Talent development, work habits, and career exploration of Chinese middle‐school adolescents: development of the Career and Talent Development Self‐Efficacy Scale

Abstract

This article describes the development of an instrument-the Career and Talent Development Self-Efficacy Scale (CTD-SES)-for assessing students' self-efficacy in applying life skills essential for personal talent development, acquisition of positive work habits, and career exploration. In Study 1, data were obtained from a large sample of Chinese middle-school students (N = 15,113) in Grades 7 to 9 in Hong Kong. The CTD-SES is an 18-item questionnaire with subscales containing items that address students' orientations toward developing their own talents, acquiring and applying positive work habits, and exploring their career possibilities. Evidence is provided for internal consistency, temporal stability, and factor structure of the CTD-SES. Goodness of fit statistics provided support for a three primary-factorplus-higher-factor model, and this solution was used in the statistical analyses. The data also indicated that students with plans for university study reported significantly higher scores than those without on all three domains of career and talent development. In Study 2 (N = 308) Grade 10 high ability students' scores in CTD-SES were correlated with scores in career decision self-efficacy and academic performance. The development and validation of CTD-SES is the first step toward investigating career exploration, work habits and talent development among Asian middle-school Career and Talent Development 4 adolescents.

Career and Talent Development Self-Efficacy of Filipino Students: The Role of Self-Compassion and Hope

“…Career and talent development self-efficacy was measured using the Career and Talent Development Self-Efficacy Scale (CTD-SES; Yuen et al, 2010). CTD-SES has 18 items rated on a 6-point scale from 1 (extremely lacking confidence) to 6 (extremely confident).…”

“…As the educational system increasingly recognizes the importance of career and talent development, which entails helping students strengthen and maximize specific skills necessary for working in a particular field, the self-efficacy of students in this area has recently gained attention. This led to the conceptualization of domain-specific career and talent development self-efficacy (Yuen, Gysbers, Chan, Lau, & Shea, 2010). Career and talent development self-efficacy enables the development of autonomous lifelong learners capable of fulfilling their potentials, enhancing their quality of life, and making positive contributions to the society (Yuen et al, 2010).…”

“…This led to the conceptualization of domain-specific career and talent development self-efficacy (Yuen, Gysbers, Chan, Lau, & Shea, 2010). Career and talent development self-efficacy enables the development of autonomous lifelong learners capable of fulfilling their potentials, enhancing their quality of life, and making positive contributions to the society (Yuen et al, 2010).…”

“…Career and talent development self-efficacy has three components. This includes the confidence in applying life skills that are crucial in (1) developing one's talents (talent development); (2) acquiring and applying positive work habits (work habits and values); and (3) exploring career possibilities (career exploration) (Yuen et al, 2010). Career and talent development self-efficacy was found to be associated with academic performance and career decision self-efficacy (Fan, Hao, & Yuen, 2013;Yuen et al, 2010).…”

“…This includes the confidence in applying life skills that are crucial in (1) developing one's talents (talent development); (2) acquiring and applying positive work habits (work habits and values); and (3) exploring career possibilities (career exploration) (Yuen et al, 2010). Career and talent development self-efficacy was found to be associated with academic performance and career decision self-efficacy (Fan, Hao, & Yuen, 2013;Yuen et al, 2010). Among Filipino university students, career and talent development self-efficacy, specifically the talent development and career exploration self-efficacy domains, has been revealed to be predicted by the triarchic model of grit composed of consistency of interests, perseverance of effort, and adaptability to situations (Datu, Yuen, & Chen, 2017).…”