The Career Decision Self-Efficacy Scale (CDSE) measures an individual's degree of belief that he/she can successfully complete tasks necessary to making significant career decisions. The CDSE consists of five subscales measuring the five Career Choice Competencies of John O. Crites' Theory of Career Maturity. The CDSE is available in both a 50-item form and a 25-item short form. It is strongly linked to positive educational and career decisional outcomes.
Copyright © 1993, 2012 by Nancy E. Betz & Karen M. Taylor
Features of the CDSE
Purpose: Measures confidence in ability to complete major career decision tasks
Length:
CDSE Original Form = 50 items
CDSE Short Form = 25 items
Average completion time:
CDSE Original Form = 15 minutes
CDSE Short Form = 10 minutes
Target population: Ages 16 and older
Administration: For individual or group administration
Uses of the CDSE
Scales
Self-Appraisal: The ability to accurately appraise one's own abilities, interests, and values as they related to educational and career decisions.
Occupational Information: The ability to locate sources of information about college majors and occupations, including the ability to identify and talk with people employed in the occupations of interest.
Goal Selection: The ability to match one's own characteristics to the demands and rewards of careers so as to identify one or more majors or careers to pursue.
Planning: Knowing how to implement an educational or career choice, including enrolling in educational programs, job search, resume writing and job interviewing.
Problem Solving: Being able to figure out alternative plans or coping strategies when plans do not go as intended.
Available with CDSE License to Administer:
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Betz, N. E. (1992). Counseling uses of career self-efficacy theory. Career Development Quarterly, 41, 22-26.
Betz, N.E., Hammond, M., & Multon, K . (2005). Reliability and validity of response continua for the Career Decision Self-efficacy Scale. Journal of Career Assessment, 13, 131-149.
Betz, N. E., Klein, K., & Taylor, K. (1996). Evaluation of a short form of the Career Decision Self-Efficacy Scale. Journal of Career Assessment, 4, 47-57.
Betz, N. & Luzzo, D. (1996). Career assessment and the Career Decision Self-Efficacy Scale. Journal of Career Assessment, 4, 313-328.
Crites, J. O. (1978). Career Maturity Inventory. Monterey, CA: CTB/McGraw Hill.
Crites, J. O. & Savickas, M. L. (1996). Revision of the Career Maturity Inventory. Journal of Career Assessment, 4, 131-138.
Niles, S. & Sowa, C. (1992). Mapping the nomological network of career self-efficacy. Career Development Quarterly, 41, 13-21.
Taylor, K. M. & Betz, N. E. (1983). Applications of self-efficacy theory to the understanding and treatment of career indecision. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 22, 63-81.
Taylor, K. M. & Popma, J. (1990). Construct validity of the career decision self-efficacy scale and the relationship of CDSE to vocational indecision. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 37, 17-31.
"Although the concept of self-efficacy expectations provided the primary theoretical basis for scale development, Crites' (1978) model of career maturity provided the original scale authors (Taylor & Betz, 1983) with a framework for deciding how to define and operationalize the skills required in career decision-making. More specifically, Crites (1978) in his model of career maturity hypothesized that "good" career decisions will be facilitated by competence with respect to five career choice processes and by mature versus immature attitudes regarding the career choice process. Because self-efficacy theory is defined in relationship to competence in specific behavioral domains, Crites' five career choice competencies were used to define the domain of interest, that of competent career decision-making. These five competencies and, subsequently, the subscales of the CDMSE, were:
1) accurate self-appraisal;
2) gathering occupational information;
3) goal selection;
4) making plans for the future; and
5) problem solving.
"Thus, the conceptualization and measurement of career decision self-efficacy involved the integration of two major theories, one originally stemming from clinical/social psychology and the other having its origins in counseling/vocational psychology.
-- Nancy E. Betz and Karen M. Taylor, Career Decision Self-Efficacy Scale Manual