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Journal of Vocati nal Behavi r 7 1 (2 0 0 7 3 4 0 3 5 8 o o ) www.elsevier.com/locate /jvb

Emotionala n d p e rso n a lity -re late d e cts a sp of persistent careerdecision -m aking cu lties di
q

Noa Saka , ItamarGati

a b

b,*

D ep artm ent Education, of The H ebrewUniversi of JerusalemJe ru sa le m 1 9 0 5 , ty , 9 Israel D ep artm ent Psycholog, The H ebrewU niversity JerusalemJe ru s a le m 1 9 0 5 , of y of , 9 Israel R ec eiv ed2 2 May 2 0 0 7 Availa ble online 22 August 2007

Abstract This study focused on e aland in g the pe rsiste ntaspe d ecisio re aking ca decision-making d i culties, a,N., Gati, otion Kelly, Persona lity-relatedareercts of p n-me r ality-re lated s cale usingth e Em I., & xa m in K.R. C Diculties ects (EPCD ; [S ak ss).Emotional e n The contributionof four a sp of careerdecision-m akingdi culties. (in p reCareer tes s e ss mat]). e rsonn d id e n tity sta tu s Journ alof s e lf-e s A e m , andn x ie ty ,a personality ictio n of p e rsiste nindecisiveness, akin g i cu ltie sw a s te stedon 74 7 stu de n ts, m easures generalt re e rde cisio n -m trait to th e p re d ca indicatedthat individualswith high EPCD sco re sat the d u egina longitudinaldesign. Results had less co n d ence the ir ch oice a nd w ere le ss clo se b sing ningof th e academ icscho ol year into w hich they wantedto be ad m ittedat th e e nd of to emaking hedecisionabout the tions b etw eenth e EPCD in a m ajor th eayea r.sup p ortedth e va lid ity of th e EPCD. Im plications score an d the four personality h m dsuresT . m o deratecorrela for counseling and future re se a rc a re isc us sed 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Keyw o ness; Emdecisionm aking; ality-related aking di culties;le ;EPCD rds: Careerdecision-m di cu lti s ca Careerindecision; areer C indecisiveCareer otio nal an d person career es

Career indec ision is often m aniested as di cu Marmarosh, & f ed w hile m 1 9 9 3 c a re eKrausz, decisions (Chartrand, Rose, Elliot, lties encounter Caldwell, aking; Gati, r- related
T a Gada w orted by Valentina Izrailevitc , Kevin R. on. Reumhis research as sup pfor theirthe IsraelScienceFoundati We thank Ruth Butler, Chani Etengo, ssi, Naom i Goldblum , com m ents an earlierversionof Kelly, Tali Kleiman, Lilach Sagiv, h Shiri Tal, and MosheTatar on this article. * C orresp nding author.Fax: + 9722 5 8 8 2 05. o 4 E -m ail a d d re ss: itam ar.gati@ huji.ac.il (I. Gati). 0001-8791/$ - see front matter doi:10.1016/j.jvb.2007.08.003 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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&suallyo w , 1 9 9 6 ;L e o n g & Chervink be 9 9 6 ;O sip o w , C arn e or during the 1976). nO sip o, u akingrefersto proble ni cance of to 1 addressedpriorvocati nalBarak, decisioIt ms that to y ,o & psychology m e n highligh te d Thetheoretic need careerindec and career counselos (e.g., Betz, pro- cess.by sig ians, resea has be rchers, ision in r 1992;Campbell & Cellini, 1 9 8 9 ;Gati e t & l., insle y ,;Je984 ; n &n D ille y ,0 1 ; 7 4 ;Le o n g 8 ; Chervinko, 1 9 9 6 ;O si o w , p 1991; Rounds a T 1 9 9 6 1 p se S a to s,2 0 1 9 la n e y ,1 9 8 & S Tinsley, 1 9 9 2). In additon, the distincindecisivenesscontin ues developa signi cat ision sand i tion betweentem po rary, to b e mental indec focu of m ore chro and edu-ive onal-de nic, pervascati vocational De-Boeck, 2 0 0 2 ; cision research (Callahan &5 ;Kelly n h as, 1 9 9 2 ; en u Gantoe ijs2 0 0 The term develop- m entChartrand, & Jo w d y , 1 9 9 b G re u sedLee, 2 0 0 2 ; m s, and Cohen, indecisi has genera & to re ferto S e rnormative vocatio develop alphase that is reso lly eeneasily for m ost 1). on th e ment lved fairly young adults (Betz & Snaln g , 1 9 9 3 ;Slaney, e rl i 1 9 8 8cisiveness invol es m ore pervasve, severtoand chronic di cult ision, c a re er Meldahl 7). st mental ies in d e - ; deci- & Muchinsky,1 9 9 & Ini contra e, develop sipow , indec in making v career e n e sssions arenly p resen tin a sm allergroup of O Muchinsky, 19 97; individ indec levelsis app (Meldahl isiv t negative think uals,1999). C are er characterized by high iu sed of anxiety, ing about al., 1995; Chartrande t l., 1 9 9s, and a d & Muchinsky, personal identity (Cohen etthe self and the choiceaproces3 ; sen seof 1 9 9 Meldahl 7). Career decis ion-m am di cu o re signicant di em i colleand persona ng lityrelate d sources are aki ong th e lties that stem fromcu otonal ge stude m lties nts face (Amir & Gati, 2 0 0 6 eAmir,1 9 9 6 ;S a k aKleiman, press; Santos, 2001). These diitted for public re d p re s s;Gati & Amir, subm cu ation; Gati ; t a l., Gati, & to tbel., in inseverethan in form aion- elated di cu conside lties are by care ercounselors e a more t r lties (Gati, Amir, & Tal, 2 0 ci- sion-m are p erce theas h aving im po s.t In additi ences e di clientspreven tr 7), ived counseling proces consequ rtan for the cult caree de 0 and aking and conclusive decisi and require long-terminterventi ns n, som (Gati eiexceed0 e o o servfrequenly es l., 2 0 th t ta scop goalcareercounselors and caree s to nse g centersthat ices e of of th eons s- e n t re s e a rc h a r-cou enlin 7). The persona plated w tanding and lity-rere anddeci- sionon their pers investigunders ecs . of with three di cu lties hance ourating their relationemotional by persona m e asu s lity re focu sng i istent,chronic a sp t N m e vioral charac rou in lity and uisiven s s stu d th ehave exam .,Kelly &one hand, 5and these variou s personand ; behaes , on ies o ther (e.g on the relationsb etween career indec teristics, ed the Lee, 20 0 ;Leong & Chervinko, 1 9a 6 ision indecs , 2 0 0 1 ;Slaney, 9 San to 1 9 8 Th e va ria s stu d 8). ble ied in c lu d e self-e stee m a n d self-condence (Kishor, 1 9 8 1 ; Santos, 2 0 0 self-e cac y(Taylor & B etz, 1983), locu s of control (Taylor, 1 9 8 anxiety 1), 2), (Fuqua, Seaw o rth, & N ew m an,1987), personal and v ocatio al ide ntty (C ohe n e t al., 19 9 5 ; n i Santos, 2001), an d d i cu lties w ith p syc hologi al separa c tion from on esfam ily an d signicant others (Blust in, W albrdge, Fried e i lander, & Palladin o, 1991; G u er a & Braungartr Rieker, 1 9 9 9 ;Tokar, Withrow, Hall, & Moradi, 2003). H owever, o nly a fe w s tu d s (e .g ., ie Santos, 2001) h ave focu sed up on th e com p onets of ind ec n isivenessand placed them in a multivariate contex t. R elying o n th e research review ed above,S aka et al. (in p ress)p rop osed an in te grative theore tical fram e work for describingth e p erson lity and em otio al aspec of ca reer a n ts decision-m aking di cu lties, w hich have been assu med to underlie the m ore chronic and pervasi e di cu v lties, and the relations am ong them . This taxon y serve d as a om fram e work for the constr ction of a reliable and valid instrum ent for m easu u ring such di cu lties in a careercontext theEm otio nal and Persona Career D i cul lity ties (EPCD) Scale. The

