Career Maturity in Grade 9: Can Students Who Make Appropriate Career Choices for Others Also Make Appropriate Career Choices for Themselves?

Reliability and Validity of a Rating Scale for Assessing Career Choice Appropriateness in Adolescence

“…Although all of the validity coefficients are statistically significant, the coefficients of determination (effect sizes) indicate that the ratings scale scores account for only about 9% to 16% of the variability in scores on the ACT Index of Career Choice Appropriateness. These values are about as good as, but not very different from, the values (r = .37, .22) obtained in other studies (Westbrook et al, 1988(Westbrook et al, , 1990) that have equated career choice appropriateness with students' ability to evaluate the career choice of hypothetical individuals.…”

“…Modifications of the Crites system have been used to measure appropriateness of career choices based on the extent to which the individual's measured attributes agree with the requirements of his/her occupational preferences. (Westbrook, 1976;Westbrook & Parry-Hill, 1973;Westbrook & Sanford, 1991, 1993; Westbrook, Sanford & Donnelly, 1990; Westbrook, Sanford, Merwin, Fleenor, & Gilleland, 1988;Westbrook & Wynne, 1994). The greater the match between the attributes of the individual and the attributes required of the individual's career choices, the more appropriate the career choices are presumed to be.…”

“…Several studies have investigated the reliability and validity of scores on the Goal Selection test. The following estimates of internal consistency reliability among high school samples have been reported: r = .89 (Crites, 1973), rs = .72, .75 (Westbrook, Sanford, & Youngblood, 1987), r = .66 (Westbrook et al, 1988), and r = .55 (Westbrook et al, 1990).…”

A Career Readiness Typology and Typal Membership in Middle School

“…In fact, the correlations between career maturity and academic achievement suggest that career maturity measures may relate more to scholastic aptitude, resulting in a cognitive career choice process (e.g., career aspirations based primarily on achievement). Our understanding of processes related to career maturity is limited because few researchers have investigated middle school career development, and even fewer have investigated career development processes related to middle school students from diverse backgrounds (Trusty & Niles, 2004;Westbrook, Sanford, Merwin, & Fleenor, 1988).…”

Career Counselling at the Middle School Level: A Case Study

“…There is evidence suggesting a positive correlation between middle (Kelly, 1992 ;Kelly & Cobb , 1991 ;Kelly & Colangelo, 1990) an d high school students' (Mau, 2003 ;Mullis, Mullis, & Brailsford, 1997, Westbrook, Sanford, Merwin , Fleenor, & Gilleland, 1988 caree r maturity levels and their academi c achievement . Given that caree r choice is among the developmental tasks of adolescence (Erikson , 1968 ;Young, 1994), the review o f literature indicates that implementing career interventions at the middle school level is an important factor that helps to increase at-risk students' self-esteem (D'Andrea & Daniels, 1992 ;Legum & Hoare , 2004;Medina & Drummond, 1993;Robitschek, 1996;Wood, Hillman, & Sanilowsky, 1996) and academic achievement (Legum & Hoare) .…”