Causal Relationship Between Career Indecision and Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy: A Longitudinal Cross-Lagged Analysis

Abstract

This study surveyed 166 students when they were in Grade 8 of high school, and then again when they were in Grade 10, using measures of career indecision and career decision-making self-efficacy. Consistent with social-cognitive theories we hypothesized that changes in self-efficacy over time would be causally associated with changes in career indecision over time. Using latent variable analyses, we estimated a two-wave, longitudinal cross-lagged panel design, and found that, contrary to expectations, changes in career decision-making self-efficacy did not result in changes in career indecision, despite significant contemporaneous associations at both times. Theoretical and applied implications are highlighted.