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m ain goal of odel for emotional w a s to persona inves tigate the vali of the theoretical m th e p resen t stu d y developed tolity-relatedthdity , focusi propo sed career decision-m th e aking di cu lties,asp ec of EPCD scale and prolongedtaandtsthepth e dicu ties represented in )it. Inre e nem se ctiongw e b rie y l- Saka et al. (in p rem easu th ext n, on re vi w th e xo e nom y ropo se d by ss. 1. Em otion aland pe rso nality factors associat w ith care er de ci ion-m ak ed s ing di cul s tie The taxono t developedby Saka et a l. (in my cu sesRelying on i previous person- , ality-relas that w ere consi on-making p re ss)folties. o n th e em otonal and career decisi re sea rc variable ed w ere located ntly found dicu correlated with indecision h ste and analyz d b e to for their source, com and teristi s, and the similarity in the ty pe of interventon needed. The taxonm on indecisiven ess e charac om y was develo c p throughth e distinc betw een eoretical i sideations and em pi ical th con r testing ,stic ped rop Anxiet ,interplay -Concept three m ajor. clusters of di cur andView s, osed ay and tion am ongand Identit The Pessim istic Views lties: Pessim iconsists of di cu Self y cluster biasesabout thelties and the world. The Anxietypercep includ esd negatve t tions and i cult iies cogni ive th e anxiety provoked by the decision-m t self related to dysfuncional process in vo lving, w hich m ay preventor inhibit the decision- cluster and. Finally, th e aking i outcom s e making proces ies invol ing s its potental Self- C oncept and Iden titypersonalityaspec of the individng di cult taxono ter consists ts ion-m i vmy deeperand ml, w ith the thre e m ajor clus of decis lties ak ed in to the ca te go rie s ore pervasiveclu s ual. Thus, 1 1 is hierarchica d istinc - tions. The taxono of d i cuem erg from th e theore ters d ed ivid based on w n er an aly ally, as empirica sis supported in my that both s and A merican samtical les: spe ci c clus r and lly odel of e le ve ndi cultye s supportedgrouped intoof p te conrm atory factor analy -Israelie gorie s the adequacy three the hypothesizedtheoreticalm p re s catm ajorclu s ters (Saka et al.,in s). 2 . T h e e le v e n diculty c ateg s orie istic vie s. The rst m ss istic v of the m el, proce i s. of Pessimcateg oiew The rst ngajor cluster ie w w hichodthePessimstic View s,consists pe self-e im cacy, s aboutis ssrefe to a tion rs low degthreofor s h r decisi re e e aki indiv ee percep that he career isp ro on-mTh e of co ca te goy p essimthe view idualsc tivw orld of r e decision-making incapable percep ing regard thorough and b.g u fee ecca rere ce s. ve se carry ndtions out a occu r istic s(e o .,tth w a re es a work a lly interesting). Fin ally, the third categ oy pessim refers to overly negati ing pations a re re u ls cont ol refers to th e in div uals sen se of an exte r istic rnal locus of in divid aove r the proce s, the nal choice, and/or th e o utcom s. view s abou t th e r id control e Anxiety. The secondm ajor cluster u t the m odel, labeled to feelings y consi ts of cat- egories. The rstanxiety a b o of th e proce the decisnxiet aki of sstre ssfour ssrefers Aion-m , ng proces ,an d anxietyevoked b y exc es-siveactually begin ab o u t th e p roc es. This catego or anxietyinarising just prior to tin e rfe ren ismning im is ticv ie w sa b o u tth e p ro c e s T h e p n a tu from p e ss ctio s ry is sim ilrr more fo c u s e don the cogniive percep la ttea is wcontent but di erensest the feel- in gs ofnes lpla b ility to en g a g ss. that tion of o he in process,during the actual p roces . The second cate- go ry hile the forme r focu on essnexiety du e ein the ss and stress th e e mce ga in ty in v o lv e d in cho osng inc des three d im en an unce rt to (a) e s lu u n cerrainty about th e future , (b) an xie about being in an undecided ainty : i sion s of un et rt ty

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statety ab o u tchoosingco a low four charac am big ty d ue to ce for The third categ o ry anxie,:an d ) (c) anx ie c tio m a bou t toleran g teristics, uity. to Betz and Serling follow ing (1 9 9 3ati per- fear of nis nsists of potentally suita h aving s, (c)nd th e choosing ) (a o o sin ., occup on), (b) fe losing other c hand (d) (i.e ble option ones respo e i fear of p rfect an unsui able (espe t anxiety about ry anxie nsibility for th e choice (wrong)a occupa-one).Finaly, the fourth categ o cially rong tion, l ty the resu lts in m ind, but iswunable to actua the indiv to a fear of failure abo ut idual alternat ones expectations iand preferelize in the due noccupation. ives refers to a situaton in w hich them chose already has som e or of not fullling nces Self-conc ptto develop ty. The third m aspects and consists of four categoa n d e and identi ajor clus ter, labe led Self-C oncept ries. Id en rst cate- gory mental persona lity to low Thetity, refers self-e self-e and task-spec ic occupationall te d a sp ecs of dened eas a s ecategolowgeneralanxiety re ge ne ral steem ,steem refers and ca ree a anxiety. The third cat- egorye of ry g self-worth in both to the r-re of t life. Th secondn suncry en eral identit ers f refers to g eneral trait form ing a sta b lese n s eof personalidentty, w hich m ay bem anifestedin ed y di cu lties in i stalliz di cuto an uncrystalized and unstabeliefs,valu es,p refe resing id It referslties in e x pexpres consol atedcaton al preferenes,rences,and ,aspiration, also l sing clear vo ble vocational self- conc e sw hich goals.s and ept, ts life prevents the indivi rgoals. Finally ,the fourth catego dual from i ryconicual in ter-en t n d separ caree to di cultes concerning signicant others a ttac h m ayastem from two t c w hich m ation refers ated source The rst source invol es exces i s. interrel v sive lly ones,imlack of critic ism satisfaction,and lack of support from signicant others(typica general, anddiate me family) decis ing akng indiv c e s s orpreferenesparticula The se cond sou rce the regard career ion-m the pro-ce s iv e nee d for other decisions in of any d ecisi , i the exiduals choice c in and r. of the di cu ltiesneed to please v on excessive inv ol es guiltsig ni cat ty,th ersov e rte expeapproval ict withprefere nce s n ie o and at th or s nsert con own signica t o f ones and goals, ayslingsa ectth e careerdecisio n-m of and anx n other , in w fee that s akin g cov- e or choice. process Th e p rop osed taxon 1. y, w th eits th reem ajorclu sretical elevensp ecial. (in press) om On ith basis of th is theoters and od elSaka et c categ oies, r isevelm d summarized in Fig.
Emotional and Personality Related Aspects of Career Indecision

Pessimistic Views

Anxiety

Self and Identity

about the process

about the world of work

about the one's control

about the process

about uncertainty

about the choice

about the outcomes

general anxiety

selfesteem

uncrystallized identity

conflictual attachment and separation

Fig. 1. The ta xonom yof e m otionl and pe rson a ality-rela teda spe cts care e rdecision-m of aking di culti es.

