The Career Thoughts Inventory (CTI) in Research and Practice

 

Stacie H. Vernick

Center for the Study of Technology in Counseling and Career Development

October 11, 2000

 

            The purpose of this document is to provide an up-to-date analysis of what we have learned about the Career Thoughts Inventory through the findings of various research studies.  The negative career thoughts of a variety of populations have been studied, and several correlates to dysfunctional career thoughts have been identified. This document includes the following:

 

·        Overall Summary of CTI Research to Date
Learn about correlations to dysfunctional career thoughts and obtain further evidence of the convergent validity of the CTI.

 

·        CTI Research Study Summary Table
Learn key points about research samples, variables, measures, designs, analyses, findings, and implications of studies employing the CTI.

 

·        References
Identify citations used in this document.

 

There is undoubtedly a great deal of research that remains to be conducted on both the construct of dysfunctional career thoughts and the CTI.  The future will hopefully bring additional studies on the topic, and perhaps a clearer overall picture of the nature of dysfunctional career thoughts.

Overall Summary of CTI Research to Date

            A variety of research studies to date have evaluated the use of the Career Thoughts Inventory with different populations in an effort to determine correlations between dysfunctional career thoughts and various psychological constructs.  Such correlations add to both an understanding of the career and mental health constructs that are associated with dysfunctional career thoughts and to the convergent validity of the CTI.

 

Initial Research

In the development of the CTI, Pearson Product Moment correlation coefficients were calculated between this measure and other assessments of related constructs for adult, college student, and high school student normative groups (Sampson, Peterson, Lenz, Reardon, & Saunders, 1996).  All correlations were in the hypothesized direction, and ranged from minimal associations to high correlations.  On the one hand, vocational identity, lack of information needs, lack of barriers, certainty, decidedness, comfort with choice, self-clarity, knowledge about occupations and training, and decisiveness were inversely correlated with CTI measures of dysfunctional career thoughts (CTI Total), decision-making confusion, commitment anxiety, and external conflict.  On the other hand, indecision, neuroticism, anxiety, angry hostility, depression, self-consciousness, impulsiveness, and vulnerability, were directly correlated with dysfunctional career thoughts, decision-making confusion, commitment anxiety, and external conflict as measured by the CTI (Sampson, et al., 1996).

 

Subsequent Research

            A number of research studies have subsequently been conducted with the CTI that contribute to our understanding of vocational behavior as well as providing further evidence of the instrument’s convergent validity.  Dysfunctional career thoughts have been found to be positively correlated with the inability to choose a major field of study for undecided college students (Kilk, 1997), self-appraised problem-solving ability for substance abusers (Slatten, 1999), perfectionism and career indecision (Osborn, 1998), state anger (as measured by the total score on the CTI only) (Strausberger, 1998), ego identity (Voight, 1999), and depression and career indecision (Saunders, 1997).  Dysfunctional career thoughts have been found to be differentially correlated with work status among women from low SES who are not seeking employment, women pursuing their GED prior to seeking employment, and women with disabilities, all of whom were involved in readiness to work programs (Strauser, Keim, & Ketz, 2000).  Dysfunctional career thoughts have been found to be negatively correlated with having a learning disability and positive adjustment to disability by college students (Dipeolu, 1997).  No significant correlations were found between the overall construct of dysfunctional career thoughts (as measured by CTI total scores) and offender status (Railey, 1997) or level of career decidedness and satisfaction with occupational choice (Wright, 2000).  There have been no significant correlations identified between dysfunctional career thoughts and first term academic performance of undecided college students (Durbin, 2000), or indices of interest structure associated with the RIASEC typology (Wright, Reardon, Peterson, & Osborn, 2000).  Interested readers may see individual studies for correlations between sub-scales of the CTI (Decision-Making Confusion, Commitment Anxiety, and External Conflict) and the psychological constructs described above.  Descriptions of the research sample, variables, measures, design, analyses, findings, discussion, and implications for each study can be found in the CTI Research Summary Table.

CTI Research Summary Table

Researcher

Sample

Variables

Measures

Design/Analyses

Dipeolu, A. O.

