The authors examined self-efficacy and perceived importance of several career counseling competencies among counselors in school settings (N= 567). The social cognitive career theory was used as a conceptual framework. Participants completed a modified version of the Career Counseling Self-Efficacy Scale (CCSES) that also included an importance rating. A principal components analysis was used to examine the factorial structure of the modified CCSES and to determine the generalizabilty of the original CCSES findings to practicing school counselors. In addition, counselors' importance ratings were compared to those of a panel of counselor educators and career guidance consultants.Career counselmg has grown increasingly complex in recent years. Current theories have gone beyond traditional formulations of matching persons and environments to considering broader sociocultural and cognitive factors. Researchers and practitioners in the field of vocational psychology have contended that effective career counseling requires the treatment of both career concerns and psychosocial issues, as well as knowledge and efficacy regardmg a variety of current career counseling skills ) provides a conceptual framework for the current study, which examines school counselors' perceived efficacy in performing and the importance of the activity in relation to various career counseling competencies. The SCCT emphasizes the role of self-efficacy be-
Kristin M . Perrone is an assistant professor of counselingpsychology at Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana. Philip A. Perrone is professor emeritus of counseling psychology, and Fong Chan andKenneth R. Thomas are professors of rehabilitation psychology, all at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
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