This study assessed the relationship between emotional intelligence and decisional conflict styles. Five hundred and twenty-eight Italian high school students (median age = 18; SD = 0.76) were given the Melbourne Decision Making Questionnaire (MDMQ) and the Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory: short (Bar-On EQ-i:S). The "Intrapersonal"…

To analyze the conception of work and its relationship with the various indices of progress in career development, we administered a structured, open-ended questionnaire that explored beliefs about working among a sample of Italian high school students considering university options. Using both quantitative and qualitative methods, we found that…

Attempted to identify role of career exploration in the career decision making process using college student (N=103) subjects. Found internal search instrumentality beliefs to be associated with the planning phase of career decision making, and environmental exploration was predictive of vocational commitment. (Author/ABL)

Nearly a century ago, Frank Parsons established the Vocation Bureau in Boston and spawned the development of the counseling profession. Elaborating on Parsons's socially responsible vision for counseling, the authors examine contemporary perspectives on career decision making that include both rational and alternative models and propose that these…

Administered an individual differences measure of motivational and orientations and a multidimensional measure of exploratory activity and beliefs to undergraduate students (N=154). Canonical analysis yielded one significant canonical root which indicated autonony and control orientations were positively related to self-exploration and beliefs in…

Examined vocational hypothesis testing by applying Snyder's hypothesis-testing research paradigm to a vocational task in two experiments. Subjects (N=106) were asked to evaluate the appropriateness of a specific occupation for themselves. Subjects tended to exhibit confirmatory hypothesis-testing strategies when relevant occupations were…

Examined vocational decision-making style, contextual anxiety, and exploratory activity in 148 undergraduate students. Results suggest that individuals who rely upon thinking-oriented approaches to decisions and who experience stress with regard to the specific tasks of exploration are likely to engage in exploration of environment and, to lesser…

Examined the relationship between decision-making styles and vocational maturity with a focus on the current discrepancy between research and theory regarding the utility of rational decision making. Results were consistent across 177 community college students, in that a reliance upon the rational style was the only significant decision-making…

Examined why individuals engage in exploratory activity in late adolescence and early adulthood. College students (N=106) completed measures of goal instability, career decision-making self-efficacy, and environmental and self-exploratory activity. Results suggest that self-efficacious beliefs about career decision making and goal-directedness are…

Two studies examined psychological separation, parental attachment, and career development of college students. For women, attachment to and conflictual independence from both parents were positively related to progress in career choice commitment process, negatively related to tendency to foreclose. For men, attachment to, attitudinal dependence…

Correlational analysis of data from 134 undergraduates assessed the variance between career choice variables and decisional progress variables (vocational self-concept, commitment, readiness). Most significantly related to progress variables were exploration variables: amount of information and intended-systematic exploration. Congruence between…

Examined proposition that variations in career decision making are related to identity formation process by identifying relations between ego identity statuses and decision making in college students (N=99). Findings support proposition and suggest stable identity persons use rational and systematic decision-making strategies, foreclosed identity…

Examines the role of parent-adolescent attachment relationships in the career exploration process. Results, based on 137 college students, indicate that attachment to parents is positively associated with environmental exploration. However, parental attachment did not influence traditionality of exploration. Age played a significant role in career…

Administered measures of vocational maturity and career choice crystallization to 158 community college students. Used canonical analysis to identify relationships between age, gender, career choice crystallization, and vocational maturity. Analysis yielded one significant canonical root, indicating most shared variance between variables was…