Career Indecision and Personality: A Multidimensional Perspective

Abstract

<p>In the area of vocational psychology, there has been a tremendous interest in the topic of career indecision(CI). In reviewing the literature, it is hard to ignore that the driving force behind this research trend has been the development of the Career Decision Scale (CDS) by Osipow and his colieagues(Osipow et al. 1976}. Although this measure was published and widely used as a unidimensional scale, it has become evident that the CDS has an underlying multi-dimensional structure that could potentially differentiate between different types of CI (Vondracekt et aI., 1990). The present study will evaluate the factor structure of the CDS using confirmatory factor analysis and then examine the relationships between the four dimensions of CI and the big five personality factors. Two-hundred eightyfive students enrolled in psychology courses at a Midwestern University completed an online survey for course credit. Each participant completed the Career Decision Scale (CDS; Osipow et aI., 1976) and the 50-item IPIP Big Five Questionnaire (lPIP-NEO; Goldberg, 1999). The IPIP-NEO measures the Big Five personality factors of Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness. Our results indicate that the multidimensional scale fit better than the unidimensional model. Working with this measurement model, a structural equation model was created to examine the relationship between personality and the two scales. In examination of the unidimensional scale, only the personality trait of emotional stability was found to be significantly related. In contrast, the multidimensional scale was found to have a number of personality trait correlates. The evidence that emotional stability is not the only personality factor which plays significant role is a tremendous insight into career indecision.</p><p>This presentation occurred at the Wright State University Campus-Wide Celebration of Research, Scholarship and Creative Activities on April 16, 2010</p>