The Impact of an Intervention on Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy and Career Indecision

Abstract

It is essential for students to develop decisionmaking skills during the high school years. major objective for many high school development programs is for students to acquire decision-making skills (Herr & Cramer, 1996). According to Krumboltz (1979), decision-making skills are developed from learning experiences. Given the students make as they prepare for the transition from high school to employment or further education, acquiring decision-making skills is important. Changes in the economy resulting in downsizing, dislocation, and layoffs, and the number of adults choosing to make job changes also make it important for high school students to learn effective decision-making skills. Effective decision-making is important because affect lifestyle. Hackett and Betz (1995) state: are few other that exert as profound an influence on people's lives as the choice of a field of work or career (p. 249). Effective decision-making is also important for our country. Bandura (1995) states: new realities of the information era require advanced cognitive and selfmanagement competencies to fulfill complex occupational roles and to manage the maze of demands of contemporary life (p. xi). America must have productive workers who can make successful transitions to the changing workplace. Career decision-making self-efficacy is a relevant construct to consider when addressing the development needs of students. Career decision-making self efficacy was defined by Taylor and Betz (1983) as of self-efficacy with respect to the specific tasks and behaviors required in making decisions (pp. 64-65). Betz and Hackett (1986) note the usefulness of self-efficacy and recommended that future research using samples other than college students investigate the effectiveness of theory-based interventions. Few studies have reported investigation of decision-making self-efficacy in high school students (Gillespie & Hillman, 1993; Urakami, 1993). In addition, research has been conducted on gender differences; however, the results have been inconclusive (Bergeron & Romano, 1994; Gillespie & Hillman, 1993; Luzzo & Ward,1995; Taylor & Betz,1983). Lent and Hackett (1987) state: A slightly different, but related issue involves viewing self-efficacy as, itself, the target of treatment. To the extent that weak self-efficacy expectations may restrict development, systematic efforts to promote self-efficacy may be necessary (p. 376). There is interest in decision-making self-efficacy; however, the need exists for additional research using theory-based interventions designed to enhance students' efficacy beliefs. Career indecision is an additional construct relevant to the development of students. Career indecision has been described as a multidimensional construct (Fuqua & Hartman,1983a,1983b; Hartman, Fuqua, & Jenkins,1986) which includes, but is not limited to, being unsure of a college major or future career (Sepich, 1987, p. 8). It has been found to be negatively related to decision-making self-efficacy (Gillespie & Hillman,1993; Mathieu, Sowa, & Niles, 1993; Taylor & Betz,1983). Providing guidance activities as part of the school counseling program is a way to help students learn decision-making skills and to address decision-making self-efficacy and indecision. Interventions have been implemented to teach decision-making skills to high school students (Jepsen, Dustin, & Miars,1982; Krumboltz & Hamel,1977; Savickas,1990). Crites (1978) identified choice competencies that address the skills needed for decision making. The competencies include accurate selfappraisal, gathering occupational information, goal selection, making future plans, and problem solving. …

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