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ope d th e Em otion alanditsersonalit and validit er D i cultie s scale , and repor ed t support- evidence ing for P reliabiity lated C are l y-re y. 3. The goal of th e p re s e t n re se a rch The main goal of the pre se ntstudy as to examne the w e exam i th theoretical i m odelproposed onsS a ka ethe persistew aspe cs w ays.First,validity ofnedethe m odels t validitySby nd ,m b ytrating ated (in e correlati t of the di cuEPCD (ree re se ntd the de w e in ve stig a l. th p ress)in two nt by EPCD. eco od el)an d m easures gene ralon s betw eenth elties as mmasureing,and panx ie ty proposed m s.These m ea- sureofe re choseindeth eoreically re le vantcorrelate s the isive n ess, , ide ntity statu to support the constr ct validity of thet propse lf-estee el.In addition w u s nas c that w erege ne ralm easue of inde c isiv e - n e ss ,in th is stud y w e focused m od e xpe ct ed osed on three to a w e re hy pothers d to b e assoc s that once pt and ize iateddes sh oe categu s o n in v e sig a tin gehm e terrese w ith th u ld fo c o ries inclu dedin th clusasuof See a sue s a re a ssoIdia te dwithu tu re other itwo m ajor clusters.It w as not feasiblee lf-Cr entit . F th e s tu y t ow th to m validate all es u sedc, w eclusters tebelow al e theorized relach ,in a sinng th e EPCD three with for le th e m andrthe valim ajor e xp lica usedsever m easures e ation s am o g stud y.For th scalesea su dity m easu res . m. caree o ed as S e selSelf estee in self-concept is ofte n v ie w1Robbins,lf e ste e mplays a g individuals f-con- cept A vocatirchoice (Chartrand, 9 5 an expression of an 3). centr l role in a 0), actualizng ones choosenal terms (Super, allow themMorrill, & B otheir 19 9 ived people iten d to anceth eir feel- that of self-w orth. Further care ersin g s will to more,lize gs, perce a s potentialnegativecorrelati b e tw e e n lf-e ste e m inde cactua m any studieshave and enh found a the higher onesindec on ision (Kishor, se and ision: the lower ones se lfe ste e m, 1 9 8 1lations be tw 0 0 n ; Wul & Ste itz, 1 9 9 total EPCD scoreexpectedone hand, ; S a n to s , 2 ee 1 9). We therefore s, on the negatve i corre e lf-ete em, on the other.clus also hypothes the three We te rs and the ized that the m ajor cluster of Se lf and s ptan d Id e n C once s tity w ould show the highestcorre lation w ith s e lf-ete e m . s Trait tentlyty. G en er l trait anne gatve ly the com m itmw h ereasan xie choice have an xiebeen found to be xie i and correlated, ent to a career and career a ty consi s indecision ghave been inko, 1 9 9beMeyer & W iner, 1993;W anbergFuqua, & B lu m , found to 6 positively corre lated (Hartm an, ty uchinsky, 1 9 8 5 ;L More over,S antos(2001)found trait anxietyand general indec & Mess to be 1992). e o n & Cherv- lated, and ; trait anxiety and vocational identity to b e highly positively corre We thereforeexpect d posi ive correlat isiven een the negatively scoresand th e three clu s sco re on th e t correlated. betw total EPCD er. Again, w e hypothesizedthat th e m ajor clus ofand -Conceptand ter s, e one hand, ions trait anxie ty, on th e w ould show th e hig hestcorrelaton with trait anxiety. ter Self Iden tity oth i Iden tity statu Gener self and ein, s. a identityrelated variables,suchw ere - is, as personal b e voc a - tional identity varialbles (Blustne app roa h & Kidney, 1989),relations betwand corre statu s and career choice di cuDeven the parading th e gesedfou nd toeen late ith career indecision. O c id entity d w classied indi- viduals into lties of fo u r id e n itty s ta tu se s n th y Marcia is to stud yi sug t gm (1 9 8 they m ad e m ajor decision sin theirone and the ir de greeof com m itm a sis ) who o be b of ho w 0,decisions: (a) achie v ed identity, (b) identity forecl lives those (c) o ent be , to (d) diusedith careerindec m ora identity. Bothision (e.g., Blustein dif- fu sed1iden tity & m orat riumtoand torium and et al. 1 9 9 osure,in w ere foun d 1994). corre lated ; risb B Savicka s, W e there w expect d positive correlati fore e ons be twe e n th e total

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EPCD totaland diused cluster score on th e on e h and, also hypothes res of s, and th e m ized m ora ajor cluste r of Self-Conceptstatus, on the othe r. We the highest easu that torium and three the m identity statu s midentity . and Identity would show correlaton i with the e asu s re G eneral indecisi a s. Gener l situations (Frost & aS h o ted 1a s9 a ; Gati e t al., venes ety of indecisiveness m n ifew s, 9 3 dicu a is s lty in m aking decisi ns in d escrib s inde c o 1 9 9 6 ;ltyrite s (1969 all vari e of lifeisive pe rsonshe therthey als who s eatm to little individuare of e or hav e dicu C in (pp.)). sorts de cisions,w as signcance making3053 isiven more, persona i ion between indec Further and prior lity characteri gre Salom one 06). rch has stics.lished an associat ess uals typi ally resea persona estab (1982) found lfthat d ece a n d individlf-e em, c n u nhaverse n seoflity characteri indecisive stics suc hles low sse -c olevelsnof am lovalence and frustrac le a and an external locus of ste a separa identity, te h e lp a ssRecent studies have biw s e the assoc tion, n e high n s, control. ved in careerde cisi supported iationt between 6 ;G eci- siven ess and tasks invol aki ng e a 9 inde Boeck,be2002). the total EPCDon-mresand (e.g.,Gatim ajo l., 1correscore e onand on e ized that positivre 9ter latrm jsw ould Deions i th e be foundan d a e e e asue hypothes ind ec moderateth e other. s tw m n We of g eneralsco isiven its three clu s, h and , r ess, on Th p rol m aspec le and persisten t di cult s t oure hcarr o ts i m e a -esures n g oreysis.In Israel,er in d ecsio n apply ies,univeryp othes specice EPCD stab of c a re individuals . To te w sities for that th ied is t a follow-up ou longitu dinal to cho rs, thus having anal- osea m ajor before subm itti totheir hich cation secon dm ajo ng ms w applioer a form . In m ost Israeli universities w ish to apply toadem progra but hav e not taken their highthere are pre-a th e univer ity c ic chance for indivi uals w ho d s school matriculation exam s,pe w ant to rs cre com pu ter scien being adm itted in ase their chan ce of or psycholog) (in taking courseswhose g raor can substitue for their high- chool exam grades for highly com d es titive y by particular qualify for th e programm ajo like t s ce in th is that ves inves did not ting tim e (a year) and mof their choice. Participatingacadem p rog ram in vothe e nd of the program , the stude l oney,as w ell as sig - nicanta well-dened ic eo rt. By nts are expe studen w reach do decision about w hat m ajor(s)to applycom m it to b y cted to of this ye ar,not have a for. Therefore, prefe e ort ajorthat they arerequired durin g th is year,e endb ts in hom ore pers thet rred m and th m ay e despite gre at of indec inevesss. tm ent w illing to a isten state isiv n e Th us, w e askedstud e programout the 24 w eeksafter begin n gadm inistrat nts to ll and at EPCD at the th e rst of their pre in fresh with a follow manion, alonglty, year preparatory th e EPCD at ethe begin n g ualsth eith a high degre eou -up that w d i cu a s m e a- in threport. We expect d ak indivi ofand would be le ss c loofe in d w ld show less progress su red by e career decision-m ing process, tow schoole year,of the s to making a decision In addition, w e expected to nd m odera to high corre preparaory progra sco resof individ- uals at the beginning and towards end end of t the EPCDm. and less condent about their choice te ardsth the lations b etween thus supporting the EPCDs te s tre te s tstability. the y ear, 4 . Hypoth e s e s (i) in de-cisiven ess etw e en e tota lhigh, an d th e EPCD andetw een reEPCD and Th e co rre tio n will la b th ely sco reso f correlati ons b a m easu of g eneral m e asue s of self-e be relativ an d ego-den titystatu swill b e mth e te . r steem, an xie ty, i odera

