Strategies for Coping With Career Indecision During the College-to-Work Transition: Concurrent and Predictive Validity

Abstract

The goal of the present research was to test a model of strategies for coping with career indecision during the college-to-work transition and its accompanied measure (the Strategies for Coping with Career Indecision–College-to-Work Transition Questionnaire [SCCI-CWTQ]), as predictors of career choice-related outcomes. Study 1 (N = 522) supported the psychometric properties of the SCCI-CWTQ in a sample of college seniors and confirmed the model’s hierarchical structure with three coping styles: productive, support-seeking, and nonproductive styles. Study 2 (N = 659) tested the concurrent and incremental predictive validity of the SCCI-CWTQ. The results showed that productive coping style was positively associated with a sense of coping efficacy, career decision status, and career choice satisfaction 1 year following graduation, whereas using a nonproductive coping style was negatively related to those outcomes and positively associated with career decisional distress. Theoretical as well as practical implications pertaining to career decision-making during the college-to-work transition are suggested.

Keywords

college-to-work transition productive coping style nonproductive coping style support-seeking coping style career indecision

The college years comprise a period when young adults are involved in extensive exploration of new options and in decisions about their future career without the pressures of having to commit to firm decisions (Lane, 2016). Thus, the senior year of college represents a critical developmental transition, during which individuals prepare to leave behind the freedom of the college experience and to establish their careers (Lane, 2016; Murphy, Blustein, Bohlig, & Platt, 2010). For some, this is a potentially empowering and challenging phase and an opportunity for greater responsibility, achievement, and fulfillment, while others may experience anxiety, a sense of stagnation, and feel threatened by uncertainty (Monteiro, Santos, & Goñalves, 2015; Wendlandt & Rochlen, 2008).

Lent and Brown (2013) proposed a social cognitive model of career self-management to identify adaptive career behaviors that individuals employ to help direct their own career development. These behavioral constructs are conceptually referred to career process skills, agentic competencies, self-regulation, and coping skills. Adaptive career behaviors are also related to Savickas’s (1997) notion of career adaptability, in that both concepts are concerned with positive functioning and resilience in the context of change, and thus provide a relevant conceptual framework for managing life role transitions. As the context of the current world of work is changing rapidly and is characterized by increased career opportunities along with decreased job security, career transitions have become more frequent (Nota & Rossier, 2015), and career decisions during an individual’s life span are more complex and stress evoking (Levin & Gati, 2014). Thus, effective use of coping skills can aid individuals to negotiate a variety of career transitions over time (Lent & Brown, 2013; Savickas, 2013; Schlossberg, 2011).

Despite a recent growing interest in literature regarding the college-to-work transition (e.g., Lane, 2016; Monteiro et al., 2015; Murphy et al., 2010), there is a lack of research pertaining to the role of strategies for coping with career indecision during this period. Hence, the aim of the present research was to learn about adaptive coping strategies during the college-to-work transition, in order to help young adults advance on a smoother trajectory into the workforce. To accomplish this goal, we adopted the rationale and constructs of the Strategies for Coping with Career Indecision (SCCI) model and questionnaire (Lipshits-Braziler, Gati, & Tatar, 2016) and adapted them to the college-to-work transition.

Coping With Career Indecision During the College-to-Work Transition

Career indecision, one of the central constructs in vocational psychology (Osipow, 1999), is typically defined in terms of the difficulties encountered by individuals in making career decisions (Amir & Gati, 2006); thus, career indecision is viewed as a stressful, anxiety-provoking experience (Creed, Hood, Praskova, & Makransky, 2016). Although the college-to-work transition is a normative life event (Schlossberg, 2011), many young adults experience career indecision upon graduating from college and entering the labor market. During this period, young adults may encounter transitions that involve sequential decisions and reevaluation of previous decisions (Murphy et al., 2010). Moreover, being aware of the long-term consequences of their decisions, a large proportion of college seniors experience career decision-making difficulties (Schoon & Silbereisen, 2009). For many seniors, starting their first job could be a stressful event (Dietrich, Jokisaari, & Nurmi, 2012; Wendlandt & Rochlen, 2008). Indeed, this transition is frequently associated with distress, fear, anxiety, and depression (Anderson, Goodman, & Schlossberg, 2012). Sociological, cultural, and structural differences between the college environment and the workplace may also contribute to the college-to-career transition strain (see Wendlandt & Rochlen, 2008, for a review). Given the stress and apprehension characterizing the college-to-work transition, a successful entry into the postmodern job market requires adaptive coping skills. This is particularly vital, considering the job market’s multiple and complex contexts, dynamics, and nonlinear causalities and settings (Santilli, Nota, Ginevra, & Soresi, 2014).

According to Anderson, Goodman, and Schlossberg (2012), the ability to adapt well to transitions depends on the perceptions and appraisals of resources, barriers, coping efficacy, and the transition’s outcome. Savickas (1997) posited that one’s ability to cope effectively with a variety of career-related challenges lies at the core of career adaptability. Lent and Brown (2013) suggested viewing career adaptability in terms of a collection of behaviors that can be learned rather than only as traits that people possess.