·         153 college students with learning disabilities

·         Registered with the Student Disability Resource Center at Florida State University

·         Dysfunctional career thoughts (decision-making confusion, commitment anxiety, external conflict)

·         Adjustment to disability

·          Career Thoughts Inventory (CTI)

·         Reaction to Impairment and Disability Inventory (RIDI) (revised)

·         Criterion Group Design

·         Correlational Design

·         Analysis of Variance

·          Pearson Correlational Analysis

Durbin, K. A.

·         962 college students at Florida State University

·         FTIC (first-time-in-college) freshmen that had declared an undecided major

·         Negative career decision-making thoughts

·         First term academic performance

·         Pre-college academic performance

·         Career Thoughts Inventory (CTI)

·         Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT)

 

·         Correlational Design

·         Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Matrix

·         Multiple Regression Analysis

Kilk, K. L.

·         346 freshman and sophomore students at the University of Northern Colorado

·         Enrolled in general education and elective lower division courses

·         Field of study status

·         Class level

·         Career course participation status

·         Career Thoughts Inventory (CTI)

·         Factorial Design

·         Analysis of Variance

Osborn, D. S.

·         123 undergraduates at Appalachian State University

·         Students enrolled in various sections of Introduction to Psychology, Introduction to Sociology, or beginning Communications classes

·         Perfectionism

·          Dysfunctional career thoughts

·         Career indecision

·         Occupational Alternatives Question (OAQ)

·          Career Thoughts Inventory (CTI)

·         Career Decision Scale

·          Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (FMPS)

·          State-Trait Inventory-Form Y

·         Correlational Design

·         Multiple Regression Analyses

Railey, M. G.

·         92 female felons

·         Ages 18-54

·         Incarcerated in Florida’s correctional system

·         Dysfunctional career thoughts (decision-making confusion, commitment anxiety, external conflict)

·         Career interest structure (congruence, commonness, differentiation, consistency, coherence)

·         Offender status (first-  time offender, probationer, repeat offender)

·         Self-Directed Search

Form R (SDS)

·         Career Thoughts Inventory (CTI)

 

·         Criterion Group Design

·         Multivariate Analysis of Variance

·         Tukey Post Hoc Procedure

·         Chi Square Contingency Analysis

Researcher

Sample

Variables

Measures

Design/Analyses

Saunders, D. E.

·         215 beginning college students

·         Enrolled in Introduction to Psychology

·         Career indecision

·         Depression

·         Dysfunctional Career Thoughts

·         Secondary variables:

·         Vocational identity

·         Locus of control

·         State anxiety

·         Trait anxiety

·          Career Decision Scale (CDS)

·          Occupational Alternatives Question (OAQ)

·          Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)

·          Career Thoughts Inventory (CTI)

·          My Vocational Situation (MVS)

·          State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI)

·         Rotter’s I-E Scale

·         Correlational Design

·         Multiple Regression Analyses

·          Pearson Correlational Analysis

Slatten, M. L.

·         100 individuals

·         Ages 17-52

·         80% treated in an inpatient residential substance abuse treatment program

·         20% in an intensive outpatient substance abuse setting

·         Dysfunctional career thoughts (decision-making confusion, commitment anxiety, external conflict)

·         Age

·         Self-appraised problem-solving ability (problem-solving confidence, approach-avoidance, personal control)

·         Career Thoughts Inventory    (CTI)

·         Problem-Solving Inventory (PSI)

·         Shipley Institute of Living  Scale (Shipley)

·         Correlational Design

·          Pearson Correlational Analysis

·          Multiple Regression Analyses

Strausberger, S. J.

·         123 beginning Florida State University students

·         Enrolled in the course SDS 3340:  Introduction to Career Development

·         State and trait anger

·          Dysfunctional career thoughts

·         Vocational identity

·          State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI)

·          Career Thoughts Inventory (CTI)

·          My Vocational Situation (MVS)

·         Correlational Design

·          Pearson Correlational Analyses

Strauser, D. R., Keim, J., & Ketz, K.

·         108 women receiving job placement services in a community-based program

·         54 women pursuing their GED and subsequent employment

·         25 women with disabilities

·         29 women of low SES (no plans to pursue employment in the immediate future)

·         Dysfunctional career thoughts

·         Group status (disabled, low SES, GED)

·          Career Thoughts Inventory (CTI)

·         Multiple Analysis of Variance (MANOVA)

·         Post-hoc Tukey Analyses

Voight, L.

