Kay Ennis

Date of Award

5-2002

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Abstract

Although the current trend in society is for full employment with all individuals having a job, companies continue to downsize. Workers in a transitional phase are often left with the extremely difficult task of career decision making when they are very often least prepared. This study examined the association between vocational self-efficacy, hope and depression with 28 (both female and male) unemployed people in career transition. Assessments were administered at an interview with the primary investigator. Participants completed the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-Il); (Beck, Steer & Brown, 1996) the Hope Scale; (Snyder, Harris, Anderson, Holleran, Irving, Sigmon, Y oshinobu, Gibb, Langelle & Harney, 1991) and the Career Decision Making SelfEfficacy Scale (COSE); (Betz & Taylor, 200 I). Three correlations and a multiple regression were used to analyze the data. Results indicated that greater hope scores were associated with greater vocational self-efficacy, while greater depression was associated with lower vocational self-efficacy. It was evident that hope and depression were inversely related. This implies the importance of future research closely examining each construct individually as well as the interactions. This strong association highlights the magnitude of importance that counselor training should apply to the understanding of hope, depression and vocational self-efficacy as well as their combined affects. As counselors practice, it becomes evident that vocational self-efficacy can be manipulated through elevation of hope and client empowerment.

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