Recently, Lipshits-Braziler, Gati, and Tatar (2016) proposed a model of SCCI, whose major constructs and classification were extracted from previous theories for coping with stress (Frydenberg & Lewis, 1993; Skinner, Edge, Altman, & Sherwood, 2003). The SCCI model comprises 14 strategies subsumed under three major coping styles: productive, support-seeking, and nonproductive.

The productive coping style consists of six strategies that facilitate coping with career indecision: instrumental information-seeking, emotional information-seeking (reflecting efforts to reduce uncertainty related to the career decision-making), systematic problem-solving, flexibility in the decision-making process and willingness to make compromises, accommodation (focusing on the positive aspects of the decision), and self-regulation.

The support-seeking coping style comprises three strategies: instrumental help-seeking (seeking practical assistance), emotional help-seeking (seeking affective support), and delegation (shifting the responsibility for the decision to others). The nonproductive coping style consists of five strategies that hinder coping with career indecision: escape, helplessness, isolation, submission (focusing on the adverse features of career decision-making), and opposition (projecting the causes of one’s difficulties on others).

The SCCI model served as a basis for constructing the SCCI questionnaire. The model’s structure, as well as the construct and predictive validity of the SCCI questionnaire, was empirically tested in a series of studies with samples of young adults deliberating about their college major choice (Lipshits-Braziler, Gati, & Tatar, 2015, 2016, 2017; Perez & Gati, 2017). The results of these studies supported the model structure; however, delegation and emotional help-seeking strategies were found to be associated with nonproductive coping as well as support-seeking coping styles, whereas instrumental help-seeking was also associated with the productive coping style. In addition, it was found that nonproductive coping was the only style predicting career decision-related outcomes (e.g., career decision-making difficulties and career decision status).

As noted, SCCI was developed for and tested on young adults deliberating their major choice in college, whereas the present research’s main goal was to evaluate the SCCI model during the subsequent career task: college-to-work transition. We assume that decision-making during this transition is relatively complex, as it encompasses much uncertainty about the decisions’ outcome (Gadassi, Waser, & Gati, 2015) and necessitates a complex process of adjustment to a new organizational environment (Wendlandt & Rochlen, 2008).

The goals of the present research

The present set of studies aimed to test the SCCI model as it applies to the college-to-work transition. Specifically, in Study 1, we developed a measure of Strategies for Coping with Career Indecision - College-to-Work Transition Questionnaire (SCCI-CWTQ), an adapted version of the SCCI questionnaire, and examined its psychometric properties with a sample of college senior students (N = 522).

Study 2 tested the concurrent and predictive validity of the SCCI-CTWQ, using a new sample of 659 college seniors. Based on Schlossberg’s (2011) transition model and Lent and Brown’s (2013) social cognitive model of career self-management, the following career choice-related outcomes were chosen to test the concurrent validity of the model: (a) perceived decisional distress; (b) coping efficacy, denoting the confidence individuals have in their ability to execute various coping strategies and carry out a course of action designed to manage an external stressor (Bandura, 1997; Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 2000); and (c) degree of career decidedness. The predictive validity was tested against the degree of career choice satisfaction 1 year following graduation (N = 194), using career satisfaction as a criterion for adaptive college-to-work transition (Blustein, Phillips, Jobin-Davis, Finkelberg, & Roarke, 1997; Oliveira, Melo-Silva, Taveira, & Grace, 2016).

Study 1: The SCCI-CWTQ: Psychometric Properties and Confirmatory Factor Analysis

The SCCI-CWTQ is a version of the SCCI questionnaire adapted to the college-to-work transition context, comprising 14 subscales. For the first step in the adaptation process, the items of the SCCI questionnaire were modified, so that the revised items would reflect strategies for coping with indecision during the transition from college-to-work (e.g., “I’m putting off making a decision about what to do after graduation in the hope that the passage of time will make it easier”). Next, five graduate students in psychology and counseling who had experienced the college-to-work transition were provided definitions of the 14 coping strategies that were also adapted to the college-to-work transition context. They were asked to match the 42 modified items to these 14 categories. Three items that were misclassified by three or more judges were slightly revised. Finally, the psychometric properties of the SCCI-CWTQ and its factorial structure were tested in Study 1.

Method

Participants and Procedure

Participants were 565 seniors during the final semester before their graduation from an Israeli university. Participants were mostly Jewish and born in Israel. They were recruited via notices posted on Facebook and other student networks. They were invited to participate in a study concerning their “anticipated career plans after graduation”; in return, they would be entitled to immediate computerized feedback, describing their personal strategies for coping with indecision during the transition to the world of work. They were then requested to complete the questionnaire anonymously. The data of 43 (7.6%) participants were excluded from the analyses for several reasons: (a) 18 participants appeared to complete the questionnaire in a careless manner (i.e., two completed the SCCI-CWTQ in less than 160 s, and the response of 16 participants to the validity items were questionable) and (b) 25 participants did not meet the inclusion criteria of being a senior undergraduate student. Of the remaining 522 participants, 337 (65%) were women and 185 (35%) were men. The participants’ mean age was 25.8 (SD = 2.11), an age indicating that most had completed the mandatory military service in Israel (3 years for men and 2 years for women). Four hundred fifty-nine (88%) participants were born in Israel, 63 (12%) were born abroad, mostly from the Former Soviet Union; mean years since immigration was 22 (SD = 4.76). Of the participants, 35% were students in the humanities, 28% in social sciences, 5% in business administration or accounting, 17% in natural sciences, and 15% in life sciences and engineering.

