CONSTRUCT-VALIDITY OF CAREER INDECISION - NEGATIVE PERSONALITY-TRAITSAS PREDICTORS OF CAREER INDECISION

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the construct validit y of career indecision by examining its relationships to selected nega tive personality traits (perfectionism, self-consciousness, and fear o f commitment) among 217 college students. It was hypothesized that car eer indecision would be positively and significantly associated with p erfectionism, self-consciousness, and fear of commitment. As predicted , fear of commitment was a strong predictor of career indecision. Two of the three dimensions of perfectionism were also predictive of caree r indecision: Self-oriented perfectionism was a significant negative p redictor of career indecision, whereas socially prescribed perfectioni sm was positively predictive of career indecision. However, other-orie nted perfectionism was not predictive of career indecision. As was tru e of perfectionism, two of the three dimensions of self-consciousness were predictive of career indecision: Private self-consciousness was a positive predictor of career indecision, and social anxiety was a neg ative predictor. Public self-consciousness was not a significant predi ctor of career indecision. The implications of the findings for career counselors and for future research are discussed.