitudinal study was used to develop and validate the CDMAS. Overall, results show that the CDMAS is composed of four internally consistent factors. The construct validity of the scale is also supported by (a) a quasi-simplex pattern of correlations, (b) correlations with personality variables and vocational constructs, and (c) convergent and divergent correlations. In sum, the CDMAS represents a valid self-report measure of intrinsic motivation, identified regulation, introjected regulation, and external regulation toward career decision-making activities.

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.

Career Interests, Self-Efficacy, and Personality as Antecedents of Career Exploration

Career interests and self-efficacy (using J. L. Holland's realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, and conventional types for both) and the big five personality dimensions (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism) were used to predict college students' career exploration behaviors approximately 18 months later. Among 113 college students, none of the predictors was associated with subsequent environmental exploration. However, after controlling for gender and year in school, five of six interest types, one self-efficacy type, and two personality dimensions were associated with subsequent self-exploration. Whereas realistic, artistic, and conventional interests; artistic self-efficacy; and openness were positively associated with self-exploration, investigative and enterprising interests and extraversion were negatively associated with such exploration. Implications for theory, research, and intervention are presented.

Decision-Making Style as a Predictor of Career Decision-Making Status and Treatment Gains

This study investigated the predictability of rational decision- making style on career decision-making status and treatment gains based on a computer-based career intervention. Decision-making style, in relation to pretreatment career status as well as its efficacy in predicting intervention outcomes, was also examined. Seventy-four undecided university students participated in the study. Results show that employing decision-making strategies based on an individual's preference significantly increased students' career decidedness and decreased career indecision, choice anxiety, and reason complexity. Rational decision-making style is positively associated with career decidedness and negatively associated with the exploration stage of decision making; it is not, however, predictive of treatment gains.

Career and Vocational Assessment 1993 -1994: A Biennial Review

This is the first biannual review of research for the Journal of Career Assessment. A selective review, this article covers the 2- year period, 1993-1994. Seven inclusion criteria were employed in an effort to reduce the extensive literature by up to 50%. Principal topics were: The origin, structure, and nature of vocational interests; Career indecision; Culture and career assessment; Gender and career assessment; and Tests as tools: What should we teach graduate students? Several conclusions were drawn from this review. The proportion of vocational interests that can be attributed to genetic sources is apparently greater than was previously believed. Further, interests may be broad constructs if strong correlations between interests and personality continue to be found. Repeated confirmation of the circular arrangement of interests is leading to three-dimensional (spherical) models of interests. The introduction of one new, and three revised, interest inventories is testimony to the future viability of vocational interests as diagnostic and treatment devices. Career decision appears to have a strong neurotic component, but our understanding of the nature of indecision is limited by a failure to relate this area to basic decision science. Research on culture and gender in career development continues at a high rate. Finally, questions are raised about the adequacy of vocational assessment training in graduate programs. A call is made for more systematic theoretical work in vocational assessment and for a closer link to interventions.

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.

Construct Validity of Career Indecision: Negative Personality Traits as Predictors of Career Indecision

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the construct validity of career indecision by examining its relationships to selected negative personality traits (perfectionism, self-consciousness, and fear of commitment) among 217 college students. It was hypothesized that career indecision would be positively and significantly associated with perfectionism, self-consciousness, and fear of commitment. As predicted, fear of commitment was a strong predictor of career indecision. Two of the three dimensions of perfectionism were also predictive of career indecision: Self-oriented perfectionism was a significant negative predictor of career indecision, whereas socially prescribed perfectionism was positively predictive of career indecision. However, other-oriented perfectionism was not predictive of career indecision. As was true of perfectionism, two of the three dimensions of self-consciousness were predictive of career indecision: Private self-consciousness was a positive predictor of career indecision, and social anxiety was a negative predictor. Public self-consciousness was not a significant predictor of career indecision. The implications of the findings for career counselors and for future research are discussed.

