Refining Measurement of Career Indecision Types: A Validity Study

Career indecision is a common presenting problem for students seeking counseling at high school guidance offices and college counseling centers. Recent research indicates that 10% of college-bound students are undecided about their college major and career selections (American College Testing Program, 1999). A considerable body of career indecision research has accumulated, driven by the fundamental goal of specifying distinct counseling interventions for different types of indecision. Conceptualization of career indecision has advanced from a simple dichotomous classification of decided-undecided (Holland & Holland, 1977), to a level model (Savickas, 1989), to interactional classification (Chartrand et al., 1994; Jones & Chenery, 1980), to multiple-type classification based on cluster analysis of career development and personality variables (e.g., Lucas & Epperson, 1990; Wanberg & Muchinsky, 1992). There is growing consensus that there are distinct career indecision types and that differential counseling interventions are appropriate for each type (Lucas, 1993). Success in the development and implementation of differential interventions ultimately depends on the validity of the career indecision types. Researchers typically have gathered concurrent measures of career development variables to support the validity of the career indecision types generated by cluster analyses. However, there have been no studies documenting the subsequent academic, career, or student development outcomes associated with the different types. Although certain types of indecision consistently emerge from cluster analyses conducted by independent researchers, there is no evidence that distinct behavior patterns are associated with each type. For example, it remains to be demonstrated that a developmentally undecided student (Chartrand et al., 1994) is more likely than a chronically indecisive student (Callahan & Greenhaus, 1992) to respond positively to career counseling, to achieve good grades, to persist in attaining a baccalaureate degree, or to make a smooth transition to employment after graduation. The purpose of this article was to identify career indecision types and to evaluate the initial evidence for the validity of the types by studying their response to a standard career exploration intervention, with reduction in career indecision as the predictive validity criterion. SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS OF CAREER INDECISION TYPOLOGY RESEARCH We limited this summary to examination of multivariate studies of career indecision types. Correlational studies of career indecision measures were excluded from this review because multivariate studies have produced fewer spurious findings and have yielded more cogent descriptions of the career decision problems. Three indecision types have emerged consistently from independent investigations using different career and personality variables to form types. The first type has been labeled with terms that include "confident decided" (Wanberg & Muchinsky, 1992, p. 74), "decided" (Savickas & Jarjoura, 1991, p. 87), and "ready to decide" (Chartrand et al., 1994, p. 65). These individuals experience little career indecision and little or no career choice anxiety; they also have sufficient career information and well-developed vocational identity. They do not seem to need career counseling. The second career indecision type has been labeled "confident but uninformed" (Larson, Heppner, Ham, & Dugan, 1988, p. 442), "developmentally undecided" (Callahan & Greenhaus, 1992, p. 227; Chartrand et al., 1994, p. 65), "well adjusted and needing information" (Lucas, 1993, p. 442), and "specifying a choice through advanced exploration" (Savickas & Jarjoura, 1991, p. 87). These individuals have a focal need for career information and have not begun career planning. However, they experience little career choice anxiety, are goal-directed, and have mature ego identity. …