The Relation of Negative Career Thoughts to Depression and Hopelessness

Although some research literature focuses on the integration of mental health and career counseling, there has been little that examines both areas in relation to depression and hopelessness. This study investigated the relationship among dysfunctional career thinking, depression, and hopelessness in a sample of 139 undergraduate and graduate students seeking drop‐in or individual career counseling services at a university career center. The authors found that two aspects of dysfunctional career thinking, decision‐making confusion and commitment anxiety, accounted for a significant amount of variance in depression. Decision‐making confusion also accounted for a significant amount of variance in hopelessness. Implications for counseling practice include the need for more careful screening of career clients who present with high levels of anxiety and negative thinking. Future research could involve more diverse client populations, such as unemployed adults, and explore the use of additional screening measures to assess the intersection of career and mental health issues.     

Impact of Dysfunctional Career Thoughts on Career Decision Self‐Efficacy and Vocational Identity

This study examined the mediating role of dysfunctional career thoughts in the relationship between career decision self‐efficacy (CDSE) and vocational identity (VI). For this purpose, the data were collected from 446 Korean college students. The authors used the Hayes ( 2013 ) PROCESS tool to analyze the data. The results showed that CDSE positively correlated with VI, whereas all 3 types of dysfunctional career thoughts negatively correlated with CDSE and VI. The results also indicated that all 3 subscales of dysfunctional career thoughts partially mediate the association between CDSE and VI. We provide implications and limitations of the findings.     

Attachment Style and Dysfunctional Career Thoughts: How Attachment Style Can Affect the Career Counseling Process

This article examines the relationship between attachment style, measured by Experiences in Close Relationships‐Revised (R. C. Fraley, N. G. Waller, & K. A. Brennan, 2000), and dysfunctional career thoughts, measured by the Career Thoughts Inventory (CTI; J. P. J. Sampson, G. W. Peterson, J. G. Lenz, R. C. Reardon, & D. E. Saunders, 1994a). Two hypotheses related to attachment style and dysfunctional career thoughts were tested with 46 adult immigrants (17 men, 29 women). Results show that both attachment anxiety and avoidance were significantly related to scores on the CTI; increased attachment avoidance also significantly correlated with decision‐making confusion and external conflict. Implications of the relationship between attachment style and dysfunctional career thoughts for the career counseling process are discussed.     

Family‐of‐Origin Influence on Career Thoughts

The family can exert an important influence on career decision making. This study investigated the impact of adaptability and cohesion in family‐of‐origin relationships on dysfunctional career thoughts in 269 college students (221 women, 48 men). The Career Thoughts Inventory and the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Scales–IV were used to assess family dynamics and dysfunctional career thoughts. The study addressed the following research question: What is the impact of family cohesion and adaptability in the participant's family of origin on dysfunctional career thoughts, specifically decision‐making confusion, commitment anxiety, and external conflict? Results revealed that higher levels of family cohesion were associated with lower levels of decision‐making confusion, commitment anxiety, and external conflict and that higher levels of family adaptability were associated with lower levels of external conflict.     

The Influence of Career Planning on Career Thoughts in STEM‐Interested Undergraduates

Undergraduate career planning courses have shown efficacy in decreasing students’ negative career thoughts; however, universities have minimally applied these courses to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) populations. This study compared the influence of a STEM‐focused career planning course for undecided STEM students with a seminar course for decided STEM majors. An analysis of covariance with covariate adjustment revealed that undecided career planning students had lower adjusted mean scores on a measure of negative career thinking than the decided STEM majors after the first semester of college. The results provide support for the efficacy of STEM‐focused career planning courses and measuring negative career thoughts with STEM undergraduates.     

The Role of Thinking Styles in Career Development Among Chinese College Students

Thinking styles define individuals' marked preferences in how they learn about or process information. This study considered the function of collecting and processing information in career exploration and decision making, and examined thinking styles as a predictor of career decision‐making difficulties (CDMD) and career exploration as a mediator of this relationship. Chinese college students (N = 463) responded to measures of thinking styles, career exploration, and CDMD. Results partially supported the contribution of thinking styles to career exploration and CDMD. Type I styles, characterized as more creativity‐generating, positively predicted career exploration and negatively predicted CDMD. Type II styles, characterized as more norm‐favoring, positively predicted CDMD. Partial mediation was supported in the link between Type I styles and lack of information through career environment exploration. The benefits of type styles should be highlighted for career guidance and counseling among Chinese college students and should be validated in different cultural contexts.     

A Cognitive Career Course: From Theory to Practice

A university career development course based on cognitive information‐processing theory was assessed. Students who took the course showed a significant decrease in their negative career thoughts when the Career Thoughts Inventory (J. P. Sampson, G. W. Peterson, J. G. Lenz, R. C. Reardon, & D. E. Saunders, 1996a) was used as a pretest and posttest measure. The greatest decrease in negative thinking was found in students with the highest level of negative thinking at the beginning of the course. The specific components of negative career thinking—decision‐making confusion and commitment anxiety—contributed significantly to the main effect. There were no significant interactions with ethnicity or sex.     