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(ii) le ss p rog ress in highdecision-m re sg pro cess, (b ) will beefurther aw ay sh o w Individuals with th e EPCD sco at the beginning of th y e a r:(a ) will from m aking a choice , and (c)EPCD akinade a ch oice, will be less con d en t ab ou t it than individuals with low if they m re s. sc o 5 . Metho ds 5 .1 .Participa nts Seven red and en studenIsrael the pre-a in cadem preparaory ic t programshund rty two re e forty-sev (4s7 .2 % )in ts m a le sa icipated in .8 % ) study.male s; th Three hund not of fo e - th largeste irs e aities ew ere 22.4partn d 31 .7 (5 2 thisw e re red and red stu duniver n 2 0 did and reportof th es stu;th en ts w en a g w a sin Israel; =5 9 4 00%) had gradua their ex - d e t m (SD 6 8 (9). Five hundfe ted fty-nine (76%) and received a m atricu from high school, or had nishedbutre born docerticate,w hilere ce 0a diploma . lation w ell enough to 7 2 ive % )h a d not (1 nish high school did not Longitudinal the school ye ar, w e w ere able to m at hwth e lled nsesth e 3 9 5 (5 3at analysis pl Of the 747 partcipants ho respo sam e. i out of EPCD %) th ed en wingof ou t th e EPCD fo r a sec o n dtime and th en a n sw e red e follow-up c stu beginn o lled attrition was attribu th questonnaire.The i ts h to m atch th e rst and thetablend -tim e questionnaire), (e.g., missing to technical problem s missing data, informationendancein class in the secondround of data collection,due to various seco and non-at rese t factors (e.g., rand , arm y serv ice, illness,or p sco res reason To veri y s). f attrition w as the rve partcom pared thelled out the qu estonn aire at bothof data om w e icipan who EPCD ersonalon th e rst round that the collection for 395 rounds of data collection and the part ts w ere ho w erebetw e eduring the second round of icipan w found absent n thie sc o re s of th e s e two ts data collection. th e total EPCD score nor in any of its th re em a jo rc lu s rs (t(7 4 5 ) groups,neith 5 ) in No 2diere nces 6 ,a n d t(7 4 5 )= 0.6 0 ,re sp e c - e ly ).Further er = 0 .1 ,t(7 4 5 )= 0 .4 te = 0 .0 9ere 4 di ere nc in th e de m ogaphic v aria s be tw e e n tiv there w ,t(7 no es r ble the groups (a more, 2g e : t(7 3 3 ) 6 1 .1 6 ; = ye a rs of e d u c a on : t(7 1 1 ) ti = 0 .7 2 ; s e x : v (1 , N = 7 2 7 )= 0 .6 ). 5 .2 .In stru n ts me Th e em is descr p erso al and th e EPCD otionpagbed in nality careerdicu lties scale(EPC D).EPCDdevelop ento5 3 i e of the questonnaire et al. (in generalbackgro consi ts ati of details press Th e The ). sm ite m age, and ye a rs of edu cati .iin S aka includesages includ e 53und inform of n: s.The rst sex, sentin g one of the 11 di cu Thcate goie s. For each statem e t, th e particip ans on lty e follow ing p ts, rep reasked to ra te th e d e g re eto w hich the statem ent r n statem en each t w ere (1doe s not de scribem e to 9 d e s c rib e m e w eldescri th scale levelof di cu s include a in bed scaem on a 9-point l; d higher rating ensurethat indic higher lty). Two valid- ity ite m sw e re the ite m s and conside ates a th e leto ring the ir individuals replied only w hen somethingreadinga p - p e n s to me, an d I dont m ind after properly response s(I expect tions a re re a liz e do r n ogood h pract w heth w ere yrep o rtedin e d m am satis Saka et al. (in p a t). The ical util- ity of this kind of item s eritems is describedin Amir e t al. re ss; re ss. rationaleand te s tsof th ese va lid ity validity (in ) th e p )

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Psych etric properties w e p found m b e w ere q u5 Cronbach-alpha om ad a consis- tency reliabilitiesin therere se n t to p ively.e The,te: ,.8 8 ,a n d of 5th e 1internalthree m ajor clus- ters and Pessi istic View respect th e W .8rld.9 5 W o rk ) to .9 2for th esca es total e sa le t l ran gedfrom .61 (fordthex- iety scal , s abou o ic ). A p revio lities y.9 (for 1 al., in m o reliabi stud (Saka et f us Anxiety about th e Proce ss a n A n ructa boutdity e ofh the EPCD oand the proposed internal th C p re s support d clustconst s) e e the ers and scale s. Sp e- ci ca , conrm atory fact r analy vali e lly structure of thadequacy of the hyp otheszed th eoret- ical model of o supporte d catego s grouped into th reie major cluste rs the rie e sis e diculty .9 8 , a n d GFI = .9 7 ;Saka et al., in p res s; the inte rcor-re lationsam7onlethen (RMSEA = .0 5 ,NFIv= .9 8scalescore sin th e pre s e n tsam p are p resen in AppendixA) . ,CFI = g 11 le ted Frost inde cisi ne individu ls rate e a (FIS; Frost extent s,1993). th ey FIS is ith 5 -ite mselfS how Th e reportingatheirw hichss scal . be inde c the& Eachto w hich ratedagreewa 1 statem en sc le in ve ts regardg from tendencyto isive . item is on a ve-po t scale in ran gin 1 str ngly disagree to 5 str ngly agre The scoringis base don two sub sca le s o o e. labeled Fears about Decision-Ma king and Positive Decisio n-Makin The intern g. al consi ten cy s (Cronbach-al pha) of th e FIS total sc o re w a s .9 0 in a studentsam p (Frost & le Shows, 1 9 9 it w a s .8 9 for the Fears subscale an d .83 for the Positivesub scae in a 3); l com m un ity sam p (Steke le tee, Frost, W in cze,G reen ,& D ougl ss, 2000). Further inform ation a about the validity of th e FIS w as rep ored by Frost and Gross (1 9 9 3 ) d Frost and t an Shows (1 9 9 3 T h e sc a lew a stran ted in to H eb rew(a n d th en b a ck-tra n s te d to e n su re ). sla la translation equivale ce), and satisf ctory reliabilit were found in an Internetversi n based n a ies o on a s a m p o f 1 9 6participan (.8 1 ,.7 5 ,and .8 2 ,for the Fe arsand P ositiv e subscaes, and le ts l the total FIS, respe civ e ly ).In the pre se nt t sam p (N = 7 4 7 )th e Cronb le ach alpha inter nalconsisten c y relia blity estim aes w ere .8 0 ,.6 8 ,and .8 5 for the Fear Posi ive, and total i t s, t FIS, resp ecively. t R o s e n b e rg lf-e se stee msc a le(RSES; Rosenbeg, 1965). The RSES, one of th e m os r tused scal s in th e a s se e ssm e n tof se lf-e ste e m a n to s , 0 0 co n sis ts 10 items exp resing (S 2 1), of s ve positive and ve ne gatv e v ie w s of the se lf. Indiv i iduals are ask e d to rate th e deg re e to w h ich th ey agreew ith each item on a 4-pointLikert scale (1stron glydisa gree to 4 stron agre Th e ne gatve ly orie nte d gly e). i items are the nre ve sed, so that a highe rscore r indicate sa highe rle v e lof se lf-estem. The total scoreis com puted the m eanof all ten e as items . Satisfacory psychom tric propertiesof th e RSES hav ebe e nre porte d:its Cronbacht e alpha internal-consistency reliability w a s a b o ve.8 0 ,a n d its testreest re lia blity w a s .8 2 t i (Flem ing & C our ney, 1984). Many studieshave supprted the constr validity of th e t o uct RSES (e .g.,D ein and Dein er er, 1995; Flem ing & Cou rtney,1984; McCurdy & Kelly, 199 . 7) We u sed th e H ebrew vers ion of th e RSES, w hosereliability and construct validity

w ere supp orted in pre viou sstudi spe ci ally , the re liability e stim at ran ge dbetw ee n . es; c es 73 an d .79, and a positive correlat was found betw ion een the abilitiesfor m ent l and a em otional coping (Z iv, 1996). In the prese nt rese arch, Cronb the ach-alpha internalconsiste ncy relia bility w as .81. Trait anxie scale (TAS, from the State trait anxiety inventory ty (STAI) Spielbe e r, rg Gorsu ch, & Lushe 19 7 0 We used the H ebrew versionof th e TAS, which is part ne, ). of th e STAI. This scale a s s e e s relatively stableindividual di erenes in anxietyss c proneness. Th e scalecon sistsof 2 0 sta tem en a n d th e individual is a skedto rate th e d e g ree ts, to which h e or sh e g en e ra experien s th esee motion s, o n a 4-pointLikert sc a le(1a lm o st lly ce never to 4al ost all th e time). Nine anxie m ty-abs t item sare rever ed, an d th e total score en s is c o m p d a s th e m ea no f a ll ite m s , s o th a th ig h e rs core re p re n ts a h ig h e rd e g re e f ute a se o trait

