Neuroticism, Negative Thinking, and Coping With Respect to Career Decision State

For college students, a positive career decision state includes the ability to identify one or more occupational options and to be satisfied with a choice. During the postsecondary years, ineffectively coping with the career decision-making process has been associated with poor retention and low graduation rates (Lotkowski, Robbins, & Noeth, 2004). The attainment of a positive career decision state is becoming more of an emotionally charged issue, especially considering a declining job market and increasing student debt (Reardon, Lenz, Peterson, & Sampson, 2012). Thus, questions arise regarding how students are coping with negative career decision states and what interventions are successful in promoting more positive career decision states. To address these questions, the present study examined the extent to which neuroticism (as a basic dimension of personality involving negative feelings about self and the future), negative career thoughts, and ways of coping with these negative proclivities ultimately affect career decision states.Focusing on cognitive processes affecting career decision states, Sampson, Peterson, Lenz, Reardon, and Saunders (1998) developed the Career Thoughts Inventory (CTI) to assess and aid in addressing negative career thinking. Sampson et al. (1998) proposed specific connections between neuroticism, negative thinking, and coping behaviors, yet these connections have not been investigated in research. Beck, Rush, Shaw, and Emery (1979) pointed out that negative thinking often produces negative affect that can limit productivity in problem solving. The CTI has been positively correlated with neuroticism, indecision, and vulnerability. Therefore, individuals with higher CTI scores may bemore likely to experience negative affect, more susceptible to psychological distress, more prone to disruptive emotions that interfere with adaptation (e.g., career development tasks), more prone to irrational ideas (concerning career choice), less able to control their impulses, and less able to cope effectively with stress [emphasis added]. (Sampson et al., 1996b, p. 28).According to cognitive information processing theory (CIP; Peterson, Sampson, & Reardon, 1991), high levels of negative career thoughts may be related to less use of problem-oriented coping to achieve a positive career decision state. Moreover, Bullock-Yowell, Peterson, Reardon, Leierer, and Reed (2011) used a path model and found that career tension and neuroticism directly influence both negative career thoughts and career decision state. Building directly on this study, we sought in the present study to further advance knowledge about achieving a positive career decision state by investigating relationships between neuroticism, negative career thoughts, and coping strategies as antecedent variables.NeuroticismNeuroticism, a domain in the five-factor model of personality (Digman, 1990), is viewed as a fundamental trait underlying other personality characteristics. The heart of neuroticism is "the general tendency to experience negative effects such as fear, sadness, embarrassment, anger, guilt, and disgust" (Costa & McCrae, 1992, p. 14). This trait is also indicative of persons who are "prone to have emotional ideas, to be less in control of their impulses, and to cope more poorly than others with stress" (Costa & McCrae, 1992, p. 14). Not surprisingly, neuroticism is the personality variable that has received the most attention in the stress and coping literature (Gunthert, Cohen, & Armeli, 1999). The importance of considering personality in relation to career development has been regularly discussed and supported for many years (Costa, McCrae, & Holland, 1984; Holland, 1997). Therefore, career practitioners addressing the neuroticism personality trait may help clients attain a state of readiness for effective career problem solving and decision making.CopingResearch has provided support for connections between neuroticism and coping behavior. …