The Five-Factor Model and Career Self-Efficacy

The present study investigates the hypothesis that the big five personality factors could exert two kinds of effects on career self-efficacy: (a) generalized or nonspecific effects and (b) domain-specific, content-correspondence effects. The hypothesis is examined using relationships of the NEO Five-Factor Inventory to 24 distinct domains of career-related self-efficacy—confidence for the six Holland themes, 17 basic dimensions of vocational activity represented by the Expanded Skills Confidence Inventory, and career decision self-efficacy. Findings suggest generalized effects for conscientiousness and extraversion in that both correlated positively with a broad range of self-efficacy domains, while neuroticism displayed significant negative relationships with nearly all forms of career self-efficacy. Content correspondence was shown in significant correlations of openness to experience with self-efficacy for creative and intellectual pursuits. Findings are evaluated in light of recent empirical and theoretical developments relating to the integration of trait and social-cognitive perspectives.

The Neurotic Dimension of Vocational Indecision: Gender Comparability?

This study examines the relationship between neuroticism and career indecision in separate samples of men and women. College students (151 men, 183 women) constituted the samples. Career indecision was measured by the Career Decision Profile (CDP; Jones, 1989). Constructs used in the study that assess neuroticism included perceived stress, positive and negative affectivity, and state-trait anxiety. In addition, five life history factors predictive of vocational decision-making were also included. Separate cluster analyses were performed for each sample, resulting in two 2-cluster solutions. The first, the maladaptive clusters (high in stress, anxiety, and negative affectivity), emerged for both genders. The second clusters did not replicate across gender. Women in the second cluster, who were well-adapted, exhibited strong academic and scientific interests. The second cluster for men, although exhibiting low stress and anxiety, did not have high scores on any career decision-making variables. The results are discussed in the context of gender differences and the neurotic dimension of career indecision.

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.

Five-Factor Model of Personality and Career Exploration

This study investigates whether the dimensions of the five-factor model (FFM) of personality are related to specific career exploration variables. Based on the FFM, predictions were made about the relevance of particular traits to career exploration variables. Results from a canonical correlation analysis showed that variable loadings on three roots were generally consistent with predictions. One source of covariation involved association between conscientiousness/extraversion/low neuroticism and career search self-efficacy/career information seeking. A second source involved association between openness and a lack of career information seeking. The third source involved association between neuroticism/openness and self-exploration. Results are discussed relative to the FFM and implications for career counseling and assessment.

Problem-Solving Appraisal and Human Adjustment

This article reviews and synthesizes more than 120 studies from 20 years (1982-2002) of research that has examined problem-solving appraisal as measured by the Problem Solving Inventory (PSI). The goals of the article are fourfold: (a) introduce the construct of problem-solving appraisal and the PSI within the applied problem-solving literature, (b) summarize and integrate existing findings using the PSI within and across four major content areas (psychological adjustment, physical health, coping, and educational and vocational issues), (c) identify promising research directions that might stimulate future research and promote theory development, and (d) identify implications for practitioners in the helping professions. We conclude that problem-solving appraisal as measured by the PSI is a useful psychological construct with implications for theory and many applications to build on peoples' strengths to enhance their life satisfaction and well-being.

Exploring decision making style as a predictor of team effectiveness

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to perform organizational team effectiveness analysis and to find out whether decision-making style (DMS) has any association with team effectiveness. Which style most significantly affects the team effectiveness and how this predictive association can be used to improve existing teams as well as to build new effective teams?

Design/methodology/approach

– The sample includes 231 sample responses of executives from Indian Manufacturing Organizations from both public and private sectors. Two standardized questionnaires are used for data collection. Mainly, SPSS v20.0 was used for data analysis and hypotheses testing. AMOS v20.0 was used for testing the research model based on the supported hypotheses.

Findings

– Rational DMS is mostly endorsed by the Indian executives. Not all DMSs but rational and avoidant styles independently and interactively are the significant predictors of team effectiveness.

Research limitations/implications

– The survey method of data collection, cross-sectional research design and consideration of particular DMSs and team effectiveness frameworks are the main limitations of this study. Theoretical as well as practical implications are vested in the results.

