Date of Award

12-1-2003

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Counseling Psychology & Community Services

Abstract

The relationship of hardiness to career transition resources was examined. Hardiness scores were obtained through the use of the Cognitive Hardiness Scale (CHS)(Nowack, 1996) and transition resources were measured by the Career Transitions Inventory (CTI) (Heppner, Multon, & Johnston, 1994). The study included 120 male and female adult participants from multiple settings (primarily from a local university, technical college, and job agency) who had a career transition in the last 15 months. Most participants had experienced multiple career-related changes. The general hypothesis for this study was that certain constructs measured by the CTI correlate with hardiness (the Personal Control factor of the CTI with the element of control in hardiness; the Readiness and Confidence factors of the CTI with the challenge element in hardiness: and the Independence and Support factors of the CTI with the commitment element in hardiness). Additional hypotheses were that people who underwent a voluntary career transition would score more highly on the CTI and the CHS than people who experienced an involuntary career transition.

The data were analyzed through correlations, MANOVA, and factor analyses. Hardiness scores were positively correlated (ranging from r = .298 to .616, p = .01) with four subscales of the CTI: Readiness, Confidence, Control, and Support. CHS and CTI scores were not affected by type of career transition. While CHS and CTI scores correlated to some extent, the main factor analysis did not reveal the hypothesized overlaps between the CTI subscales and the CHS elements. Instead, one large factor emerged that lent some support for the conceptualization of hardiness as a career transition resource. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

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