Cultural Dimensions of Career Decision-Making Difficulties

This study investigated cultural dimensions of career decision-making difficulties using the Career Decision-Making Difficulties Questionnaire. Career decision-making difficulties were compared among White, African, Hispanic, and Asian American high school and university students at U.S. schools. Results indicated Asian American students perceived significantly more difficulties in career decision making than other groups, whereas White American students perceived the fewest difficulties. Asian American students reported more difficulties than White and Hispanic American students before the process and more difficulties than White and African American students during the process. Findings are discussed based on perspectives of cultural differences. Career decision-making difficulty is emerging as an important construct in framing and understanding factors contributing to the career development of adolescents and young adults. Career decision-making difficulty has been linked to several critical career behaviors such as career indecision (Man, 2001; Osipow & Gati, 1998) and career decision-making self-efficacy (Gati, Osipow, Krausz, & Saka, 2000). Just as it is important to understand what constitutes "ideal" career decision-making behaviors and attitudes, it is also important to understand the characteristics of "problematic" decision-making attitudes and behaviors that may lead to difficulties in career development. Gati, Krausz, and Osipow (1996) classified career decision-making difficulties into three major clusters: (a) lack of readiness, which occurs before the decision-making process; (b) lack of information, which occurs during the decision-making process; and (c) inconsistent information, which also occurs during the decision-making process. These clusters are, in turn, subdivided. The first cluster, lack of readiness, includes three categories of difficulties: (a) lack of motivation to engage in the career decision-making process; (b) general indecisiveness concerning all types of decisions; and (c) dysfunctional beliefs, including irrational expectations. The second cluster, lack of information, includes four categories of difficulties: (a) lack of knowledge about the steps involved in the process, (b) lack of information about self, (c) lack of information about various career alternatives, and (d) lack of information about ways of obtaining additional information. The third cluster of difficulties, inconsistent information, involves (a) unreliable information, (b) internal conflicts, and (c) external conflicts. A total of 10 categories thus constitute the taxonomy of career decision-making difficulties. Researchers examining the constructs and validity of this taxonomy have found empirical support in a variety of populations, such as clients versus nonclients (Gati et al., 2000), people taking Internet-based versus paper-and-pencil career assessments (Gati & Saka, 2001), cross-national comparisons (Gati et al., 1996; Mau, 2001), and high school (Gati & Saka, 2001; Leung & Hou, 2002) and university students (Osipow & Gati, 1998). Although the validity of the career decision-making difficulty taxonomy has received wide support, its cultural implications and relevancy remain relatively unexamined. It is well documented that cultural-contextual factors have a strong influence on individuals' career behaviors and outcomes. Blustein and Ellis (2000) argued that one of the challenges for career assessment in the 21st century is the need to affirm cultural diversity. Increasing globalization and cultural diversity in the workforce necessitate that career assessment be relevant for all cultural groups (Fouad & Zao, 2000). Reviews of career assessment tools suggest that very little has been done to examine applicability of career assessment to cultural minorities (Leong & Hartung, 2000; Leong & Leung, 1994). Lcong and Hartung (2000) have indicated that studies focusing on cross-cultural career assessment have tended to focus on the cultural validity of existing instruments, which have been based predominantly on Western models of test construction. …