Trauma Symptoms: Relationship With Career Thoughts,Vocational Identity,and Developmental Work Personality

Knowledge of traumatic events and how trauma symptoms relate to social and psychological well‐being continues to grow. One aspect of an individual's functioning that may be affected by exposure to traumatic events is the ability of the individual to engage in career‐ and work‐related activities (D. H. Coursol, J. Lewis, & L. Garrity, 2001). The current study examines the relationship between trauma symptoms and the career development process of 131 college students. Results indicate a significant relationship between higher levels of trauma symptoms and higher levels of dysfunctional career thoughts and lower levels of work personality. Implications for career counselors are discussed.     

A Study of Clinical Change in Individual Career Counseling

This study examined the clinical significance of career counseling effects. Participants were 111 university students (83% women) who participated in individual career counseling sessions at their university. All participants completed the French version of the Outcome Questionnaire–30.2 (OQ‐30.2; Lambert, Finch, Okiishi, & Burlingame, 2005) immediately before the 1st session (pretest) and at the beginning of the last session (posttest). The OQ‐30.2 assesses 3 client life domains: subjective discomfort, problems in interpersonal relationships, and problems in social role satisfaction. Using Jacobson and Truax’s (1991) statistical approach to assessing clinical change, the authors compared clients’ pretest OQ‐30.2 scores with their posttest scores. Among clients with a “dysfunctional” score (n = 59) at the study’s inception, 34% recovered and 14% improved, whereas 41% of clients with functional scores (n = 52) at the study’s inception improved. The results suggest that individual career counseling can make a difference in the lives of many clients; they also highlight the importance of further outcome research that accounts for possible variability in clients’ responses to career counseling.     

Explaining Career Decision‐Making Self‐Efficacy: Personality,Cognitions, and Cultural Mistrust

The authors explore the hypothesis that career decision‐making self‐efficacy could be affected by negative career thoughts, Big Five personality factors, and cultural mistrust in a sample of African American and Caucasian college students. Findings demonstrated that negative career thinking, openness, and conscientiousness explained a significant amount of variance in career decision‐making self‐efficacy in a general sample of college students, but no unique variance was explained by cultural mistrust in a sample of African American college students.     

Career Competencies for Career Success

This article addresses the general question as to which competencies employees need to possess in order to engage in self‐management in their career development. The authors distinguished and operationalized 6 career factors and competencies of self‐management in career development. A quantitative study was performed using 1,579 employees in 16 Dutch companies to investigate the relationship between career competencies and career success. The results indicate that, among others, the factors career control and networking are strongly associated with career success. The results are discussed with respect to the facilitation organizations can provide for their employees' career actualization.     

Mindfulness and Decision‐Making Style: Predicting Career Thoughts and Vocational Identity

Mindfulness has been a focus of psychological research and practice in recent decades. Yet, there is limited research on the relationship between mindfulness and vocational decision‐making. This study’s purpose was to examine the role of mindfulness in a career context by investigating the relationships among mindfulness, decision‐making style, negative career thoughts, and vocational identity. The sample included 258 undergraduate students (204 women, 54 men) at a large southeastern U.S. university. Mindfulness was significantly (p < .01) associated with fewer negative career thoughts, external and thinking‐based decision‐making styles, and higher vocational identity. Multiple regression procedures found that mindfulness, coupled with decision‐making style, accounted for 31% of the variance in negative career thoughts and 22% of the variance in vocational identity. These findings suggest that more holistic career counseling interventions could incorporate mindfulness techniques to help reduce anxiety and negative thoughts while increasing self‐clarity and problem‐solving skills. Future research could include more diverse samples, additional constructs (e.g., choice volition, self‐efficacy), and a pretest–posttest design to examine the efficacy of mindfulness‐based career interventions.     

An Examination of the Relationship Between Career Thoughts and Communication Apprehension

This study examined relationships among dysfunctional career thoughts and levels of communication apprehension. Undergraduate students, 88 women and 87 men, completed the Career Thoughts Inventory (CTI; J. P. Sampson, G. W. Peterson, J. G. Lenz, R. C. Reardon, & D. E. Saunders, 1996) and the Personal Report of Communication Apprehension (PRCA‐24; J. C. McCroskey, 1984b). Analysis of correlation coefficients found significant mild‐to‐moderate correlations among scales of the CTI and the PRCA‐24. The results indicated that individuals with average and high levels of communication apprehension had greater decision‐making confusion, commitment anxiety, and external conflict than persons with low levels of communication apprehension. Implications for counseling and further research are discussed in light of these results.     

Relationships Among Career and Life Stress,Negative Career Thoughts,and Career Decision State: A Cognitive Information Processing Perspective

According to cognitive information processing theory, career thoughts mediate the relationship between career and life stress and the ensuing career decision state. Using a sample of 232 college students and structural equation modeling, this study found that an increase in career and life stress was associated with an increase in negative career thinking and that an increase in such thoughts was associated with a lower level of decidedness and satisfaction with career choice. However, when the variation associated with negative career thoughts was partitioned in the mediated causal model, career and life stress became associated with less career indecision and dissatisfaction with career choice. The results suggest that counselors attend to negative career thoughts when individuals encounter career and life stress.     

