Relationships between vocational decision-making styles and career decision-making difficulties of low socio-economic status high school students in residential education

The purpose of the study was to investigate the degree to which vocational decision-making styles would enhance understanding of factors related to career decision-making difficulties of low socio-economic status (SES) residential high school students. The Career Decision-Making Difficulties Questionnaire (CDDQ) and the Vocational Decision Styles Indicator (VDSI) were the assessments used in the study. The study explored whether students with thinking-oriented and introverted styles or feeling-oriented and extroverted styles would score lower on a measure of career decision-making difficulties. The means did differ statistically significant. The feeling-oriented and extroverted style students scored higher on the CDDQ measure, which revealed there were more career decision-making difficulties concern for this group than the thinking-oriented and introverted style students who scored lower.;The study also examined the possible influence of gender and race on the career decision-making styles and difficulties measures. The comparisons for means of male and female students who completed the VDSI measure did not reveal any statistically significant differences for gender. The styles varied among males and females to the degree that no one style was exclusive to any particular gender. This finding was also consistent among racial groups where the Non-White and White students' styles did not differ significantly. Since the resulting t values did not achieve the level of significance required for this analysis, the potential confound of race and gender were ruled out for the VDSI measure.;However, the means did differ significantly on the CDDQ scales for gender. The findings revealed that the career decision-making difficulties reported by the students were lower for females than for males. As it relates to race, the differences that existed in the career decision-making difficulties measure were not race specific. The current findings suggest that the VDSI and CDDQ might be valid measurements of career decision-making difficulties and styles for low SES residential high school populations. Implications of these findings for residential education are discussed.