Vocationally mature coping strategies and progress in the decision-making process: A canonical analysis

It has been suggested that variation in the extent to which individuals possess vocationally mature coping strategies will differentially influence their progress in the process of completing specific decision-making tasks. Measures of vocationally mature coping strategies and progress on decision-making tasks were administered to 174 undergraduates. A canonical analysis was employed to identify the primary independent dimensions that relate the 2 sets of variables measured. Two significant canonical roots were extracted from this analysis. Results suggest that (a) the extent to which an S employed a planning orientation appeared to hinder or facilitate movement beyond the exploratory phase of making a decision about an occupation and (b) Ss who engaged in making decisions about college major or occupation and who did so without the benefit of decision-making skills and available resources were likely to devote excess effort in the prechoice portion of the decision-making process. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).