the_career_maturity_inventory-revised_a.pdf

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The Career Maturity Inventory–Revised: A Preliminary Psychometric Investigation

Louis A. BusaccaBrian J. TaberKent State University

The primary purpose of this study was to obtain estimates of internal consistencyreliability, as well as to examine evidence of the construct and criterion validity of the Career Maturity Inventory–Revised (CMI-R) in a sample of male and female

high school students. Results found modest reliability for the CMI-R. Participantsscoring higher in CMI-R attitudes appear ready to make wise and congruent occu-pational choices. Sex and grade differences showed that females tended to mani-fest more career mature responses than did males across grade levels. Additionalresearch on item functioning and on the factor structure underlying the invento-ry is suggested.

Keywords: Career maturity, career guidance, career development, careereducation, career assessment, adolescence

Crites’s major contribution to the field of vocational psychology and careercounseling was his efforts to clarify the distinction between career choice contentand career choice process. Evolving from the Career Pattern Study (Super et al.,

1957), Crites (1974b) introduced these two dimensions of vocational decisionmaking during adolescence. The content dimension referred to which occupa-tion a student or client should enter and focused on interests and abilities. Within this dimension, Crites distinguished between two subdimensions: consis-tency of vocational choice and realism or wisdom of vocational choice.Consistency deals with the development of stability and coherence in an indi-vidual’s occupational preferences. Wisdom deals with the development of fitbetween one’s occupational preferences and their interests, abilities, and experi-ences. The process dimension was categorized into two group factors: careerchoice Attitudes and career choice Competencies. Crites defined choice Attitudes as dispositional response tendencies that mediate both choice behaviorsand competencies. Choice Competencies were defined as comprehension andproblem-solving abilities that pertain to vocational decision making, primarilycognitive processes. In 1973, the Career Maturity Inventory (CMI) was con-

JOURNAL OF CAREER ASSESSMENT, Vol. 10 No. 4, November 2002 441–455DOI: 10.1177/1069072702238406© 2002 Sage Publications

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442 JOURNAL OF CAREER ASSESSMENT / November 2002

structed to measure the process dimension subsumed by the Competencies and

Attitudes group factors in Crites’s model of vocational development.In 1978, Crites developed and published a revision of his 1973 CMI. The

Career Maturity Inventory–Attitude Scale (Crites, 1978b) was a product of numerous research studies and refinement to Crites’s (1965) early model of voca-tional development in adolescence. It was also the first paper-and-pencil measureof vocational development. The CMI–Attitude Scale was available in two forms:Counseling Form (B-1) and a revised Screening Form (A-2). The CounselingForm included 25 new items to the original 50-item Attitude Scale. This allowedfor the construction of Attitude Scale subscales: Decisiveness, Involvement,Independence, Orientation, and Compromise. These attitude variables involve aplanning orientation that was a primary dimension of the choice process in Superet al.’s (1957) Career Pattern Study. Crites recommended using the AttitudeScale for studying career development, screening for career immaturity, evaluat-ing career education, assessing guidance needs, and testing in career counseling(Crites, 1978a). The CMI Counseling Form also contains five competency vari-ables: self-appraisal, occupational information, goal selection, planning, andproblem solving. Crites recommended using the Competence Tests in the sameway as the Attitude Scale scores (Crites, 1978a).

The rationale for the construction of the CMI has been that any measure of adevelopmental variable must be systematically related to time (Crites, 1961).More specifically, it has been assumed that because development was usuallyinterpreted as a unidirectional irreversible process (Super & Overstreet, 1960),the form of relationship to time should be a generally upward or downward

curve. Accordingly, items have been selected for the CMI only if they increase ordecrease with time, the most meaningful index of which has been grade inschool (Crites, 1974a). As evidence of the construct validity of the CMI, Crites(1965, 1973) reported a monotonic increase in scores on each part of the instru-ment as a function of grade and age levels. Likewise, Herr and Enderlein (1976)reported an increase in test scores as a function of age and grade levels, and dif-ferences in test scores related to sex. Alvi and Khan (1983) found moderate evi-dence regarding monotonic increase in career choice attitudes and significant sexdifferences in the Competence Test scores in favor of females. From this line of work, vocational theorists and researchers have increasingly directed their atten-tion to testing in relation to the status of an individual on various dimensions of the process of choice. However, the use of career process measures to assist ado-

lescents with their career development has diminished since the inception of theCMI in the early 1970s.