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anxiety.Cronbach-alp dfrom .73onsistencyreliabiity w an foe v ide nce .9 0orting the ha l s , an d ret- es re liabi w as also reported by Spielbe gestude ts; un d to b e Vagg, te st litie s range internal-cto sc a e st validity The reliability and .86 for colle the H ebrew Lushene,w ere found l ch, vers supp Jacobs (1 9 8 specic lly, sig- nicant positiveof 3. ) validity rger, Gorsu w ere found w ith o and ion satisfactory; sues, a Cronbach-alpha reliability was s.90, and its testretest ion th anxiety m ea r from .7 2 to .8 4 (T e ic h m a n&correlat 1 9 8 In th e p re sen tstu der relia bility ranged its rnal-c y, th e Cronbach-alpha in te onsisten cyrelia Melink, ate as .89. bility estim 4). w E xte n d e d o b je civ e m e a su re eg o id e n t of tity statu s (EOMEIS-2, Bennion & Adams , 1986). This scale evaluates indivi duals identity status basedon the m odel propose d by Marcia (1 9 8 0 Its g o a l is to estim ae th e d eg reeof identity consoldation for four ). t i statu s e s (achieved identity,identity forec losure, m ora torium , and d i u sediden tity).We used the Hebrew version of the m orator m and di us id en iu ed tity p arts, so th at the sca le consisted of 3 2 items (1 6 for each id en tty statu s). In div als w e re a ske d to ra te th e d e g re eto i idu which the y agre e dw ith e ach state m e nt a 6-point Likert scale (1 str on ongly disa gree to 6 stro n g lya g re T h e tota l sco re fo r ea ch sta tu s is d en eda s th e m ea n o f a ll items e). pertaining to that status The internalconsistency reliability w a s .7 3 r th e m o r to riu m a n d .6 8 for fo a the di usion es, and the te stre testre liabi s acrossa two w eekintervalran gedfrom scal litie .82 to .9 0 (B lu st in e t al., 1989. Construct validity was found satisf ctory in v a rio u s e a age groups and cultures (Adams, Benn ion, & Huh, 1 9 8 9). In th e p resen t stud y, th e Cronbach-al pha internal-co nsisten cy relia bilities w ere .77 an d .72 for the m orator and ium diffused ide nti ty sc a es , l re sp ecively. t Decision stat (DS). This m easu w hich is a variationof the Occupa us re, tional Alternatives Q uestion(OAQ, S la n e y ,1 9 8 0 ; Zener & Schnue lle ,1 97 asks indiv uals about 2), id their careerplans direc tly, to d eter in e th eir cu rren tstage of the care erde cisio -m akin g m n proc e s s, and c a n b e u s e d to asse the ir progres (Amir & Gati, 2 0 0 Gati, Saka, & ss s 6; Krausz, 2 0 0 1 ;Gati, Kleiman, Saka, & Zakai, 2003). Levels rang e from I d o n o t h a v e e v e n a ge ne ral directi to I am sure about w hat I w ouldlike to m ajorin. Follow ing Monahan(1 9 8 7, on ) we regard individuals self-reported sta g e a s a m e asu of d ecid edn es th e ed re s degreeto which they have narro wed dow n their occupati onal choice s. Therefore, w e use d this m easure as an additional criterion for validaton. i Participan ts w ereasked to in d ic ate their stagein th e c a re erdecision-making

pro c e ss using the DS; in th e p re se n t sa m p le th e re sp o nses w ere a s follows: 1 6 2 (2 2 .4 % ) repor ed t that I a m s u re ab o uw hat I w ould like to m ajorin, 163 (22.5% ) repor ed that I know t t w hat I a m in terestedin , b u t w o u ld like c on rmm y c ice, 199 (2 7 5% ) re po rte dth at I am to ho . conside ringa spec occupation, bu t w ould like to explo otheroptio nsbefore m akin g ic re a d e c isio n , 1 2 5 (1 7 .3 % )re p o te d that I am de libe ra r ting am ong a sm a nu m b of ll er specic occup atios, 5 9 (8 .2 % )repor ed that I o nly h a v e a g e n e ra ld ire c ti , a n d 1 5 (2 . % ) n t on 1 reported that I d o n o t h a v e e v e n a g en e ra l dire ction. 5 .3 .Procedu re About 4ms ek safter the about rm by th e progra w ewcounselo tbeginning of th ecsch ool year,stu denuate stud en ed the rs study on io ts w ere info d the questits (in group s d istribued 2 0 3ae)d u rin g herscareer ree gss e s.Partng, antowas onnaires ere th decis n-m aki ts stu d en l; 16 stude ns of a b o uto by th5 resear o n e and th e c la rad rchicipationblank t part of left the resea booklet optiona clas t refuse d icipate and either or left the sroom (about2% ).

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TheEPCD andts w FIS, given a bookletRSES, the TAS or th e EO M EIS . Finally, they questi onnaires, w -2 s th e participanthe ere phic either the with the included the DS.hich consi ted of and lled out a e EPCD a rst, and the order of the o th er scal s w as All participans onnaire that t lled out th demogr the questi e R SEScoun terbalaced among 6participans. Of. Ident participans, 246 lled ou t the )w as 262 th el;n 7 0 0 747 on by nam e (on the last page t , optiona and 2participan t 3 th e EOMEIS-2 icati es,w hich allow edus to m atchthe book TAS, (9 4 questonnairesin the rst and secondrounds of data collection. %) ts reportedtheir nam lets with the i The- second adm in hich included the EPCD and th e DS, w as 4 w ee ks later.th e istration of the questi nnaire took p la ce 2 distribu o follo w ts (in grou of a b o 2 0 3 5 ) u rin g o n e of th e cla sse s, s in the rst round of let, ted to The studen up book ps w w e re able to dm at ut a dataen . collection. We ch the rst and second book lets for 3 9 5 stud ts 5.4. analyse s P re im inary l

For each p RSES, TAS com p u tedth e total sco e EOMEIS-2 (whichever th e EPCD and the scores ofarticip an tw ean d the for o scale sof thresof m ajor clus and th e FIS,lled out). We com-com pute d corre s tw am on g th e EPCDe (its total te rs and they ajor e also p uted the score the lations the EPCDs thre 11 scal s. N e x t w and th e scales), FIS, RSES, TAS and tw o EOMEIS-2 score,s. No m e clu st rs,as found for th e FIS, TAS, or the tw o E O M EIS2 s c ale s(all Fs <e three order e scal1). Therefore, eect wlts are reported acrossthe various the resu administration orders. The r, weon stat m easulevelsinto included six levels (Gati sta g 2 0 . us originally 3) Howevedecisicom binedthe sixre accord gfour thereectthe individ & e t a l.,ein0 th e to PIC uals career decision- m aking p rocess in 1) Prescre ning, In-dep explor tion, and en to g of Specica stag rst Asher,which:d e th b efo re the Prescr Choice. alternm odel (Gati w as represe nte a lly, thee, level, 2 0 0 corres sta te mto being d o n o t e v e n h ae a general dire ativesand (2) I o n ly h a v ea ponded nts ) I by th e ldirection. (1The second level, cor- respon e v e in ctio n tranition be tw e e n g en erae n in g stage and the In-D e ph Ex p Prescr ets (3 ) I am deliberain g tam ong a sm ading to erof spec e n loration ll n um b the represented by the stag w as s e, th e sta te(4 ) I a m conside ri a t spec tions and m before I m a ke mng decision The third level, corre like ic to plo Cothe r ic occupa tion, but w ould to occupa options as repre se nte d y sta te . e nt know w hat I a m in te re ste d , ex t wreu ldlike sponding b u the hoice stag w m y choic by the th em rI level indic e, in to conrm e. Finally, fou th m e t a m s u th at th ew divI ual o like to ishedth e process,represented by th e statePIC nsI g ated reabosformhat idwsix h ad nu t in the ould rigin al m ajor in.ption srationale for categ othe is outlined s toGati and Tal (in p reo ); this using ta e in resp onseo The as found useful in empirically dieren tran am ong individuals in into th ss categ oization wof th eir e four decisiries aki process tiating & Gati, 2 0 0 6 ;Gati e t r stag di eren t. es career on-m ng (Amir a l., 2 0 0 3) 6 . Results 6 .1 . C o n str uct validity an d d ive e n t rg

T ab andp resens th e ad devia r tions, and th e correlat ions o f Iden EPCD le 1 atorium scal m ea n s,sta n dith the FIS, RSES, leftmost columiusedthe total its t tity and Mor- e m e three m ajor clusters w es of the EOMEIS-2. The tw o TAS and the D ns of Table 1 pre se n tth ans

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Ta ble 1 a M ean s, standarddeviation, an d th e correlations s betw e EPCD and the validity questionna s en ire Scales M SD N EPCD Pessimisti views Frost Ind ecisivness Scale e b R o se n erg se lf-e ste e m b scale Trait-an iety sca le x Ego identityscaleDi se d u Ego identity scaleMoratorium M SD
a b

