| Scope and method of study. The purpose of this study was to determine if participation in a career planning and decision-making course affects individuals' career indecision and self-concept. The career planning and decision-making course used was designed to help students gain a greater understanding of themselves in relation to the world of work and to help them in acquiring career planning and decision-making skills.; The subjects were 169 lower division university students from one southwestern comprehensive university. Subjects were students enrolled in ABSED 1112, World of Work and Sociology 1113, Introduction to Sociology. The subjects were divided into four groups with two groups being pretested and all groups receiving the posttest. The Tennessee Self Concept Scale and the Career Decision Scale were administered.; Findings and conclusions. An analysis of variance indicated that career indecision decreased significantly, F (1,165) = 8.794, p = 0.003 when students participated in the career planning and decision-making course. A second analysis of variance with the variable self-concept indicated a significant interaction affect between taking the career planning and decision-making course and pretesting, F (1,165) = 5.876, p = 0.016. Conclusions of the study are: (a) Participation in a career planning and decision-making course may play a vital role in retaining undecided students who often leave the university because they lack educational and career goals and (b) specific scales or aspects of self-concept may be more useful than a global self-concept score when instruments are administered over a relatively short time period. |