·         131 university students

·         Enrolled in undergraduate psychology courses

·         Parental attachment

·         Ego identity status

·         Career identity

·          Parental Bonding Inventory (PBI)

·          Extended Objective Measure of Ego Identity (EOMEIS)

·          Career Thoughts Inventory (CTI)

·          Career Confidence Scale (CCS)

·         Correlational Design

·          Multivariate Analysis of Variance

Wright, L. K.

·         239 college students

·         Enrolled in psychology courses at a large public western university

·         Self-efficacy

·         Interests

·         Career dysfunctional thinking

·         Career decidedness

·         Satisfaction with occupational choice

 

·          Skills Confidence Inventory (SCI)

·          Self-Directed Search (SDS)

·          Career Thoughts Inventory (CTI)

·          Occupational Alternatives Questionnaire (OAQ)

·          The Satisfaction Item

·         Co-relational Design

·         Multiple Regression Analyses

Wright, L. K., Reardon, R. C., Peterson, G. W., & Osborn, D. S.

·         81 volunteer clients seeking services at a career center in a large southeastern university

·         48 female clients, 33 male clients, ranging in age from 18 to 40 years (mean age of 21 years)

·         RIASEC typology structure (including secondary constructs)

·         Dysfunctional career thoughts

·          Career Thoughts Inventory (CTI)

·          Self-Directed Search  Computer Version (SDS:CV Form R)

·         Correlational Design

·         Pearson Correlational Analyses

·         Canonical Correlational Analysis

·         Canonical Redundancy Analysis

References

 

            Dipeolu, A. O. (1997). A study of the relationship between learning disabilities, dysfunctional career thoughts, and adjustment to disability (Decision-making confusion, commitment, conflict, anxiety, career thoughts inventory) (Doctoral dissertation, Florida State University, 1997). Dissertation Abstracts International, 58(07), 3938B.

 

            Durbin, K. A. (2000). The relationship between negative career thoughts and the first term academic performance of undecided college students. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Florida State University.

 

            Kilk, K. L. (1997). The relationship between dysfunctional career thoughts and choosing an academic major. (Doctoral dissertation, University of Northern Colorado, 1997). Dissertation Abstracts International, 58(08), 3038A.

 

            Osborn, D. S. (1998). The relationships among perfectionism, dysfunctional career thoughts, and career indecision. (Doctoral dissertation, Florida State University, 1998). Dissertation Abstracts International, 59(10), 3746A.

 

            Railey, M. G. (1997). The relationship between dysfunctional career thoughts and career interests with respect to offender status of female inmates and probationers. (Doctoral dissertation, Florida State University, 1997). Dissertation Abstracts International, 58(06), 3325B.

 

            Railey, M. G. and Peterson, G. W. (2000). The assessment of dysfunctional career thoughts and interest structure among female inmates and probationers. Journal of Career Assessment, 8(2), 119-129.

 

            Sampson, J. P., Jr., Peterson, G. W., Lenz, J. G., Reardon, R. C., & Saunders, D. E. (1996). Career Thoughts Inventory: Professional manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc.

 

            Saunders, D. E. (1997). The contribution of depression and dysfunctional career thinking to career indecision. (Doctoral dissertation, Florida State University, 1997). Dissertation Abstracts International, 58(07), 3953B.

 

            Slatten, M. L. (1999). Dysfunctional career thoughts and self-appraised problem-solving ability among substance abusers. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Florida State University.

 

            Strausberger, S. J. (1998). The relationship of state-trait anger to dysfunctional career thinking and vocational identity (Doctoral dissertation, Florida State University, 1998). Dissertation Abstracts International, 59(10), 3747A.

 

            Strauser, D. R., Keim, J., & Ketz, K. (March 2000). Presentation at the American Counseling Association Conference, Washington, D.C.

 

            Voight, L. (1999). Parental attachment and ego identity as antecedents of career identity. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Florida State University.

 

            Wright, L. K. (2000). The effects of self-efficacy, interests, and dysfunctional career thoughts on level of career decidedness, and satisfaction with occupational choice. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Florida State University.

 

            Wright, L. K., Reardon, R. C., Peterson, G. W. & Osborn, D. S. (2000). The relationship among constructs in the Career Thoughts Inventory and the Self-Directed Search. Journal of Career Assessment, 8(2), 105-117.