Rationale for the Revision of the CMI

In 1995, Crites and Savickas found it necessary to revise the 1978 edition of the CMI. Their purpose for revising the CMI Attitude Scale and Competence


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Busacca, Taber / CAREER MATURITY INVENTORY–REVISED 443

Test was more practical than theoretical (Crites & Savickas, 1996). The 1995

CMI was designed to make it more relevant and usable in counseling, careerdevelopment programs, and the overall process of career choice. Over the years,users of the 1978 edition of the CMI had identified five drawbacks in its appli-cation: (a) excessively long administration time, (b) restricted applicability topostsecondary students and employed adults, (c) limited usefulness of the sub-scales in differential diagnosis of career choice problems, (d) circumscribed useof item responses in counseling interventions, and (e) incompleteness in scoringoptions. In addition to the aforementioned drawbacks, several reasons can be pro-posed for a decreased interest in application: (a) dated norm groups, (b) absenceof practitioner-oriented literature for use in career education and experientialactivities, and (c) apprehension with the negative implications of the words career maturity and evaluative connotations of maturity (Savickas, 1997).

The CMI Revised (CMI-R) was derived from the 1978 edition of the CMI.Item selection was based on previously unpublished longitudinal data, whichaugment the original cross-sectional data (Crites & Savickas, 1996). The CMI-R includes content appropriate for use with high school students, as well as for usewith postsecondary adults. This edition was also revised to include items that arefree of ethnic, racial, and gender bias. The subscales of the Attitude Scale and theCompetence Test from the 1978 edition have been eliminated due to lower thandesirable reliabilities. Therefore, the CMI-R provides only three scores: AttitudeScale, Competence Test, and Career Maturity Total. The authors selected fiveitems from each of the 1978 subscales to comprise the CMI-R Attitude Scale. Asa result, the Attitude Scale is much shorter and consists of only 25 diverse state-

ments. The 25-item CMI Attitude Scale creates an overall score (1-25) for careermaturity attitudes. The CMI-R also includes a substantial revision to theCompetence Test. The authors selected various items from the 1978Competence Test to comprise the CMI-R Competence Test. This componentconsists of only 25 revised and new items with each item written as a brief narra-tive. The 25-item Competence Test creates an overall score (1-25) for careermaturity competencies. The CMI-R also included changes in the response for-mat. The previous edition used a true (T) and false (F) response format, where-as the revised edition uses an agree (A) and disagree (D) response format.Because the items in the CMI-R were selected from the 1978 CMI, Critesassumed they would have the same validity as the items in the previous edition.However, no psychometric data on the validity and reliability of the CMI-R have

been published to date.Measures of the process of career development have been shown to relate to

measures in content of career development. Career maturity is a prerequisite tothe ability to make wise and realistic occupational choices. Subsumed within thecontent dimension of Crites’s model includes realism of career choice, or theagreement of the individual’s aptitudes, interests, and personality characteristicswith those required by the chosen occupation (Crites, 1989). Viewed as a devel-opmental operationalization of Super’s vocational self-concept, the process of an


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individual implementing his or her self-concept into an occupation is mediated

through the resources of career mature attitudes and competencies (Savickas,1984). For example, adolescents who possess a clear and stable occupational self-concept may not be career ready. These individuals may lack life experiences andpersonal inclinations to make a fitting occupational choice. On the other hand,individuals with wisdom for a career choice would anticipate their potential inthe desired occupation, feel committed toward fulfilling their occupational planor decision, and perceive that occupation as fitting into their desired lifestyle(Hershenson, 1964). Crites (1989) noted that as “adolescents become more real-istic in their career decision making as they mature” (p. 145). Therefore, it wouldfollow that the more career mature an individual is, the more he or she wouldchoose an occupation that is realistic and incorporates with his or her self-concept .Significant correlations between Crites’s 1973 edition of the CMI and vocation-al aspirations (Bathory, 1967) and realism in career choice (Hollender, 1964)have been found with secondary school students. Gasper and Omvig (1976)conducted the only available investigation of this relation and found a limitedPearson correlation between students’ career maturity, as measured by the 1973CMI, and occupational plans scores of 11th-grade students as measured by theOccupational Plans Questionnaire (OPQ) (Hershenson, 1964).

