Factors influencing career decision making in adolescents and adults

Abstract

The structure of the Career Decision-making Difficulties Questionnaire (CDDQ, Gati, Osipow, & Krausz, 1996) was validated and compared across two age cohorts using Structural Equation Modelling. One hundred and twenty-one upper high school students (78 girls, 43 boys – mean age 15.92 years) participated in Study 1, while 127 adults (86 females, 41 males – mean age 33.44 years) completed the survey for Study 2. While the model confirmed the multidimensional structure of the CDDQ, five first-order factors provided a better fitting model than the three higher-order factors postulated by Gati et al. The model fitted both groups, suggesting that a common pattern of difficulties was experienced by people of different ages, although older career deciders reported fewer difficulties with Internal Conflicts and Conflicts with Others than did students.