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Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy Scale

The Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy Scale is a 50-item measure of university students' confidence in their ability to make decisions regarding their careers. Items pertain to 5 sub-scales: Goal Selection, Occupational Information, Problem Solving, Planning and Self-Appraisal.

Categories

Geographies Tested: United States of America

Populations Included: Female, Male

Age Range: Adolescents, Adults

Items:

Goal Selection
1. Make a career decision and then not worry about whether it was right or wrong.
2. Choose a major or career that your parents do not approve of..
3. Choose the major you want even though the job market is declining with opportunities in this field.
4. Choose a career in which most workers are the opposite sex.
5. Select one occupation from a list of potential occupations you are considering.
6. Select one major from a list of potential majors you are considering.
7. Choose a career that will fit your preferred lifestyle.
8. Choose a major or career that will suit your abilities.
9. Choose a major or career that will fit your interests.
10. Choose the best major for you even if it took longer to finish your college degree.

Occupational Information
11. Find information about companies who employ people with college majors in English.
12. Find information about educational programs in engineering.
13. Describe the job duties of the careeroccupation you would like to pursue.
14. Find information in the library about occupations you are interested in.
15. Find out the employment trends for an occupation in the 1980s.
16. Find information about graduate or professional schools.
17. Find out about the average yearly earnings of people in an occupation.
18. Ask a faculty member about graduate schools and job opportunities in your major.
19. Talk to a faculty member in a department you are considering for a major.
20. Talk with a person already employed in the field you are interested in.

Problem Solving
21. Come up with a strategy to deal with flunking out of college.
22. Go back to school to get a graduate degree after being out of school 5-10 years.
23. Change occupations if you are not satisfied with the one you enter.
24. Determine the steps to take if you are having academic trouble with an aspect of your chosen major.
25. Identify some reasonable major or career alternatives if you are unable to get your first choice.
26. Change majors if you did not like your first choice.
27. Apply again to graduate schools after being rejected the first time.
28. Move to another city to get the kind of job you really would like.
29. Persistently work at your major or career goal when you get frustrated.
30. Resist attempts of parents or friends to push you into a career or major you believe is beyond your abilities.

Planning
31. Make a plan of your goals for the next five years.
32. Prepare a good resume. 33. Get letter of recommendation from your professors.
34. Find and use the placement office on campus.
35. Successfully manage the job interview process.
36. Plan course work outside of your major that will help you in your future career.
37. Identify employers, firms, institutions relevant to your career possibilities.
38. Determine the steps you need to take to successfully complete your chosen major.
39. Decide whether or not you will need to attend graduate or professional school to achieve your career goals.
40. Get involved in a work experience relevant to your future goals.

Self-Appraisal
41. Accurately assess your abilities.
42. Figure out whether you have the ability to successfully take math courses.
43. Figure out what you are and are not ready to sacrifice to achieve your career goals.
44. Determine what your ideal job would be.
45. List several majors that you are interested in.
46. Decide what you value most in an occupation.
47. Determine the academic subject you have the most ability in.
48. List several occupations that you are interested in.
49. Define the type of lifestyle you would like to live.
50. Determine whether you would rather work primarily with people or with information.

Response Options
10-point scale
No confidence - 0
Complete confidence - 9

Scoring Procedures

Confidence scores for the five subscales and total scale score are calculated as a sum of item scores. The total possible scale score is 450.

Original Citation

Taylor, K. M., & Betz, N. E. (1983). Applications of Self-Efficacy Theory to the understanding and treatment of career indecision. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 22, 63-81. https://doi.org/10.1016/0001-8791(83)90006-4


Psychometric Score

Ease of Use Score

Scoring breakdown

Formative Research

Qualitative Research

Existing Literature/Theoretical Framework

Field Expert Input

Cognitive Interviews / Pilot Testing

Reliability

Internal

Test-retest

Interrater

Validity

Content

Face

Criterion (gold-standard)

Construct

KEY

Ease of Use

Readability

Scoring Clarity

Length

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