A Moderated Mediation Model of Planned Happenstance Skills,Career Engagement,Career Decision Self‐Efficacy,and Career Decision Certainty

This study examined how college students’ levels of planned happenstance skills influenced the relationships among career engagement, career decision self‐efficacy, and career decision certainty. Moderated mediation analysis was used with a sample of 217 Korean undergraduate students. The results indicated that career decision self‐efficacy mediated the relationship between career engagement and career decision certainty. Moreover, the positive indirect effect of career engagement on career decision through career decision self‐efficacy was strengthened as the level of planned happenstance skills increased. In conclusion, college students’ career engagement strengthens their career decision certainty via career decision self‐efficacy when they have enough planned happenstance skills to discover unexpected career opportunities.     

Dysfunctional Career Thoughts and Perceived Quality of Parental Relationships in Adolescents With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is known to cause significant difficulties in interpersonal relationships. Empirical research in career development has demonstrated that close, supportive relationships are associated with positive vocational behaviors (Kenny et al., 2018). We examined dysfunctional career thoughts and perceived quality of parental relationships in high school students with ADHD. One hundred two adolescents (76 boys, 26 girls) with ADHD responded to measures of career thoughts and interpersonal relationship quality. Preliminary exploratory analysis, using multiple linear regression, showed that male participants' dysfunctional career thoughts were statistically significantly related to their relationships with their mothers. For female participants, relationships with fathers represented an area for further exploration. Results suggest that career professionals can enhance positive outcomes of decision-making and problem-solving issues in adolescence with additional focus on relational interventions. Future research should incorporate the influence of gender and race/ethnicity on crucial relationships and focus on paternal relationships using cognitive information processing–based interventions with this population.     

Self‐Focused Attention and Career Anxiety: The Mediating Role of Career Adaptability

The purpose of this study was to examine how 2 forms of self‐focused attention, self‐reflection and self‐rumination, influence career anxiety. The authors hypothesized that the association between these 2 types of self‐focused attention and career anxiety would be mediated by career adaptability on the basis of a career construction model of adaptation. The participants were 326 undergraduate students in South Korea. The results of this study supported the hypothesized mediation model by indicating significant indirect effects of self‐reflection and self‐rumination on career anxiety via career adaptability. The direct effect of self‐rumination on career anxiety was significant (B = .44, p < .01), but the direct effect of self‐reflection on career anxiety was not significant (B = –.05, p > .05). The authors discuss implications for counselors to help college students manage career anxiety by encouraging and supporting increased career adaptability. Future research to examine the cross‐cultural validity of the current findings is needed.     

Career Engagement: Investigating Intraindividual Predictors of Weekly Fluctuations in Proactive Career Behaviors

This study applied a microlevel perspective on how within‐individual differences in motivational and social‐cognitive factors affected the weekly fluctuations of engagement in proactive career behaviors among a group of 67 German university students. Career self‐efficacy beliefs, perceived career barriers, experienced social career support, positive and negative emotions, and career engagement were assessed weekly for 13 consecutive weeks. Hierarchical linear regression analyses showed that above average levels of career engagement within individuals were predicted by higher than average perceived social support and positive emotions during a given week. Conversely, within‐individual differences in self‐efficacy, barriers, and negative emotions had no effect. The results suggest that career interventions should provide boosts in social support and positive emotions.     

Affect in Daily Career Decision Self‐Efficacy and Career Choice Anxiety

The authors investigated the impact of emotional intelligence on 2 career decision variables: daily career decision self‐efficacy and daily career choice anxiety. They also examined the mediating effects of daily positive affect on these variables. At baseline, 103 Korean undergraduate and graduate students completed questionnaires about emotional intelligence. Using a daily diary method, the authors also collected data on participants’ daily positive affect, daily career decision self‐efficacy, and daily career choice anxiety for 21 consecutive days. Hierarchical linear model analyses indicated that emotional intelligence predicted daily career decision self‐efficacy and daily career choice anxiety. These findings suggest that fostering emotional intelligence and daily positive affect could help students determine their future career. For individuals experiencing difficulty in the career decision process, counselors may foster career decision self‐efficacy and reduced career choice anxiety via enhancing clients’ emotional intelligence and daily positive affect.     

Rural Latino Youth Career Development: An Application of Social Cognitive Career Theory

This study used social cognitive career theory (Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994 ) to investigate the career development of 9th‐grade students living in 2 rural communities with large numbers of Latino immigrants. Participants (55.3% Latino) responded to measures of vocational skills self‐efficacy, career decision outcome expectations, career aspirations, and barriers to postsecondary education. Contrary to previous findings, results indicated that Latino students in these communities reported higher self‐efficacy beliefs than did White students. Latino students also reported higher perceived barriers, but this did not seem to relate to their career aspirations. Results suggest that school and career counselors should focus on programming that attends to Latino students' self‐efficacy and outcome expectations, as well as efficacy for overcoming barriers. Doing so could prove useful for increasing career achievement among rural Latino youth.