Career decision making difficulties of adolescent boys and girls

Abstract

The Career Decision Difficulties Questionnaire (CDDQ; Gati, Krausz, & Osipow, 1996) was administered to investigate for gender differences in career decision making difficulties faced by young people. As well as assessing their level of difficulties according to the three subscales of the CDDQ – Lack of Readiness, Lack of Information, and Inconsistent Information, measures were also obtained of students’ undecidedness, their satisfaction with their decisional status, and their confidence in their current career choice. The sample consisted of 347 Australian high school students (199 females, 148 males) from single-gender and coeducational schools in a regional city in South-East Queensland. No gender differences were found in overall levels of career decidedness, although boys reported a higher level of career knowledge, and girls indicated that they were more motivated and more flexible with regard to careers. Type of school attended had little impact on the outcomes measured in this study, with the only difference being that students at single-gender schools were more undecided than students from coeducational schools.