Instruments

Demographic questionnaire

The participants were asked to report their age, gender, country of birth, year of immigration (if relevant), the university or college they were attending, their major/s, and their anticipated graduation date (month and year).

SCCI-CWTQ

The SCCI-CWTQ is comprised of 14 subscales, which represent three major styles of coping with career indecision during the college-to-work transition: productive coping (e.g., “To make the decision about what to do after graduation, I collect detailed information about occupations, workplaces, advancement opportunities, study programs, and the like”), support-seeking coping (e.g., “I consult with others about the steps I should take to properly make a decision about what to do after graduation”), and nonproductive coping (I’m postponing making a decision about what to do after graduation until later). Each of the 14 subscales comprises 3 items; in addition, 1 warm-up item and 2 validity items. The participants were asked to rate the degree to which each of the 45 items describes them on a 9-point Likert-type scale, ranging from 1 (does not describe me at all) to 9 (describes me very well). The 45 items of the SCCI-CWTQ are listed in Appendix A. The psychometric properties of the SCCI-CWTQ and its factorial structure are presented in the Results section.

Results

Psychometric Properties of the SCCI-CWTQ

The means, standard deviations, and Cronbach’s α internal consistency reliabilities of the 14 subscales of SCCI-CWTQ are presented in the left columns of Table 1. As can be seen, the reliabilities of the scales were adequate, considering the small number of items (three) per scale: The median Cronbach’s α was .88 (range .77 to .92). The Cronbach’s α reliabilities of the three major scales were high: .89, .92, and .89, for productive coping, support-seeking, and nonproductive coping, respectively. The median of the intercorrelations among the 14 subscales was .10 (interquartile range −.13 to .33), indicating that in general, there is a minimal overlap between the 14 coping subscales. In addition, we computed the correlations between each item and the 14 subscale scores (with the item excluded from its scale score). For all 42 items, the correlations between an item and its own subscale (median .75, interquartile range .70 to .80) were higher than the item’s correlation with any other subscale (median .09, interquartile range −.01 to .28).

Table 1.
Means, Standard Deviations, and Cronbach’s α Internal Consistency Reliabilities for the SCCI-CWTQ Scales and Subscales.

Scale/subscale Study 1 (N = 522) Study 2 (N = 659)

M SD Cronbach’s α M SD Cronbach’s α

Productive coping 5.68 1.18 .89 5.68 1.20 .88

instrumental information-seeking 5.56 2.00 .89 5.41 2.09 .89

emotional information-seeking 4.88 2.01 .91 4.73 2.09 .90

problem-solving 6.52 1.51 .77 6.30 1.64 .78

flexibility 5.92 1.71 .89 5.86 1.73 .87

accommodation 5.77 1.70 .82 6.11 1.70 .84

self-regulation 5.42 1.70 .81 5.66 1.74 .79

Support-seeking 4.70 1.73 .92 4.36 1.75 .92

instrumental help-seeking 5.66 1.90 .87 5.37 1.96 .85

emotional help-seeking 4.64 2.08 .88 4.18 2.10 .87

delegation 3.79 2.02 .90 3.55 1.99 .89

Nonproductive coping 3.99 1.42 .89 3.72 1.53 .90

escape 4.45 2.03 .82 4.16 2.18 .85

helplessness 4.47 2.11 .84 4.03 2.19 .85

isolation 3.54 2.09 .92 3.41 2.18 .92

submission 5.20 2.16 .83 4.83 2.30 .87

opposition 2.28 1.53 .88 2.17 1.55 .90

Confirming the Factor Structure of the SCCI-CWTQ

To directly test the fit of the sample data to the model (42 items–14 subscales–3 major coping scales), we conducted a confirmatory factor analysis, using the maximum likelihood model of estimation. Tests of normality for the SCCI-CWTQ items were acceptable (skew < 2.00, kurtosis < 7.00). The following indices were used to provide evidence for the model fit: χ² goodness-of-fit test (adjusted for df, χ²/df), root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA), comparative fit index (CFI), and standardized root mean square residual (SRMR). Good fit is indicated by an index value of .90 or above for the CFI, .08 or lower for the RMSEA, and .10 or lower for SRMR (Kline, 2005). The findings revealed that considering the model’s complexity, it had an acceptable fit, χ²(799) = 2,330.97, p < .001, χ²/df = 2.92, RMSEA = .061 (90% confidence interval [.058, .064]), CFI = .90, and SRMR = .10. These goodness-of-fit statistics were similar to those of the SCCI, as reported by Lipshits-Braziler et al. (2016), for both their Israeli and American samples of young adults deliberating about their majors.

