The validity of the Career Maturity Inventory as a measure of career maturity among first-year community college students in Southwestern Virginia

This study sought to determine the extent to which the five dimensions of career choice attitudes, depicted in Crites Model of Career Maturity in Adolescence, are present in the Attitude Scale of the Career Maturity Inventory when used with first-year, full-time community college students in rural Appalachia. Also, the study sought to identify those variables from theorized correlates of vocational maturity which are predictors of the maturation of vocational attitudes. The basic objectives of the investigation were to: (1) obtain information on the validity of Career Maturity Inventory (Attitude Scale) as a measure of the career maturity of first-year, full-time community college students in an Appalachian setting and (2) to obtain an indication of the relationships between measured career maturity and choice competencies, academic ability and demographic variables of the subject population.

The subjects were 322 first-year, full-time students enrolled in orientation courses at four community colleges in Southwestern Virginia during the Fall of 1975. A principal factor analysis of the subjects' responses on the Attitude Scale was used to determine the dimensionality of the scale. Pearson product-moment correlations were used to determine the extent of the relationships between the level of career maturity and academic ability and demographic variables. One-way analysis of variance was used to test the significance of mean differences between group performance on the Attitude Scale.

The oblique principal factor analysis revealed six dimensions of career choice attitudes for first-year, full-time community college students in Southwestern Virginia. These six dimensions were labeled: Puzzeled, Fatalistic, Personal Criteria, Persuasion/Conviction, Non-Committal and Decision-Making. Additionally, the principal factor analysis did not explicate dimensions with associated sample items designed by the developers to measure the five hypothesized dimensions of career choice attitudes.

The significant relationships (at least .05 level) of the individual factor scores from the oblique six principal factor solutions with total scores on the three Competence Tests lent credibility to the six factor solution. Significant relationships were found between career maturity and race (.01) and career maturity and academic ability (.01). No significant relationships (at least .05 level) were found between sex and career maturity, career education program participation and career maturity, program area (occupational-technical and college transfer) and career maturity, academic motivation and career maturity, and socioeconomic status and career maturity. Diversity of goals and socioeconomic levels did not appear to affect group performance on the Attitude Scale.

It has been assumed that the Attitude Scale pertains to the dispositional and response tendencies of middle-class senior high school students but failed to address similar tendencies of first-year community college students in rural Southwestern Virginia. Additionally, the Attitude Scale does not appear to have the utility of a "checkpoint" in the career/vocational development of first-year community college students in this Appalachian setting. Conclusive evidence of the predictive nature of other theorized variables affecting the maturational aspect of vocational attitudes were not obtained. The potential uses of the Attitude Scale suggest further investigations with other populations should be undertaken.