The impact of dysfunctional career thoughts, parental attachment bonds and career exploration on grade eleven students’ career decision making self-efficacy -

Abstract

The transition of secondary students to higher education is a process that entails effective career decision making skills (Krass and Hughey, 1999). Career decision making self-efficacy, or an individual’ belief about his ability to perform tasks related to the career decision making process (Taylor and Betz, 1983), is a sort of perceived self-efficacy which is itself a contributor to one’s cognitive development and functioning (Bandura, 1993). An overview of previous empirical research on career decision making self-efficacy in secondary students shows that the latter is linked to career exploration, dysfunctional career thoughts and parental attachment bonds. Studies in the Lebanese context have demonstrated narrow career knowledge in secondary students (Oweini andAbdo, 1999; Vlaardingerbroek, Dallal, Rizkallah, andRabah, 2007) and high parental influence on their career decision making process and career indecision levels (Mugharbil, 2012; Vlaardingerbroek et.al, 2007). Students’ limited career maturity (Fleihan, 2011; Theodory, 1982) is highly influenced by the shortage in career education services offered to them (Abdel Latif, 2012). However, previous research did not attempt to study the effect of the combination of the cognitive, psychological and behavioral profiles on career decision making self-efficacy levels in university bound students. The present research study investigates the relationship between career decision making self-efficacy and each of dysfunctional career thoughts, career exploration and parental attachment, and determines the relative weight of each of the factors in predicting career decision making self-efficacy, in a representative sample of Lebanese grade 11 students drawn from ten English speaking private schools that provide career guidance to secondary students. The four variables were assessed with the following tools: Career Decision Making Self-Efficacy Scale – short form (CDMSE-SF), the Career Exploration survey (CES), the Career Thoughts Inventory (CTI)