College Student Career Maturity: Relationships To Self-Concept And Locus Of Control

With the rapid growth of China's economy development, careers in the society have been changing in a significant and profound way, which causes an increasing employment pressure of college students. To investigate the career maturity status of college students and its correlation factors can make us learn more about their career psychological development characteristics, which will improve the effects and focus of career counseling and help college students to develop their own career planning and career decision capabilities to achieve their career goal.In this study, we investigated college student career maturity and its relationships to self-concept and locus of control. Subjects were 560 college students in Shanghai and Changzhou. Each student completed the following measures: Career Decision Making Self-Efficacy Scale, Tennessee Self Concept Scale, and Internality, Powerful Others, and Chance Scale.Conclusions were as following: (1) Gender difference was not significant in career maturity as indexed by all factors and total score. (2) Grade difference was found in career maturity as indexed by goal selecting and problem solving. Senior grades were much higher than junior grades. The total score was rising with the grades, but falling down slightly in senior year (the 4th year). (3) Major difference was found in career maturity as indexed by goal selecting, career planning and problem solving. (4) There was significant correlation between self-concept and career maturity. Career maturity increased from low self concept score group to high self-concept score group. There was significant difference among different levels of self-concept. (5) For both senior years and junior years, there was significant negative correlation between external locus of controls (chance and power others) and career maturity. (6) Self-concept and locus of control are predictors to career maturity to some extent.