All 42 items of the SCCI-CWTQ showed significant loadings (p < .001) on the 14 subscales (median loading = .84; interquartile range .78 to .87). For the productive coping style scale, the standardized second-order loadings were .88, .66, .81, .17, .61, and .59, for the instrumental information-seeking, emotional information-seeking, problem-solving, flexibility, accommodation, and self-regulation subscales, respectively. The loadings for the support-seeking style scale for the instrumental help-seeking, emotional help-seeking, and delegation subscales were .71, .86, and .74, respectively.

For the nonproductive coping style scale, the loadings for the escape, helplessness, isolation, submission, and opposition subscales were .70, .99, .41, .71, and .45, respectively. The loadings for nonproductive coping scale to the delegation and emotional help-seeking subscales were .21 and .27, respectively. The loading for the productive coping scale to the instrumental help-seeking subscale was .35. Moderate to low correlations were found between the three major coping scales: r = .30 (p < .001) between productive coping and support-seeking, r = .25 (p = .004) between support-seeking and nonproductive coping, and r = −.52 (p < .001) between productive and nonproductive coping.

In sum, it appears that SCCI-CWTQ has adequate psychometric properties including good internal consistency reliabilities. In addition, its structure is highly compatible with the SCCI-CWT model.

Study 2: Concurrent and Predictive Validity of SCCI-CWTQ

The aim of Study 2 was to test the concurrent and incremental predictive validity of SCCI-CWTQ. The concurrent validity was assessed during the second semester of the seniors’ final year in college (T1) by testing the associations between the SCCI-CWTQ and three career choice-related constructs—career decision status, career decisional distress, and career coping efficacy. Career decision status reflects the degree to which individuals have narrowed down the range of occupational alternatives they are considering (Gati, Kleiman, Saka, & Zakai, 2003). Career decision status is positively associated with career decision self-efficacy (Gadassi, Gati, & Wagman-Rolnick, 2013) and negatively associated with career decision-making difficulties (Amir & Gati, 2006).

Career decisional distress refers to the amount of distress individuals experience when choosing a career path, viewed as a consequence of negative career-related experiences (Creed et al., 2016). Career coping efficacy stems from the theories of adaptation to stress (Bandura, 1997; Lazarus & Folkman, 1984) and social cognitive career theory (Lent et al., 2000), indicating individuals’ subjective beliefs that they have the capacity to cope effectively with the task of making a career decision.

The incremental predictive validity of the SCCI-CWTQ was evaluated with a follow-up survey about 1 year after T1, assessing satisfaction from the career choice reported by those participants who were integrated in the world of work at T2, while controlling for the career decision status at T1. Career satisfaction is considered to be a positive outcome of career developmental processes (Savickas & Porfeli, 2012), as well as an indicator of career success (Oliveira et al., 2016). Previous research has also found that problem-focused coping was positively associated with job satisfaction (Chang & Edwards, 2015).

Based on the cited literature and the empirical evidence pertaining to the facilitative role of adaptive coping in career development (see Lent & Brown, 2013, for a review), we posed the following hypotheses:
Hypothesis 1: Productive coping style during the college-to-work transition will be positively related to career decision status, coping efficacy, and career choice satisfaction, as evaluated 1 year after graduation; however, productive coping style will be negatively associated with career decisional distress.

Hypothesis 2: Nonproductive coping style during the college-to-work transition will be negatively related to career decision status, coping efficacy, and career choice satisfaction, as evaluated 1 year after graduation; however, nonproductive coping style will be positively associated with career decisional distress.

Although the importance of relational support is pronounced in the career development literature (see Blustein, 2011, for a review), we had no specific hypothesis for the support-seeking coping style, since it was positively correlated with both the productive and nonproductive coping styles in Lipshits-Braziler et al. (2016).

Method

Participants

Participants comprised a new sample of seniors during the final semester before their graduation from an Israeli university. The initial sample for evaluating the concurrent validity of SCCI-CWTQ numbered 675 seniors. However, 16 participants were excluded from all analyses due to their responses on the validity items. The remaining 659 participants included 264 (40%) men and 395 (60%) women; their mean age was 26 (SD = 2.26). Five hundred seventy-six (87%) participants were born in Israel, whereas 83 (13%) were born abroad, mostly from the Former Soviet Union. The mean number of years since their immigration was 20 (SD = 5.63). Of the participants, 29% were students in the humanities, 35% in social sciences, 3% in business administration or accounting, 14% in natural sciences, and 19% in life sciences and engineering.

To test the predictive validity of SCCI-CWTQ, participants were asked at T1 if they would be willing to participate in a second survey, about 1 year later (T2). Of the 659 participants, 513 responded positively. However, only 259 (about 50%) completed the follow-up questionnaire at T2; of these, 194 reported that they were already employed. The remaining 65 (25%) reported that they were engaged in graduate studies. Thus, the final sample for testing the predictive validity of SCCI-CWTQ comprised the 194 working participants. Their occupations were diverse: business services, consulting, sales, and marketing fields (5%); science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) (17%); law and finance (14%); education (19%); health care and social assistance (16%); the remaining 29% of the participants worked in numerous other occupations (such as research and security services). Of the participants, 89 (46%) were men and 105 (54%) women. There were no indications of differences between the final T2 sample and those not responding at T2, with respect to age (p = .53), gender (p = .09), career decision status (p = .08), or scores on the SCCI-CWTQ subscales (all ps > .06). However, those responding at T2 reported lower decisional distress (p = .005, Cohen’s d = .23) and higher coping efficacy (p = .005, d = .22) than those who did not respond at T2.