Practical implications

– The study bears significant practical implications for the respondents, practitioners, professionals and academicians in the field of team working. Management development and training activities may be directed based on the findings.

Social implications

– The study suggests socially acceptable and practicable decision-making behaviors in organizations. It highlights suggestions for improving team effectiveness (TE). Hence, certain social implications are also there.

Originality/value

– The edge in this research over the previous studies is that earlier scholars, who examined member traits’ impact on TE, did not considered DMS as a predictor of TE. Certain researchers appealed for diagnosing the standard variable to measure the member style. This research is, therefore, unique in its kind as it is a pioneering effort to study the DMS in relation to team effectiveness. The focus on sample of Indian manufacturing executives also bears importance. Moreover, unlike other researches, it focuses on DMS rather than the decision-making process itself.

The Role of Affect Spin in the Relationships between Proactive Personality, Career Indecision, and Career Maturity

This study attempted to investigate the influence of proactive personality on career indecision and career maturity, and to examine the moderating effects of affect spin. The author administered proactive personality, career indecision, and career maturity scales to 70 college students. Affect spin was calculated using the day reconstruction method, wherein participants evaluated their affective experiences by using 20 affective terms at the same time each day for 21 consecutive days. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that proactive personality significantly predicted career indecision and career maturity, even after controlling for valence and activation variability, neuroticism, age, and gender. Furthermore, affect spin moderated the associations of proactive personality with career indecision and maturity. The theoretical and practical implications of the moderating effects of affect spin are discussed.

Career Indecisiveness of Turkish High School Students:

Career indecisiveness involves more pervasive, severe, and chronic difficulties in making career decisions and focuses on deeper personality roots as well as cognitive origin. The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between career indecisiveness on one hand and self-esteem, personal indecisiveness, and five-factor personality characteristics on the other. As hypothesized, the career indecisiveness was higher in 545 Turkish high school students who had not yet decided on a profession than that of decided individuals. Also, the results showed that emotional and personality-related career decision-making difficulties are positively related to self-esteem, exploratory and impetuous indecisiveness, and neuroticism, while being negatively related to extroversion and conscientiousness. In addition, female experienced more career indecisiveness. Based on the result of the multiple regression analysis, exploratory indecisiveness was the most significant contributory factor to career indecisiveness for female and male.

Self-appraised problem-solving skills and the prediction of secondary complications among persons with spinal cord injuries

Secondary complications following spinal cord injury (SCI) include decubitus ulcers and recurrent urinary tract infections. These conditions can significantly impair quality of life and prove life-threatening; it is also believed that these conditions are mediated by behavioral pathways. According to the social problem-solving model, persons who report effective problem-solving skills should be capable of adhering to long-term therapeutic regimens of self-care necessary to prevent these complications. We tested this assumption in the present study. Discriminant function analyses revealed self-appraised skills in approaching and defining problems contributed to the prediction of secondary complications among 53 persons with SCI. Results are discussed in light of the social problem-solving model, and the utility of problem-solving interventions in rehabilitation is explored.

How visualization layout relates to locus of control and other personality factors

Existing research suggests that individual personality differences are correlated with a user's speed and accuracy in solving problems with different types of complex visualization systems. We extend this research by isolating factors in personality traits as well as in the visualizations that could have contributed to the observed correlation. We focus on a personality trait known as "locus of control” (LOC), which represents a person's tendency to see themselves as controlled by or in control of external events. To isolate variables of the visualization design, we control extraneous factors such as color, interaction, and labeling. We conduct a user study with four visualizations that gradually shift from a list metaphor to a containment metaphor and compare the participants' speed, accuracy, and preference with their locus of control and other personality factors. Our findings demonstrate that there is indeed a correlation between the two: participants with an internal locus of control perform more poorly with visualizations that employ a containment metaphor, while those with an external locus of control perform well with such visualizations. These results provide evidence for the externalization theory of visualization. Finally, we propose applications of these findings to adaptive visual analytics and visualization evaluation.

