EFFECTIVENESS OF A CAREER TIME PERSPECTIVE INTERVENTION

The present study tested the effects of a time perspective interventio n designed to increase an individual's orientation to the future. Beca use a future orientation constitutes a fundamental dimension in career choice attitudes and competencies, the intervention should, in additi on to increasing future orientation, foster career development. Accord ingly, the outcome measures addressed both future orientation (i.e., t emporal continuity and optimism about the achievability of future goal s) and career planning (i.e., planful attitudes and planning outcomes) . The intervention was administered, separately, to two groups of tent h-grade students and two groups of college freshmen. The experimental groups, when compared to control groups, exhibited statistically signi ficant increases in future orientation as they improved their sense of continuity between the past, present, and future and enhanced their o ptimism about the future. The intervention produced its largest effect size (.77) for more highly developed attitudes toward career planning among the experimental group. The intervention, however, did not imme diately affect the quality of the students' planning outcomes. (C) 199 8 Academic Press.