Career Indecision, Anxiety, and Social Problem Solving: A Path Analytic Model.

While previous studies have correlated career indecision with state and trait anxiety in college students, most researchers have examined the relationship between anxiety and career indecision without considering other variables. This paper, incorporating previous research on career indecision, profiles a study of a causal model of career indecision based upon D'Zurilla's (1986) social problem-solving theory. The social problem-solving process portrays how an individual typically attends to and thinks about problems and assesses his or her problem-solving skills. For this study, researchers administered measures of trait anxiety, state anxiety, problem orientation, problem-solving skills, and career indecision to 120 students from a multiethnic, urban community college. Results indicate that anxiety can contribute to career indecision. Trait anxiety exerted a stronger indirect effect on career indecision than a direct effect while state anxiety was found to directly influence career ambivalence. Surprisingly, problem-solving skills did not modify career indecision when the other variables in the model were statistically controlled. Conclusions suggest that problem-solving training which focuses on helping the college student develop a positive problem orientation may be more effective in reducing career indecision than actual training in problem-solving skills. Included are two tables and three figures which present statistical summaries and model conceptualizations. (RJM)