The Design and Use of a Measure of Dysfunctional Career Thoughts Among Adults, College Students, and High School Students: The Career Thoughts Inventory

Abstract

This article reviews the impact of dysfunctional career thinking on career choice, the use of cognitive restructuring to identify, challenge, and alter dysfunctional cognition, and the limitations of existing readiness screening and cognitive restructuring procedures. The recently developed Career Thoughts Inventory (CTI) can be used by practitioners to assist adults, college students, and high school students to identify, challenge, and alter dysfunctional career thoughts, and then subsequently take action to make career choices. The cognitive information processing and cognitive therapy theoretical bases of the instrument are described, followed by a discussion of the development of the CTI and the CTI Workbook. Data are then presented on the readability, standardization, reliability (internal consistency and stability), and validity (content, construct, convergent, and criterion) of the measure. The use of the CTI is then described in terms of screening, needs assessment, and learning. Issues related to terminology, diversity, and utility are also discussed. The article concludes with a discussion of preliminary experience in using the CTI in practice.

Exploring the Student Engagement Instrument and Career Perceptions with College Students

“…Internal consistency reliability for the total score was reported as .96, and internal consistency reliabilities for the DMC, CA, and EC scales were reported as .94, .88, and .77, respectively. (Sampson et al, 1996) …”

“…The EC subscale (5 items) measures conflict between self-perception and perception of others in career decision-making (e.g., "I know what job I want, but someone's always putting obstacles in my way."). (Sampson et al, 1996) Based on a normative college sample of 595 diverse students, test-retest reliability for the CTI total score was reported as .86 across a 4-week interval. Test-retest reliabilities for the DMC, CA, and EC scales were reported as .82, .79, and .74, respectively.…”

“…To measure convergent validity or correlations with similar constructs related to engagement in one's education, major, and career, we included analyses of correlations between the SEI and two instruments: The Career Decision Self-Efficacy Scale-Short Form (CDSE-SF; Betz & Taylor, 2001) and the Career Thoughts Inventory (CTI; Sampson, Peterson, Lenz, Reardon, & Saunders, 1996). Both the CDSE-SF and CTI have been normed on college student samples.…”

A Model for Evaluating the Effectiveness of Cognitive Reframes of Dysfunctional Career Thoughts Technical Report 36 - Revised

“…The primary function of the CTI is to serve as a mechanism for screening and needs assessment (Sampson, Peterson, Lenz, Reardon, & Saunders, 1999). The CTI serves as a screening tool by assisting practitioners in making preliminary decisions about the levels of support they need to provide in relation to client needs (i.e., clients with higher levels of dysfunctional thinking are assumed to require greater levels of support).…”

Recruiting Undecided Admits to Pursue a STEM Degree

“…This research occurs as a study comparing those students participating in the Career Planning: STEM Explorations course (experimental group) to those already decided on their STEM major in the STEM Seminar course (control group). The Career Development Inventory (CDI) 57,58,59 and Career Thoughts Inventory (CTI) 60,61,62 were identified as the appropriate instruments for measurement. The instruments are designed to register increases or decreases in career readiness factors and are implemented during the first semester of enrollment, in class, in a pre/post format for all participants and the control group.…”