Instruments

Career decision status

Career decision status was assessed by a version of the range of considered alternatives (RCA) question (Gati et al., 2003; Saka, Gati, & Kelly, 2008). The RCA is a self-report measure that assesses to what extent individuals have narrowed down the range of occupational alternatives they are considering. It was found to be related to progress in making a career decision (Saka et al., 2008). We used the version modified for the college-to-work transition (Gadassi et al., 2015). Participants were asked to choose one of the six statements that best described their career plans after graduation: (1) “I still do not know what I will do once I graduate,” (2) “I only have a general direction,” (3) “I am deliberating among a small number of specific alternatives,” (4) “I am thinking of a specific option, but I would like to explore other options before choosing,” (5) “I know what I want to do when I graduate, but I want to make sure that it is the most suitable option,” and (6) “I am sure of what I want to do once I graduate.”

Career decisional distress

To assess the degree of career decision-making distress that seniors encounter, a single-item measure (Lipshits-Braziler et al., 2016) was adapted to the context of the college-to-work transition. The participants were asked, “How stressful do you feel about the decision of what to do after graduation?”, and they responded on a 9-point Likert-type scale, ranging from 1 (not stressful at all) to 9 (very stressful). Lipshits-Braziler et al. (2016) found that the participants deliberating about their college major while reporting a high level of distress had higher nonproductive coping and support-seeking scores than those reporting a moderate level of distress. In the present sample, the level of decisional distress was negatively associated with the career decision status (r = −.36).

SCCI-CWTQ

The SCCI-CWTQ is described in Study 1; its psychometric properties for Study 2 are presented in the right columns of Table 1. As can be seen, the Cronbach’s α internal consistency reliability estimates of the 14 coping subscales in the present study were highly similar to those of Study 1: The median Cronbach’s α of the 14 subscales in the current study was .87, and the Cronbach’s α reliabilities of the three major scales were high: .88, .92, and .90, for productive coping, support-seeking, and nonproductive coping, respectively.

Career coping efficacy

To assess college seniors’ degree of coping efficacy with respect to their future career plans, we used a single-item measure. Participants were asked to indicate on a 9-point Likert-type scale, ranging from 1 (not effectively at all) to 9 (very effectively) how well, in their opinion, they can cope with the task of making a decision of what to do after graduation. In our sample, coping efficacy was positively associated with career decision status (r = .37).

Follow-up and career choice satisfaction survey

This questionnaire was developed for the present study. Participants were first asked to indicate their current employment status. Only those indicating that they were employed received the following four questions, assessing their career choice satisfaction: (a) “If you had to make a career decision again, would you make the same choice?,” (b) “To what extent is your current job compatible with your major at college?,” (c) “How satisfied are you with your job?,” and (d) “Do you see your future career as being in the same field as your current job?.” The 7-point Likert-type response scale for these four questions ranged from 1 (not at all) to 7 (very much). Pearson correlations between the responses to these four questions were quite high (median = .54), allowing aggregating these four questions into a single scale. The Cronbach’s α internal consistency reliability of this 4-item career choice satisfaction scale was .83.

Procedure

Undergraduate seniors were invited via student Internet networks to participate in a study about their “anticipated career plans after graduation.” Participation was on a voluntary basis, and the questionnaires were completed anonymously. At T1, participants completed the following questionnaires: demographic information, career decisional distress, career decision status, the SCCI-CWTQ, and coping efficacy. If an item was skipped, an alert signal was displayed, thus averting missing data. After completing the T1 questionnaires, participants were asked whether they were willing to engage in an online short follow-up study 1 year later. Those responding positively were invited a year later to complete the T2 follow-up survey, measuring satisfaction of their career choice. Each participant received a personal code, so that answers to the T1 and T2 questionnaires could be matched.

Results

Concurrent Validity of the SCCI-CWTQ

Table 2 shows means, standard deviations, and the Pearson correlations between the three major coping scales and the criteria. Three multiple regression analyses were conducted to assess the contribution of the three major coping scales to each of the following criteria: (a) career decisional distress, (b) coping efficacy, and (c) career decision status. The results of the multiple regression analyses are presented in Table 3. Together, the results support Hypotheses 1 and 2. Productive coping style predicted higher coping efficacy and more advanced career decision status, whereas nonproductive coping style predicted high decisional distress, and lower levels of both coping efficacy and career decision status. Support-seeking coping strategies did not predict any of the criterion variables.

Table 2.
Means, Standard Deviations, and Intercorrelations Between the Variables in Study 2 (T1: N = 659, T2: N = 194).

