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This article begins with a rationale for and review of parallel measures of self-efficacy (confidence) and interests for basic dimensions of vocational activity. Recent development of and research on the Expanded Skills Confidence Inventory, Campbell Interest and Skills Survey, Kuder Skills Assessment, and Inventory of Work-Relevant Abilities are described and reviewed. Research on the incremental predictive validity of these measures for understanding and for counseling uses is discussed. Numerous suggestions for further research and for career assessment are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the relationships of vocational interests and self-efficacy expectations, or confidence, to personality, as measured by the Personal Styles scales of the Strong Interest Inventory. The study also examined the extent to which confidence and personality measures contributed incrementally to the prediction of occupational group membership. In a sample of 1,103 adults employed in 21 occupations representing the complete Holland hexagon, confidence–personality relationships were very similar to interest–personality relationships found in previous research. Discriminant analyses indicated that both personality and confidence contributed incrementally to the prediction of occupational group membership, although the most powerful single predictor set was 14 basic confidence dimensions (e.g., science, public speaking, and writing) extracted through principal components analysis. There were substantial differences across the 21 occupations in their predictability and in the extent to which they were differentiated by personality variables versus confidence dimensions. Implications for further work on the intersections of vocational interests, confidence, and personality are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article begins by reviewing the scientific origins of research on career self-efficacy, highlighting its original development as a means of understanding the career development of women and discussing its development through the years into what is now, along with its extension as social cognitive career theory, a widely applicable major approach to the understanding and facilitation of the career development process. Concerns about current research efforts are discussed. The first is the tendency of researchers to overlook the fact that the concept of self-efficacy must be linked to a specific behavioral domain to have meaning. As a corollary, measures of self-efficacy expectations must be developed with careful and exact specification of the behavioral domain in question. Detailed suggestions are provided for the construction of such measures. A second major concern is the lack of familiarity of many researchers with the theory that underlies this work, in particular, Bandura’s theory and its elaborations. The article praises the extensive research attention given to these exceedingly useful theories (self-efficacy and social cognitive) and suggests that more careful attention to the theoretical underpinnings and issues of conceptualization and measurement would be beneficial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

These studies report the development and psychometric evaluation of a version of the Expanded Skills Inventory designed for use with high school students. The resulting inventory contains 14 eight-item scales measuring self-efficacy with respect to dimensions of vocational behavior comparable in specificity to the Basic Interest dimensions of the Strong Interest Inventory. The self-efficacy, or confidence, measures were internally consistent and were related to the appropriate Holland confidence theme and to parallel measures of vocational interest. Patterns of gender and ethnic group differences were generally consistent with previous research findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study, based on three samples of college students totaling 1,832 participants, resulted in the conclusion that a 5-level response continuum for the short form of the Career Decision Self-Efficacy Scale (CDSE)1 proved at least as reliable and valid as the 10-level continua used in normative studies. Values of coefficient alpha ranged from .78 to .87 for the 5-level continuum, in contrast to .69 to .83 for the 10-level continuum. Criterion-related validity correlations with career indecision and vocational identity were comparable for the two response continua. Validity with respect to the scales of the Career Decision Profile was examined, as was construct validity with respect to measures of hope, goal stability, and positive and negative affect. Overall, the study suggests the psychometric quality of the CDSE when 5-level response continua are used and adds to knowledge of the nomological network of the construct.1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The basic confidence scales of the Expanded Skills Confidence Inventory were evaluated using 715 college students. The scales were correlated as predicted with confidence for Holland's six vocational themes and with the basic interest scales of the Strong Interest Inventory. Discriminant analyses using educational aspirations and major and career preferences job families as dependent variables indicated that using both interests and confidence measures led to additional predictive power over either one alone. The more specific sets of scales accounted for the most variance. Data supported the hypothesis of more frequent occurrence of score patterns of higher interest but lower confidence relative to gender-nonstereotypic domains (e.g., mechanical for women and helping for men), thus suggesting the utility of efficacy theory-based interventions to broaden the range of career options. It is hoped that these findings will facilitate the use of parallel measures of interests and self-efficacy in research and career counseling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three inventories of self-efficacy or confidence with respect to the six Holland themes were compared in samples of European American and African American college students. Results indicated that the reliabilities of all subscales were sufficiently high for use in research and that all subscales were as reliable for African Americans as for European Americans. There were significant gender differences in confidence levels but few race differences. A multitrait-multimethod analysis indicated differential degrees of convergent and discriminant validity and the presence of method variance across the scales examined herein. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes how interests and self-efficacy constructs contribute to a better understanding of career behaviors and goals. Specifically, the Strong Interest Inventory and the Skills Confidence Inventory instruments are reviewed and research is presented to illustrate their combined theoretical utility. Examples of how collectively to apply these tools in career assessment are presented. Finally, areas for future research are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]