Anxiety .4 7 .3 0 .3 6 .2 3 .4 2 4 .7 3 2 .0 2

Self and identity .6 0 .6 1 .7 0 .2 8 .4 8 3 .5 6 1 .4 4

Total .5 6 .4 4 .5 1 .2 8 .5 0 4 .3 2 1 .3 4

2 .6 5 3 .4 0 1 .9 4 2 .6 4 2 .4 8

0 .6 3 0 .4 9 0 .5 2 0 .6 9 0 .7 2

739 246 262 236 236

.3 6 .2 0 .2 6 .1 9 .3 6 4 .7 8 1 .3 8

All co rre lation s sta tistica lly n i ca (p < .0 1 ). are sig nt The correla tions with EPCD are n e g ative e xp e cte d . as

and standa ep tfor self-estee e sem e a sue s. As ca nized, is negatvely corre a re with rd ns o lated positive,exc deviatio of th w hic as hyp othesb e se en ,all correlati ns m, h, r i th e EPCD. total EPCD score F ro v the re range from .28 forTheecorrelat Id en thesc a le to the Selfth ew ith stanaliditytity clusterand th e high th D iuseions of i m easu s e. corre and TAS (.6 0 ,tity 1etw een .5,6 fo r eCo ncept In d ecsive n lations d d Iden ess Sc a l Fairly RSES, her w ere foun d.6 b, and .7 0 relat - tiv e ly ). Aswith th e A n x ieth esecorre FIS,s sp c found h ypoth esized ty c lu s r lation ) w ere hig t(2 4 3 ) = the 4 , t(2 5 ctive 8 .1 8 , for the FIS, RSE, and TAS, resp ective 6 te (t(7ly). 3 = 4.8 6 , ore,than 6 .3 respe 9 ) = corres eions Furth ermere, as hypothes th corre ized, higher than those with the Self-Conceptand Identity of e cluster) w 7 .9 5 ,t(2e 3 ) 7 lations5 9 ) th9 .6 8variablesw ith the and TAS, re spiew s clust r Pessim istic V e tively). e (t(7 3 6 = 4 = .8 9 ,t(2 = , the FIS, RSE, for c carrie d variables ssion analy ses to exam ution of Weat of theout m ultiplepredic e nd)of initial and nal EPCD to inethe contrib each the beginn and (ste pw isethe the school year). Due sc o re s(i.e .,th edesign, in at the ting re gre score ing the study e EPCD s in which each parttity stat as given onlysimultane e m e a sue s of se lam ongm trait icipant w one of th r f-e ste these , anxie and iden- possib . us, a direc e reg re ous ere carr t, vari bles w as not th e threep er- sonalityvariab lesseparatelyas predictors. the FIS a ty, le T herefoe, th r ssions w comparison w ith ied out score sand e achof Whe n se lf-e em and g eneral inde c e n ste isiv ess w e re use d as pre dictors,the FIS 2 em e = 8 as 6 ,e m ain ),a n d th RSE score contributed signicanty R 2 = .2 7 , nce 2 4 3 )rg e d .3thp < .0 0 1predictore of th e initial EPCD score (R = .5 2 ,to the vari F(1 , 7 l a explated this anal- ysis with th e secon dthe FIS score,obtaine d p < .024 w e eks.In ).W e ined by th e m odelover and above EPCD (t(2 4 1 ) 4 .1 7 , = , = 2 this repea after 0 1R th e .3EPCD regre ssion analy FIS e m e rg e d again a s th e b e s t predictor of sis 2 score (R = .4 5 , Rly to the varianceexplained ,p < and1 ), and th ee RSE score contributed signicant = .2 0 , F(1 , 1 3 2 ) = 3 3 .0 5 over .0 0 above th FIS (t(1 3 1 ) = 2 3 .4 6 ,p < .0 5 ,R = .2 7 ). Whee d trait anxieth e mainne ralind ecisiv eesse winitial EPCD score (R = .5 6 , n again a s ty and ge predictor of n ere use d as pre dicors, the FIS t em e rg th 2 R th e2.3 1 ,F(1 , 2explainedby th e m o01 overthe TAS score contributed)= 3 .3 0 ,p < . 5, ), to = varian 6 1 )= 117.4 p < .0 del and and abov e the FIS (t(2 5 9 signi cantly ce 0 0 1 ,R w eek In thispe ate d this analysis w ith the scoreof the se condEPCD, o btain ed after 24 = .34).W e re s.

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reg re ssion analy sis, the TAS e m e ged a s th e b est p red icto rof th e EPCD score (R = . r 2 2 4 6 ,th e vari nce explained3 4 .7 8 ,p < .0 0 1 the d th e(t(1 3 score.2 7 ,p < .0 5 ,Rsigni 4 ), cantly to R = .2 1 , F(1 , 1 3 1 )= over and above a n TAS FIS 0 ) 2 contributed = .2 ). a = Finaly, w hen the two e ge d tity statuses and generalin dec ltors, th e FIS e m id en a s th e main predictor of EPCD ess w ere(R sed a2 , isiven score u = .6 s predicr 2 R = .3 1 ,ly to 3 2 )=vari6nce pexplained by the ora el over and above th e FIS F(1 0 torium scale sco re contributed signicant , 2 the 1 4a .3 , < .0 0 1 ),an d the m m od 2 (t(2 3 0 )= 5 .9signicant ,R = tribution tov e r, explainedvari nce scaledid not have= the i a statis Again,6 ,p e re pe con- .4 7). Howysis w ithidentty-dius EPCD EPCD (t(2 3this tically w < .0 0 1 d this anal- e the a ion of sc o re . 0 .3 4 ssion analy FIS em er ed as the only predic se coth e EPCD score (RIn 0 ) 9 , ). ate the of nd re2g re sis g tor = .3 R = .1 5 ,F(1 , 1 2 1 )= 2 1 .4 8 p < .0 0 1 ). , 6 .2 . A s se ss g w heth e r th e d icu ltie s m e a su re db y th e EPCD a re in p e rsist ent W e carried th e longitu dinal analy ses tigate w he r the diculte represented by out EPCD score sareiduals persiste nt, status he tthe hy pothesever s inde to inve s s ia th e s e di cu Tom ayd predictng term e e d decisi n and to te st red by th e EPCD,l lties stu y th o and ss is that months later. participanse lo indiv e group s accord ies m easu progre -thre e ctsof di cult to the ir initia l EPCD score . w igh and low groups consisted of indi- vidua whose total EPCD score w as hig he r the t into ing H e divided th or lowe r th an the 25th pe rce n-ls , re spe civ e ly ; th e rem ai than the 75 ts w e re re gard as the m e diu tile ning 50% of th e participan ed m- di cu t group. lty The nce in th eir ch oiceat the end of the preparatory programwand th 0 (p < dents Pearson corre lation between the initial EPCD score a s .3 e stu .0 0 1 ). con de re se ns th e stud en con F ig. ree of di cu t lties. ts den ce in th eir as a i in ial deg 2 pnt in their choice show sthose w ith w ithchoiceinitial fun ctons. of theirlanitnss that those con de w ere ca rri Fig. 2tothan ctlyte st the low high EPCD sco re Tw owphigher initial that EPCD scores e re le ed contra EPCD d i cu o utou ld ireow less con- hypothesistheir individualsw ith end sts ed w d sh initial preparat ry programthan thosewith lower dence in choicetow ar s the d of the o lties
5 4.5 4 3.5 3 2.5 low medium high

Choice confidence

Initial degree of EPCD Fig. 2 . C ho ic e co n d ence tim e 2 as a functionof initial d egree EPCD (T im e 1 , N = 3 9 5 ). at of