Variable M SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

1. T1 productive coping 5.68 1.20 —

2. T1 support-seeking 4.36 1.75 .26 —

3. T1 nonproductive coping 3.72 1.53 −.36 .29 —

4. T1 decisional distress 6.05 2.12 −.14 .20 .52 —

5. T1 coping efficacy 5.83 1.87 .56** −.09* −.67 −.41 —

6. T1 career decision status 3.28 1.63 .25 −.03 −.33 −.36 .37 —

7. T2 career satisfaction 4.81 1.37 .22** −.17* −.34 −.28 .37 .22 —

*p < .05. p < .01.

Table 3.
Regression Results for Career Choice-Related Outcomes in Study 2.

Predictor T1 Decisional Distress N = 659 T1 Coping Efficacy N = 659 T1 Career Decision Status N = 659 T2 Career Satisfaction N = 194

Productive coping .03 .39 .14** .17*

Support-seeking .04 −.05 .02 −.14

Nonproductive coping .52 −.52 −.29** −.20*

Adjusted R² .27 .57 .13 .10

F 83.43 289.13 32.54 7.98

Note. Standardized regression coefficients (β) are reported.

*p < .05. **p ≤ .001.

A more detailed analyses of three hierarchical regressions, in which the sets of productive and nonproductive coping subscales were the predictors, revealed that five of the subscales accounted significantly (after the Bonferroni correction, corrected α = .016) for the explained variance of the outcome criteria: accommodation (β = −.12, .25, and .19 for decisional distress, coping efficacy, and decision status, respectively), self-regulation (β = −.39, .51, and .13 for distress, coping efficacy, and decision status, respectively), escape (β = −.29 and −.26 for coping efficacy and decision status, respectively), helplessness (β = .29, −.38, and −.20 for distress, coping efficacy, and decision status, respectively), and submission (β = .28 and −.12 for distress and coping efficacy, respectively).

Incremental Predictive Validity of the SCCI-CWTQ

A hierarchical multiple regression analysis was conducted to test the unique contribution of the three major coping scales to the career choice satisfaction score, beyond that of the career decision status in T1. In Step 1, career decision status accounted for 4.8% of the variance of career choice satisfaction, F(1, 192) = 9.69, p = .002. Young adults who had a more advanced career decision status at T1 also reported greater career satisfaction 1 year later (β = .22, p = .002). In Step 2, the three major coping scales increased the accounted-for variance by additional 10.7% of career choice satisfaction (thus, the overall accounted-for variance in career choice satisfaction was 15.5%). However, career decision status was no longer a significant predictor (β = .12, p = .08). The results of the regression analysis are reported in Table 3, indicating that the productive and nonproductive coping strategies predicted career choice satisfaction 1 year after graduation, beyond the career decision status score. Specifically, the productive style predicted high career choice satisfaction, while nonproductive style was negatively associated with career choice satisfaction.

General Discussion

The college-to-work transition is a complex and stressful multilayer process rather than a simple one-time decision point (Dietrich et al., 2012; Monteiro et al., 2015). The current research tested the model of strategies for coping with career indecision during this transition (SCCI-CWT), with the aim of identifying adaptive coping strategies that might foster positive career choice-related outcomes during the transition. Savickas (2013) has suggested that the optimal period to test and monitor adaptive coping behaviors is during transition phases. Indeed, the model was tested with second semester senior undergraduate students, because the college-to-work transition begins, according to the literature, prior to the actual entry into the workforce (Wendlandt & Rochlen, 2008).

The findings of Study 1 confirmed, by means of a confirmatory factor analysis, the hierarchical structure of the SCCI-CWT model (42-14-3) and questionnaire, that were based on the structure of SCCI (Lipshits-Braziler et al., 2016). The SCCI-CWTQ scales and subscales had adequate psychometric properties, replicated also in Study 2. These findings support the adequacy of the SCCI-CWTQ as a reliable measure to map individual’s coping strategies during the college-to-work transition.

The findings of Study 2 offer some new insights regarding the association between coping strategies and career choice-related outcomes during this transition. Overall, the regression analyses indicated that coping styles significantly predict all four validity criteria and explain 13% of decision status, 10.7% of career choice satisfaction 1 year after graduation, 27% of decisional distress, and 57% of the coping efficacy. Specifically, greater utilization of productive coping strategies predicted a greater coping efficacy and higher levels of career choice satisfaction 1 year after graduation, as well as a more advanced career decision status. However, it is noteworthy that the standardized regression coefficients for the ability of productive coping to predict career decision status and career satisfaction were fairly low (.14 and .17, respectively). Although adaptive behaviors often correlate only modestly with career-related outcome variables due to contextual factors at play that exceed personal control, they still represent important means for individuals to pursue their career goals (Lent & Brown, 2013).

