Career assessment and the career decision-making self-efficacy scale

This article begins with a brief overview of the theories underlying the development of the Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy Scale (CDMSE; Taylor & Betz, 1983), specifically Bandura's self-efficacy (1977, 1986) theory and Crites's career maturity theory (1978). Research on the correlates and consequences of career decision-making self-efficacy is reviewed, especially that showing the strong relationships of career self-efficacy to career indecision and other indices of problems in career decision-making. This article also reviews the uses of the CDMSE in the design and evaluation of educational and counseling interventions designed to increase perceptions of self-efficacy in relationship to the process of career decision-making.