Ambivalence During and After Career Decision Making of High School Graduates

This longitudinal study investigated ambivalence during and after the decision in favor of a field of study or apprenticeship in 220 German high school graduates. In addition, participants underwent measurements of career decision-making self-efficacy, neuroticism, conscientiousness, current satisfaction with life as well as satisfaction with the chosen training. On average, we found low to moderate levels of ambivalence during and after career decision making. Analyses showed that ambivalence in career decision making is negatively linked to both current satisfaction with life and satisfaction with the chosen training. Furthermore, the finding of significant predictors of ambivalence during and after career decision making revealed a useful basic approach for further career-choice research as well as suggestions for the development of prevention and intervention programs for ambivalent persons.

Examining the Impact of Peer and Family Belongingness on the Career Decision-making Difficulties of Young Adults

Career decision making continues to be a major area of research, particularly related to the factors that influence the construct. The purpose of this study was to examine a hypothesized model predicting the relationships between career decision-making difficulties and perceived belongingness, specifically peer and family belongingness. Participants included 436 undergraduates, who completed measures of belongingness, psychological distress, academic motivation, and career decision-making difficulties. The researchers conjectured that peer and family belongingness would each be indirectly associated with career decision-making difficulties as mediated by academic motivation and psychological distress. Overall, fit indices supported the hypothesized model but indicated different outcomes for family and peer belongingness. Family belongingness was significantly related to career decision-making difficulties, while peer belonging was not significantly associated to any variable in the hypothesized model. Practical implications are discussed, along with suggestions for future research.

Testing the Validity of the Emotional and Personality-Related Career Decision-Making Difficulties Questionnaire in Turkish Culture

The goal of this study was to examine the emotional and personality-related career decision-making difficulties of high school students in Turkish culture, using the model proposed by Saka and Gati. A sample of 523 high school students filled out the Turkish version of the Emotional and Personality-Related Aspects of Career Decision-Making Difficulties (EPCD) questionnaire. Cluster and confirmatory factor analyses supported the ternary classification system of the emotional and personality-related career decision-making difficulties model and questionnaire, thus providing evidence for the cross-cultural validity of the proposed model. Furthermore, the results demonstrated significant associations between making a decision and the emotional and personality career difficulties: students who were decided reported lower emotional and personality-related career difficulties than did undecided students. Generally, there were no differences in EPCD scores between boys and girls, and no effect of type of school and grade was observed.

Career Decision-Making Profiles of Italian Adolescents

The goal of the present study was to test the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Career Decision-Making Profile ( CDMP) questionnaire with a sample of 1,835 adolescents. Gati, Landman, Davidovitch, Asulin-Peretz, and Gadassi suggested that the way individuals make career decisions should not be described by a single decision-making style but rather by a multidimensional profile based on a consideration of 11 dimensions. The results showed that the Italian version of the CDMP has adequate psychometric properties and structural validity. As hypothesized, the scores of the Problem-Solving Inventory were correlated with the information-related dimensions of the CDMP. Decided adolescents had more adaptive CDMP profiles than undecided adolescents, supporting the concurrent validity of the CDMP. Female adolescents were more likely to consult with and depend on others, invest greater effort, and, consequently, take more time to make a decision. Theoretical and counseling implications are discussed.

Emotional and Personality-Related Career Decision-Making Difficulties

This study tests the temporal stability and the concurrent and predictive validity of the Emotional and Personality-related Career decision-making Difficulties (EPCD) model and questionnaire. Five hundred forty-three participants filled out the EPCD twice, 3 years apart. The Anxiety cluster was the most stable of the three, followed by the Self-Concept and Identity cluster, and then the Pessimistic Views cluster, which showed a significant decrease. Participants who reported having made a career decision by the second administration had lower EPCD scores at Time 1 than did those who remained undecided at Time 2. Whereas the decided group showed a decrease in the EPCD scores during the 3-year interval, the undecided group showed no significant decrease. Significant correlations were observed between the EPCD scores and low satisfaction with one’s chosen occupation. Gender differences were also found: among the decided group, women had higher EPCD scores than did men; overall, women had higher EPCD scores than did men only in the clusters of Anxiety and Self-Concept and Identity.