Using nonproductive coping strategies was positively associated with decisional distress and negatively associated with coping efficacy, career decision status, and career choice satisfaction after 1 year. Unlike the results of the SCCI model (Lipshits-Braziler et al., 2015, 2017; Perez & Gati, 2017), which showed that only the nonproductive coping style predicted career decision-related outcomes among young adults prior to their entering college, the current results demonstrated that during the college-to-work transition, productive strategies are also associated with adaptive career choice-related outcomes. These results are consistent with the notion suggested by the social cognitive model of career self-management (Lent & Brown, 2013) that positive decisional outcomes (reduced decisional anxiety or increased decidedness) are regarded as consequences of adaptive behaviors; the findings are also consistent with the career construction model (Savickas, 2013), thus underscoring the crucial role of available adaptive resources during career transition phases. Indeed, empirical evidence confirms that adaptive resources and strategies facilitate various types of stress-inducing transitions such as unemployment (Blustein, Kozan, & Connors-Kellgren, 2013) or retirement (Donaldson, Earl, & Muratore, 2010).

The current findings also suggest that the most prominent coping strategies that advance positive career choice-related outcomes during the college-to-work transition are accommodation and self-regulation (both reflecting positive thinking and emotional resilience; Skinner et al., 2003). Also highlighted were those strategies that impede a successful transition—escape, helplessness, and submission (reflecting pessimistic perceptions and anxiety-related responses; Skinner et al., 2003). The substantial role of emotional resilience (i.e., optimism, hope, and self-regulation) in adaptive coping is compatible with new initiatives emerging in social cognitive career theory (Brown, Lamp, Telander, & Hacker, 2012). On the other hand, anxiety-related responses were found as antecedents of career decision-making difficulties (e.g., Braunstein-Bercovitz, Benjamin, Asor, & Lev, 2012; Saka et al., 2008). Contrary to our expectations, strategies such as information-seeking or problem-solving did not emerge as significant predictors of the selected career choice-related outcomes. These findings are surprising, as these types of strategies have been highlighted as adaptive behaviors in the prominent career models (e.g., Lent & Brown, 2013; Savickas, 2013). Future research may include additional career-related outcomes for evaluating the adaptability of these type of strategies. It is also possible that these types of strategies indirectly relate to the career choice outcomes. For example, Pesch, Larson, and Seipel (2018) found that self-perceived knowledge and occupational information self-efficacy mediated between information-seeking activities and career certainty and satisfaction with college major.

The support-seeking coping strategy style did not predict any of the career choice-related outcomes. This may be explained by the fact that the support-seeking style is positively associated with both the productive (r = .26) and nonproductive styles (r = .29), thus implying it has both adaptive and nonadaptive features. On the one hand, the adaptive aspects may be grounded in the positive effects of relational support on career development (Blustein, 2011). Conversely, it may also reflect dependency components that could impede career development (Gadassi et al., 2013). In addition, it is possible that support-seeking plays a mediating role between the use of productive or nonproductive coping strategies and the career-related outcomes. Future research should investigate these issues.

Limitations and Implications for Future Research and Practice

While the results of the present research offer significant insight into the process of coping with career indecision during the college-to-work transition, some limitations should be considered. First, the model suggests causal relationships, but given the cross-sectional and correlative nature of the data, such causality was not tested directly. A longitudinal study could better substantiate the reasoned causality of the current research. In addition, due to the nature of the sample (Israeli college seniors who are on average older than graduates in many countries due to post–high school mandatory military or national service; Benjamin, Gati, & Braunstein-Bercovitz, 2011), caution should be exercised in applying insights for the universal college-to-work transition. Moreover, because we have focused on the experience of college undergraduates, who are considered a privileged social group, future research should also investigate the school-to-work transition of non-college-bound youth (Blustein et al., 1997). In addition, the relatively homogeneous samples—especially with respect to gender (predominantly female)—could limit the generalizability of the findings and may have comprised a factor in the instrument’s development. Furthermore, we did not control for some contextual factors, such as economic conditions, that may affect students’ coping behavior and their views of the transition period. Future research should strive for a more heterogeneous sample in terms of gender, age, socioeconomic, and ethnicity. In addition, while the response rate on the follow-up was only about 50%, the analyses indicated no differences in demographics, decision status, or SCCI-CWTQ scale scores between those participating in both Time 1 and Time 2 and those dropping out prior to Time 2. However, differences between T1 and T2 participants were found in measures of decisional distress and coping efficacy; thus, the attrition for the follow-up at T2 may have biased or otherwise affected our results. Finally, to minimize the time required for completing the questionnaires, some single-item measures were used to assess career choice-related outcomes. Although research has suggested that single-item measures possess sufficient validity when readily available cognitive constructs are measured (Rossiter, 2011), future studies are needed to further validate the scores for these measures.

The findings from the present research may have important theoretical and practical implications. Some of the SCCI-CWT model’s tenets could be incorporated into broader approaches to career development such as the career construction model (Savickas, 2013). Specifically, we suggest that the productive coping strategies identified in the current research may be regarded as career adaptive resources. Thus, the conceptual framework of the SCCI-CWT can contribute to the understanding of some of the desirable capacities, such as positive thinking and emotional self-regulation, which may function as psychological resources in achieving career adaptability.