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initial di high and m edium initialt,di ich com pared the choice conde culties cu lties. The contra s h lties with nce groups yielded statisticrst signicantwre su (t(3 9 2that of .2 3eplow.0 1 , C o h e ns dth e cu initial-di of = group, of ally )= 4 th 0 .4 3 ),indicating thatchoice evenw ith highsignicant period ,of<time. The second individuals after a lts and m ediuminitial di cu lties show less cond ence in st revea their planned contra led, as hyp ediumini- tial-diculty g initial-di 2 )= reported less condencethan the moth- esized ,that th e high ro (t(3culty 2group up 9 .3 4 ,p < .0 1 ,d = 0.2 7 ). To sp ecic lly ye a r, w e focused gre o n in divi ind iviw ho ww h ose de a e exam e the pro o nss o f th o se in duals duals ere un initial d ecis e cided at th b eginning olow (i.e.,the y reporte d thatly y had e ithe rno directionor only a ge ne ral th ion status w as f d as such they w ere e x pethe to m ove tow ardsbeing m ore decidedat direction ane pre-a ), th ct hypothesi ed the e nd of m. zed that, b 2 1 4 ) whose highercadem icof EPCD W e cultiesw ould progrethe individualsyear, career degreewprogra difplans ere clearly lized at theofeg inn in th e (n = ing those w -m aking process than thosewithuncrystal ss less of de cisio ith a n a low in itial d egreeof diculty. the care er To te st, de ne d this h ypoth es w e com p uted is, asu us participantpro- gram .Thedi ere ncecorre n adem eeenstat atrog ressginn each b etw lation b cisi re of p EPCD for and ee on ing an end advance in thas theisio n sta tu sw a s .2 9 the< etw 1 F ig . e p re the be escoree d the the gof s in th e c a reedde ci- sion -m akin gproce ss(as0 ). e cthdinitialsechan ge in dthe ir e r e c Pearson (p .0 re te 3in the n ts th stu nts p ro re status)as a function of their initial degre e of di cu s de cision at th o se with initially high EPCD score sw erele ss lik ely to adva e see n in lties. It Fig. 3 th aking proc e s s than thosewith initially low EPCD score c an b planned decision-m ere carried out to test th e h yp oth es th a t th e EPCD scoreTwnce in the s. contrasts w ss in th e decisio isThe rst contrast reveis o that, as ones progre individuals with highor m ediuminitial EPCD d if- cultiesprog re to n-m aking proces . s a related le d hypothe sized , ssed lesscultes (t(2 1 2 )= statu8 ,p < .0 5 , d 24-week).T h e eperiod than those withplow initial in itheir decision 2 .1 s over this = 0 .3 0 tim s e co n dco n trat, com - a rin g th e did iu m and high EPCD group s , also yielded statistic lly signi cant resu (t(2 1 2 ) s m e 2 .1 3 ,p < .0 5 , = 0 .2 9 ), a lts = d indicating that i progres than the mediu s m-diculty group. the h igh-d culty group m adee ve n le ss Finally, to pfurther test thethe careerd that indiv ak pw ith s, w e carr hypothesis ecision -miduals roces initially high out an sc o re sw ou ld rog re less in ss ing ied EPCD an aly of sis
1.5 1.4 1.3 1.2 1.1 1 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5 low medium high

Progress in the process

Initial degree of EPCD

Fig. 3 . P rog e ssin th e care e rd e cision a kin g p roce ss a functionof initial d egree EPCD (N = 2 1 4 ). -m as of

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covarance, inable, the initial EPCDstatus lty group w as the of th e yea r vari ble, i the decisi tow d d epe nde ntvari w hich on status on the covarate. This end independed w a s th e cu i ar s the analy sis ve a a the anderen cein thed nal deci- sion as diam ong the th ree g roupsrew as nt that ally ecisi w lestatistic di the initial , 2 3 8 )= 8 .3 4 ,p < .0 0status nd the initialdierencs am ongthem (F(1 , signicant (F(2 .0 0 1 1 ), beyo e 2 3 8 )= 9 .4 3 ,p < ). In su m ry , th e se n dng s p rov id e fu rth e rsu p p fo r o u r c la im th a t th e EPCD ma i ort indeed taps into the m ore stable ,e nduringcom p one of caree rde cision- ing di cult nts mak ies. Spe ci ca lly, the ndi gs indic n ate that a high EPCD sc o re p re d ics le ss p ro g res in th e t s decisionm aking processand low er choice condence, after a signicant period of time in which natural crys tallization of career plans should take place. 7 . Disc u s sio n The goalslof th e p re sen stud y w ere tigate the charace to t andvalidity of the taxon t y proposeto inve s e t al. (ines andristics ofer nal and lated om o dby S aka dicult pre ss)for em emotional i the personaity-re careecareerdecisi n-making lt and the EPCD furthoti eveloine o exam personalit themdU sing m e asu -m generalindec y-re akin ped to m ty, identity dius rdecision for g di cu ies,isiveness,self-escale danalysis, e asu late . re res torium, and conducting a longi udinal , general steem anxie ion w e obtain to resu lts supporting w erevaliditybetw the the total EPCD score and the ed high correl and m ora found of een taxo the nom y tand th e EPCD. Modera te ations thre e cluster score on thety, and self-e the m e a- sureser. Furth er ind ec stu den s, of g en eral ess, ego-identity, gen eralanxie one hand, and steem, onakin g a careerdecisi than those more, isiven ts with a low EPCD sco re. advan cedless to a high EPCD score wards m the o th on w ith G en eral ind ec isivenes. m e asu s correlati on isive eenth e Frost ss Scale (FIS), whichcaree g en eral The lties of d e c isbetwne ss,and s .5e In decisivene w hich a focuseson isn);r-relateddi cu re in sinde cio nmem otio a th 6 total EPCD, lated w 2 for atte a re correlated,lation showized, w the the generaland(.6ofafter lity-re nuatio this corre as that ith akin g , nal traitpersonacorrection di cu lties hypothes indec The lowest corre .3 6 between the FIS and the EPCD for this nding is isiveness. i View s oies ter thislation ). One th e statem en repre- senw as foundin ththe Pessimstic clusin (r = possible explanation ti g them for e EPCD w the that ere categ r specic and e m ban ded w ithin the career con text, w h e cluster e ts n highly en w ere g en era The nding that the highestcorre reas FIS w e FIS all th sta tem-Concept an d Id entityclu s of th e EPCD (r = .60)lation of th eat this as wter ts . dd ith the res n ts the m ore gleneral aspe ter m ay rep Self eies, w hereas the Pessimstic Views cluional rep re personalit th cts of em ots and sents sh ow caree clu sc y-related career di cultof the di cu i its correlati terwith the FIS w a s th e lower-speci more aspec ts lties, and hence on s t. S e lf-et st rs,.As w ell a s all correl s em hypothesize all d, ation s laio n b etw mn isre e a suth antotal EPCD t th m ajor,clu e en ega sve. Th is show s thatc o rre betwseenth iseeerson lity-relatedaspe th re e easum and re e d th ec of sc o re w e re at em on dp a ste ts ca reer decision- imaking edi cu ed,th eare oti stal an when se lf-e e e m Scale w er. lties Furththe clusterofcould on cexp ta nd Id en tityschigher e EPCD. of th RSE is low as w ith erm ore, as Self-Cb e pe ct the higheleof th a correlation Trait anxiet . As hypothes y ized, all correlati ons betw een this m e asue and th e r total EPCD score and th e th re e c lu stersco resw ere positive and statistic ally signicant. The highestcorrelat ion w as again found with the cluster of SelfConcept and Identity, and m ay be e xplai d by the fact that this clus include sa sub-scaleof g en eralan xiety. ne ter Still,

