According to cognitive information processing theory, career thoughts mediate the relationship between career and life stress and the ensuing career decision state. Using a sample of 232 college students and structural equation modeling, this study found that an increase in career and life stress was associated with an increase in negative career thinking and that an increase in such thoughts was associated with a lower level of decidedness and satisfaction with career choice. However, when the variation associated with negative career thoughts was partitioned in the mediated causal model, career and life stress became associated with less career indecision and dissatisfaction with career choice. The results suggest that counselors attend to negative career thoughts when individuals encounter career and life stress.
A university career development course based on cognitive information-processing theory was assessed. Students who took the course showed a significant decrease in their negative career thoughts when the Career Thoughts Inventory (, 1996a) was used as a pretest and posttest measure. The greatest decrease in negative thinking was found in students with the highest level ofnegative thinking at the beginning ofthe course. The specific components of negative career thinking-decision-making confusion and commitment anxiety--eontributed significantly to the main effect. There were no significant interactions with ethnicity or sex.
158The Career Development Quarterly
The effectiveness of a university career development course based on cognitive information processing theory was assessed. Students showed a significant decrease in their negative career thoughts when the Career Thoughts Inventory (CTI; Sampson, Peterson, Lenz, Reardon, & Saunders, 1996a) was used as a pre-test and posttest measure. The greatest decrease in negative thinking was found in students with the highest level of negative thinking at the beginning of the course. Specific components of negative career thinking, decision making confusion and commitment anxiety, contributed significantly to the main effect. There were no significant interactions with race or gender.
Using structural equation modeling, the present study investigated relationships between neuroticism, coping strategies, and negative career thoughts within the context of attaining a positive career decision state. Results from the initial model, based on a sample of college students (119 women, 113 men; M = 20.3 years) enrolled in a career development course, revealed that coping strategies were not a significant contribution to the model. The final model, without coping strategies, showed that neuroticism had a significant indirect effect on career decision state through negative thinking and that the relationship between neuroticism and career decision state was also significant. Findings also indicate that in the presence of negative career thoughts, neuroticism becomes associated with a more positive career decision state. Practical implications include suggestions that counselors intervene on clients' negative career thoughts to potentially render their neurotic tendencies more productive in reaching a desired career decision state.
This article analyzes employment data from the U.S. census (1960 to 1990) using the Holland classification. The census data are organized according to category of occupation, occupational level, gender, and income. The results indicate that the distributions of employment are similar from 1960 to 1990 despite some major shifts within several categories. Some implications for the current situation are offered.
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