In addition, the current findings have practical implications for career development and for career counseling during the college-to-work transition. The study’s conclusions could contribute to implementing interventions aimed at facilitating career decision-making during the transition phase. Given that effective entry to the workforce market is largely associated with prior knowledge and experience (Wendlandt & Rochlen, 2008), the SCCI-CWTQ may serve as a useful tool to assess coping strategies of college seniors. Identifying specific coping strategies pertaining to the decisions concerning the next career step may enable tailoring the content and the process of interventions to the specific needs of the clients and thus improve their skills for managing the transition and facilitate their integration in the labor market.

Summary

In the present research, we describe a theoretically based model of strategies for coping with career indecision during the college-to-work transition (SCCI-CWT) as a framework of an efficacious and a satisfying transition. This is in line with the career transition literature (e.g., Anderson et al., 2012) that underscores the value of a theoretically based framework as a guideline for structuring counseling interventions during transition phases. Based on our findings, and along with the principles of Schlossberg’s (2011) transition model, counselors can facilitate their client’s college-to-work transition by (a) identifying the coping strategies of their clients; (b) encouraging productive strategies, such as emotional self-regulation, and reframing the transition as a positive life challenge; (c) using techniques for reducing the distress involved in the college-to-work transition and in the use of nonproductive coping strategies such as escape, helplessness, and ruminative thinking; and (d) exposing college seniors to training programs and workshops that enhance coping skills required for an adaptive transition, now and in the future.

Scale/subscale	Study 1 (N = 522)	Study 2 (N = 659)
Productive coping	5.68	1.18	.89	5.68	1.20	.88
instrumental information-seeking	5.56	2.00	.89	5.41	2.09	.89
emotional information-seeking	4.88	2.01	.91	4.73	2.09	.90
problem-solving	6.52	1.51	.77	6.30	1.64	.78
flexibility	5.92	1.71	.89	5.86	1.73	.87
accommodation	5.77	1.70	.82	6.11	1.70	.84
self-regulation	5.42	1.70	.81	5.66	1.74	.79
Support-seeking	4.70	1.73	.92	4.36	1.75	.92
instrumental help-seeking	5.66	1.90	.87	5.37	1.96	.85
emotional help-seeking	4.64	2.08	.88	4.18	2.10	.87
delegation	3.79	2.02	.90	3.55	1.99	.89
Nonproductive coping	3.99	1.42	.89	3.72	1.53	.90
escape	4.45	2.03	.82	4.16	2.18	.85
helplessness	4.47	2.11	.84	4.03	2.19	.85
isolation	3.54	2.09	.92	3.41	2.18	.92
submission	5.20	2.16	.83	4.83	2.30	.87
opposition	2.28	1.53	.88	2.17	1.55	.90

Variable	M	SD	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
1. T1 productive coping	5.68	1.20	—
2. T1 support-seeking	4.36	1.75	.26**	—
3. T1 nonproductive coping	3.72	1.53	−.36**	.29**	—
4. T1 decisional distress	6.05	2.12	−.14**	.20**	.52**	—
5. T1 coping efficacy	5.83	1.87	.56**	−.09*	−.67**	−.41**	—
6. T1 career decision status	3.28	1.63	.25**	−.03	−.33**	−.36**	.37**	—
7. T2 career satisfaction	4.81	1.37	.22**	−.17*	−.34**	−.28**	.37**	.22**	—

Predictor	T1 Decisional Distress N = 659	T1 Coping Efficacy N = 659	T1 Career Decision Status N = 659	T2 Career Satisfaction N = 194
Productive coping	.03	.39**	.14**	.17*
Support-seeking	.04	−.05	.02	−.14
Nonproductive coping	.52**	−.52**	−.29**	−.20*
Adjusted R²	.27	.57	.13	.10
F	83.43**	289.13**	32.54**	7.98**

Footnotes

Appendix A

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Itamar Gati and Benny Benjamin for their helpful comments on an earlier version of this article. The authors also thank Dganit Avioz for her help in the measure adaptations.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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Scale/subscale	Study 1 (N = 522)			Study 2 (N = 659)
Scale/subscale	M	SD	Cronbach’s α	M	SD	Cronbach’s α
Productive coping	5.68	1.18	.89	5.68	1.20	.88
instrumental information-seeking	5.56	2.00	.89	5.41	2.09	.89
emotional information-seeking	4.88	2.01	.91	4.73	2.09	.90
problem-solving	6.52	1.51	.77	6.30	1.64	.78
flexibility	5.92	1.71	.89	5.86	1.73	.87
accommodation	5.77	1.70	.82	6.11	1.70	.84
self-regulation	5.42	1.70	.81	5.66	1.74	.79
Support-seeking	4.70	1.73	.92	4.36	1.75	.92
instrumental help-seeking	5.66	1.90	.87	5.37	1.96	.85
emotional help-seeking	4.64	2.08	.88	4.18	2.10	.87
delegation	3.79	2.02	.90	3.55	1.99	.89
Nonproductive coping	3.99	1.42	.89	3.72	1.53	.90
escape	4.45	2.03	.82	4.16	2.18	.85
helplessness	4.47	2.11	.84	4.03	2.19	.85
isolation	3.54	2.09	.92	3.41	2.18	.92
submission	5.20	2.16	.83	4.83	2.30	.87
opposition	2.28	1.53	.88	2.17	1.55	.90