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a correlatonon e .5 1 betw e e nthnen ts aofrep and th e to ta l EPCD scorem ay ind icatelties th at an x- iety iis of of the& S oenens,e 0su ers com pois m 2 0 n (Germe ijs,Versch ueren, 6). isten t careerdecisio -m aking di cu Ego ntityScale and the correclustersof the EPCD w u s ty scal . e i e si titysubscale of th e Ego Ideidentiow ever,The threelationssbetw een the dthan d oidenofand statistically t signicant. H e Ego Iden tity statu s.Thtently lowcorre e rep ofive di u m or torium they subsc ale of th e Ego Identty w ereconsi w ith the clusterof those the theand Id entity le of th e hig hest er lation lf C once pt s a entit id sub scaay be attribu i to Scalefact that this cluster includes a sued cale of w as Se y; this m the b-s uncry stalliz identit .ted ed y u byThe dif- tiple regrebe stpanalyor reveaEPCD. In additi n, all th reedas m eatsred th r m ul w as the ssion re ses th e ledithat general indec and perso isiveness, aspecs of nality-relae personality t caree e FIS,culties, as m , tra dict byof em otonalid entity o sta tu s (moratorium) variablesself e ste e m easuredn xgeneralindecisivenes to the prediction of th e it a ie ty and contributed (5 % , 3 % , and beyond cre l EPCD score signicanty, e nding th at theseaccounteds, varirediced th e resu e ase in -for a v ariable s, resp e tadm inistation% in th e EPCD vari- ables m onthsnce, for the thre cively).Th 1 6 of t lts of th e secondte n t charac of em ot r ter (alm ostnality- relateddi cu 6 also p later) support and chrovalidity of th e EPCD a s a m e asu of such di cu is ional and perso lties in c a ree r decisionlties the the nic, pers re making. T tity h The Id e n e th ree m aayr diculty rg e individfairlyEPCD. rs free persona decision-making th jo predis clustersof the context- cluster of Self-Concepta ns lity charac teristi d c clusteltieof as m EPCD lations w ithstheuals rnal m e asure s ere re erhighe s. Therefore, r that e corre e m e pose da a e xte e di cu be hypothesizedthat there m ay be ato ppo iste nt ca the the clusters, and s, its w w ithin t it m dicu ay tem uncrystalized identty status m ay ral order that in parallel (orving alead to) di cult and an lties cohesive self l readin i exist (Gati einvoleven non-ese di c ies involvinglack ative of ess for sposition making to prolong careerdecisi ns butultiesto be ge n-edicof indecisive. decisiont al., 1996). Th o a predi not only also m ay b e in rally G eneral d ysfu ncion al persobeliefs. Theseeristicsm tic lead to messim isticview sand t na lity charac pessim s ay view s p ay invol e the self t dys- functional thoughtsandng self-e i v (e . ., low careerdecisiariseaki the individ g rnal locus of Finally, anx- iety m ayon-m as s. Thus, cacy, exte arise wactualinvolvemthe wthey ual gets closerto hencontrol)or feel orld. c a re erdecisiogem in th e d ecisio -m aking process w hile still unpre pare dentin th e n- akingproces n anxiety m ay indiv iduals (pe rh aps have to the y are being pres- sured by signicant other , or forced by circum st because e nga s. Inde e d,the scal s include d in the A s ie ty cluster re pre se tances or social n ormpar e on-m ng pro nx n both asp ecs of pre )proce ssande d ecisi ainty invol ed in(i.e .,and aspectsof actua th the uncert aki invol ted in the ing forchoice anxie and anxie cess it) anxiety about getting v v about the potentialoutcom es lly being engaged it (i.e ., in ty ty of th e choice ). Thte p ersist t aspec oed career decision akin g d i cul w hoIn ad diti , th e en ts f the hypothesisthat indiv -m ties. scoredhigheron on longi udinal analysissupport th e school year w ou the EPCD akithe process than those with low er EPCD scoreless in th eir career beg ing of ld idualsss s. progre decisi n-m atng rtant in n o nding especially im pootional and m entthe studys gradua ind consideringal eort to sam ple succesls This spent ti is me, m oney, icpreparat ry programin order to m aketheir careerd ecisi w ho b e acceped and em o te ividuafully from the pres on an d academ sity. W e believe that the slow rate of caree t to univer r-deci- sion progre found am ong ss thoseindividuals with a high EPCD score are indic ative of a

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m ay reectindecisiveness nd n, m ore profou and persistentdi culty in m ore inte nsive and th e n eedfor m aking their careerdecisio and thus caree rcounseling. Lim ita ledged. First, beca tions. Before discussing eachstudy im plica ed its limitations should the participant receiv eith er the R SES, th e s tions, b e ackn th e EOMEI S-2, w e could not com pareeach vari bles unique contributionto use TAS, orow tion of th e EPCD score over and ab ovea e others. In addition, th e th e predic- w ere a special group of Israeli young th participa nts cadem progra adults ting in th e unique eed s to be carriedout m, and hence further longitu participa ic dinal validation of th e EPCD n pre-a w ith other groups . 7 .1 .Im plic ations Assessng em otio nality-rela im aspec decision-m aking direlationsbetw nal and perso perso ted plica ts ofBettererpers cul- i tions. ca re understanding th e cu ties has both theore for a com prehesivettheory of c a ree r indecisivenof, een em otonal and practicaln i tical and istent career di eatingm ay bethe basis various comnality-relaed factors and their eect es s lties relations am ong delin po explicat on various sta g rst ste p for constructing such nents andThe propinga tax ono y m ay m se rv e as the es of the caree rdecision- m ak ingproce s. Specically, d m ore thorough a theory. through ose understanding of indec isiven ess could be achiev ed longitudinal stud ies com par vioral characing csndecided postpon their un sel g for longtim es. s, changing m ajo teristiu such as and indec ing isive individuals, awho dier in beha rs m anytim es,and returning to personal co choice sever l period in C ou nse im plicati ons. The asse them . of career-dec source s of the di cultes is i am ong thlingrs tiated w in assisting ssm e ntTheclients locaess is isionof the central r ting the dicuof ca reercounseling.Accu indecisionandre foe,isiven ssm e n of decisionltieseassoc ste p s ith career indec issues dicu rate po and com pre he erce asse g , a s it perm the nsiv ou n sel on e ts makingment of d i erenial intervent rtance in c a w ith dierent lties m in typesof diitslties developa l., 1 9 9 6 ; has a 0 0 ajor im t ions for clients re cu (Gati e t Santos, 2 1). The proposed taxono or perso EPCD could assist counselo in the proce ssby my and thenality-relaed sources of clients di cu rs locat- ing the m isticnal t lties of a ss e unlikes si-em otio otonal diand personalidentty dius withoutbelieveth at ssin g p ely that em i anxiety, cu views, ion. it is lties could be i dysfuncional personaity resolved t We counseli interventios of focus ing and lng anteceden of th e decison proble ore di cu eijs and D e-Boec, 2002). Locating tns n th e m (G chronic can help tailor th ms k the sources thethe m ioTheem otional be distinct from the typi al e counselors clients se should er- m lties e ortsinform aion- elated di cu . c approach career to addre ss n. Cou ns lors can helpcente w ithretrie-self-e ste em eve top t r red of career inform atioate for their skillshich isintere ts. For elo a m val ,and s e lo rs sing e lties, w and clients on x w p le c oun proces loy d aspirations n g ea seirie sof experiencesto encou rageclients identty develop m a h a v e to a rra appropr ing before engagingin th e s ree r decisio n-m i akin g process. ment and con- ith th e an xie aroused b y th e p rocessand cae n e e dto m akea choice should n D ealin g w de ce build the counseling p roces . Specically, counselorsm ay focus on ty th also be a such clients ofith m anag their ans m ajorfocus w assisti ch as cond ucting inter-view s aim ed at collecting carry out seem gly routing ng taskssulity and interest inven ing resu xiety as theyresults tion and revi wine informa show in e persona lts. ed, monitoring clients se lf-e stecom ponentof thAs th e ut the careerproc e s s actively e tory anxie through m and ty e career-counseling decision-m o process should be an integral . aking

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Appendix Anxety,rrelaioelf-concegthand Identit ) es (N = 7 4 7 ,PVPe A. i rc simistic Vie w s ,Ax In te o SIt n s am o npt e 1 1 EPCDyscal S EPCD Scale 1. PV about the proc s es 2. PV about the w orld of work 3. PV about the individuals control 4. Axabout the process 5. Axabout uncertainty 6. Axabout the choice 7. Axabout the outcomes 8 . S I g enra l anxiety e 9 . SI se s te e m lf-e 10. S I id tity status en 11. S I s ni can t others ig R e fere nc es
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.2 9 .3 6 .4 7 .5 0 .5 2 .5 4 .4 2 .2 1 .2 3 .4 2 .1 8 .2 8 .3 5 .3 3 .3 5 .1 7 .1 9 .2 2 .1 3 .3 8 .4 6 .4 0 .3 7 .2 2 .2 9 .3 8 .2 1 .7 0 .6 9 .4 8 .3 9 .3 2 .4 3 .2 7 .7 5 .5 5 .4 2 .4 1 .5 5 .3 0

.6 8 .3 5 .3 6 .5 2 .2 6

.2 4 .3 0 .4 7 .2 4

.5 3 .3 6 .5 1 .3 3 .4 0 .4 3

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