Dimensions of Career Indecision Among Puerto Rican CollegeStudentsDanya CorkinConsuelo ArbonaNicole ColemanRomilia RamirezJournal of College Student Development, Volume 49, Number2, March/April 2008, pp. 1-15 (Article)Published by The Johns Hopkins University PressDOI: 10.1353/csd.2008.0015For additional information about this article Access Provided by University Of Houston at 01/15/11 3:36AM GMThttp://muse.jhu.edu/journals/csd/summary/v049/49.2corkin.htmlMarch/april 2008 ◆ vol 49 no 2 81Dimensions of Career Indecision Among Puerto Rican College StudentsDanya Corkin Consuelo Arbona Nicole Coleman Romilia RamirezThe purpose of this study was (a) to explore the factor structure of a Spanish version of the Career Decision Scale (CDS; Osipow, Carney, Winer, Yanico, & Koschier, 1976) with Puerto Rican college students, (b) to examine the relation of trait anxiety to the identified dimensions of career indecision, and (c) to explore differences in anxi-ety and career indecision dimensions between career undecided students and subgroups of career decided students. Participants were 337 under-graduate students enrolled at a major private university in Puerto Rico. An exploratory factor analysis with the items of the Spanish CDS yielded four factors similar to those identified with the original CDS. In addition, results indicated that the identified dimensions of career indecision were positively associated with anxiety and that college students who presented as career decided were a heterogeneous group. The findings suggested that the Spanish version of the CDS may be a valid instrument to assess antecedents of career indecision among Hispanic college students and that some college students who identify themselves as career decided may benefit from career counseling interventions. High school graduates and college students often experience career indecision. In 2001, 11.1% of ACT-tested high school seniors indicated that they were undecided about their college major and career aspirations, an increase of 1.5% within a 5-year period (ACT, 2001). Once they enroll in college, about 50% of students change majors at least once (Kelly & White, 1993, as cited in Orndorff & Herr, 1996), and many students who visit university counseling centers request help with career decision-making issues (M. S. Lucas & Berkel, 2005). Despite these statistics, in recent years research related to career indecision among college students has declined (Kelly & Lee, 2002), and it is particularly scarce among ethnic minority students. Flores et al. (2006) found that less than 7% of career-related research articles published in the last three decades focused on the career concerns of racial and ethnic minorities. Research that addresses culturally appropriate career development models and interventions among college students seems essential given that university populations are becoming increasingly diverse (M. S. Lucas & Berkel; Swanson & Fouad, 1999). Demographers have projected that by 2010 Hispanics will comprise 15.5% of the U.S. population (U.S. Census Bureau, 2004). From 2004 to 2005, Hispanics were the fastest growing minority group in the U.S., with a 3.3% increase in this period (U.S. Census Bureau, 2006). Despite these changing demo-graphics, no studies were located that addressed the dimensions of career indecision among Spanish-speaking students. Career development theories propose that both interpersonal and contextual factors, including family and culture, influence individuals’ career behaviors and outcomes. It is possible that members of various ethnic groups differ in the type of career barriers they Danya Corkin is a master student in Counseling; Consuelo Arbona is Professor of Counseling Psychology; Nicole Coleman is Assistant Professor of Counseling Psychology; and Romilia Ramirez is an Assistant Professor of School Psychology; each at the University of Houston.82 Journal of College Student DevelopmentCorkin, Arbona, Coleman, & Ramirezencounter. Researchers also have proposed that adherence to cultural values such as collectivism and individualism may be associated with the level of anxiety individuals experience in relation to career indecision (Constantine & Flores, 2006; Mau, 2004). However, in order to address those questions, it is necessary to examine the adequacy of career assessment instruments across ethnic and language groups (Leong & Hartung, 2000). Two frequently used strategies to assess the cross-cultural adequacy of translated instru-ments are to examine their structural and concurrent validity (Leong & Hartung, 2000). Consistent with this tradition, the purpose of this study was to examine (a) the factor structure of a Spanish version of the Career Decision Scale (CDS; Osipow, Carney, Winer, et al., 1976) with college students in Puerto Rico and (b) to what extent Puerto Rican college students exhibited the expected relation of anxiety to career indecision. Puerto Ricans are the second largest Hispanic group in the U.S. Because they are American citizens, Puerto Rican migrants easily and frequently move from the island to the mainland and back (Arbona & Virella, in press). Therefore, findings related to dimensions of career indecision and anxiety with college students in Puerto Rico may be useful in understanding the career concerns of Spanish-speaking Puerto Ricans living in the U.S.Dimensionality of Career IndecisionThe CDS, one of the most widely used instruments to assess career indecision, was developed to assess antecedents of career indecision that would be useful in guiding interventions to help clients resolve indecision problems and in evaluating the outcomes of such interventions (Osipow, Carney, & Barak, 1976). In their seminal study, Osipow, Carney, and Barak (1976) identified four dimensions of career indecision based on a factor analysis of the CDS items. The first dimension, labeled Lack of Structure, describes a lack of experience and confidence in dealing with career decision making. External Barriers, the second dimen-sion, represents a need for further support or world of work information to make a decision. The third dimension, labeled Approach–Approach Conflict, captures the problem of having to choose from several