Emotional and Personality-Related Aspects of Career Decision-Making Difficulties: Facets of Career Indecisiveness

The current study investigated the Emotional and Personality-related Career decision-making Difficulties model and questionnaire (EPCD) by studying its associations with various personality measures in three samples: (a) 691 deliberating individuals who entered a career self-help website, (b) 197 students in a university preparatory program, and (c) 286 young adults from the general population. As hypothesized, higher levels of emotional and personality-related career decision-making difficulties, as measured by the EPCD, were associated with higher levels of neuroticism, agreeableness, perfectionism, and need for cognitive closure, and lower levels of extraversion, openness to experience, and career decision self-efficacy. In addition, higher levels of these difficulties were associated with a more external locus of control (LoC), and with being less advanced in the career decision-making process.

Do Clients' Problem-Solving Appraisals Predict Career Counseling Outcomes or Vice Versa? A Reanalysis of Heppner, et al

Using Heppner, et al.'s data from 2004, this study tested career counseling clients in the United States on problem-solving appraisal scores and career-related variables. A cross-lagged panel design with structural equation modeling was used. Results supported the link between clients' precounseling problem-solving appraisal scores and career outcome. This finding held for career decision-making, but not for vocational identity. The study provided further support for Heppner, et al.'s findings, highlighting the influential role of clients' problem-solving appraisals in advancing their career decision-making processes.

Examining Cultural Validity of the Problem-Solving Inventory (PSI) in Italy

The problem-solving inventory (PSI) is the most widely used applied problem-solving measure in the United States. Although a great deal of validity and reliability information exists for the PSI, much of this data has been collected in the United States. The purpose of this study was to examine the PSI’s psychometric estimates with a large sample of Italian high school students across geographically representative regions of Italy. Results revealed a similar but slightly different PSI factor structure in the Italian PSI, as well as sex differences (which have been rarely found in the U.S. samples) and different associations with intelligence. In addition to providing useful psychometric information for an Italian PSI, this study identifies the complexities of problem-solving appraisal cross-culturally. Finally, this investigation also serves to underscore the necessity to examine the cultural validity of assessment instruments used in the increasing number of cross-national studies: the widespread practice of simply translating inventories developed in one country and then using them in other cultural contexts can create significant methodological problems.

Decision-making style among adolescents: relationship with sensation seeking and locus of control

The principal aim of the study was to examine the psychometric properties and construct validity of the General Decision-Making Scale (GDMS) in a sample of 700 adolescents (aged 15-19 years). Confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses provide evidence for a solid five-dimension structure reflecting the theorized construct: rational, intuitive, dependent, avoidant and spontaneous. No differences were found with respect to gender; however older adolescents used more rational decision-making style than younger ones and had lower mean scores on intuitive, avoidant and spontaneous scales. Correlations between GDMS and both Sensation Seeking and Locus of Control scales provided substantiation for the convergent validity. Higher school achievements were positively associated with a rational decision-making style while the number of absences from school was positively related to spontaneous and avoidant styles. Data encourage the use of GDMS not only in the research of personality but for educational and counseling purposes.

Emotional and Personality-Related Aspects of Career-Decision-Making Difficulties

This research focuses on developing a theoretical framework for analyzing the emotional and personality-related aspects of career-decision-making difficulties. The proposed model is comprised of three major clusters: pessimistic views, anxiety, and self-concept and identity. In Study 1, the Emotional and Personality Career Difficulties Scale (EPCD) was developed, refined, and used to empirically test the model with an Israeli Internet sample ( N = 728). Study 2 ( N = 276) provided evidence for the cross-cultural validity of the proposed model, using an American college student sample. The relations between the cognitive and emotional components of career-decision-making difficulties are discussed, and theoretical, research, and counseling implications are explored.