Due to the potential usefulness of the CMI-R in career guidance, preliminarydescriptive and psychometric data on the inventory are necessary to begin theprocess of examining the soundness of the measure. Therefore, the primary pur-pose of this study was to investigate the internal consistency reliability of theCMI-R in a sample of male and female high school students. In addition, the

study investigated the construct and criterion validity of the CMI-R scales by test-ing two theory-derived hypotheses: (a) that scores on measures of career maturi-ty should increase across the high school years and (b) that measures of careermaturity attitudes and competence should relate to measures of progress incareer planning.

METHOD

Participants

A convenience sample of 157 (72 males, 85 females) 9th through 12th gradestudents at five public high schools in Northeast Ohio was obtained for this study.Of these, 29.3% were in Grade 9, 24.8% in Grade 10, 26.1% in Grade 11, and19.7% in Grade 12. The participants’ ages ranged from 14 to 19 (M = 16.07, SD= 1.18). The subject pool consisted of 87.9% Caucasians, 7.6% African Americans, 2.5% Asian Americans, and 1.9% biracial. The educational track con-sisted of 95.5% academic, 3.2% vocational, and 1.3% special education.


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Procedure

The participants completed measures of career maturity, occupational fit, anda brief demographic questionnaire for collecting information about grade,school, sex, age, race/ethnicity, and educational track. Data collection took placein the five schools during spring of the academic school year, over the course of 2 weeks. Teachers were given the opportunity to volunteer to include their stu-dents in the study. Instructions were read to all participants by the principal inves-tigator. All measures were administered at each school by the principal investi-gator with the participation of school counselors and faculty staff.

Instruments

OPQ. The OPQ is a 23-item measure of fit between occupational preferencesand self-concept of the respondent, or realism of choice (Hershenson, 1964) is.First, the individual is asked to describe, as specifically as possible, whateveroccupation or type of work he or she now thinks he or she will enter. This ques-tion is followed by a series of other questions covering (a) the individual’s per-ception of the relevance of his or her chosen occupation to his or her hierarchiesof abilities, interest, and values; and (b) his or her conception of the place of thisoccupation within his or her past, present, and future lifestyles.

Questionnaire items of the OPQ may be subcategorized with six subscaleswith 22 multiple-choice questions: commitment to the stated occupationalchoice (5 items); experience relevant to the occupation (5 items); consistency of the occupation with perceived abilities, values, and interests (5 items); anticipat-ed potential in the occupation (2 items); alternative choices (3 items); signifi-cance of the occupational role in the individual’s life (2 items); and a total scorederived by summing the subscales as a general index of occupational fit.

The OPQ was tested for both internal consistency and empirical validity(Hershenson, 1964). The internal consistency (Hoyt analysis of variance) of agroup of 54 male college undergraduates (freshman through seniors) yielded anr of .83. To assess empirical validity, the instrument was administered to 23 malesophomore general liberal arts and premedical students, matched on age, sex,and academic level. The scores obtained from the latter group were significant-

ly higher (p < .0005) than those obtained from the former (Hershenson, 1967),indicating that students who committed themselves to a career goal (i.e., medi-cine) displayed better occupational fit than the average of their age peers.

CMI-R. The CMI-R is a 50-item measure assessing career choice attitudes andcompetence of adolescence and young adults (Crites & Savickas, 1996). It iscomposed of a 25-item Attitude Scale and a 25-item Competence Test. The Attitude Scale assesses respondents’ attitudes toward decision making, such as


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decisiveness, involvement, independence, orientation, and compromise. The

Competence Test assesses respondents’ comprehension and problem-solvingabilities pertinent to career decision making in areas such as self-appraisal, goalselection, problem solving, planning, and occupational information. Crites andSavickas (1996) suggested that the revised instrument should have similar relia-bility and validity because the items were selected from the previous version. Theinternal consistency coefficients (Kuder-Richardson Formula 20 [KR-20]) for the1978 Attitude Scale Counseling Form subscales range from .50 to .72 with amedian of .64 (Crites, 1978c). This is similar to a study by Stowe (1985) whoreported a KR-20 coefficient of .71 for the entire Attitude Scale. For the Researchversion of the Competence Test, Crites (1978c) reported the KR-20 coefficientsfor the subtests by grade. The median coefficients are .82 for 9th grade, .86 for10th grade, .84 for 11th grade, and .84 for 12th grade. In addition, Jepsen andPrediger (1981) reported a convergent validity correlation of .37 with the CareerDevelopment Inventory (Super, Thompson, Lindeman, Jordaan, & Myers,1981), which is a measure of career maturity. Bathory (1967) reported a criteri-on validity correlation of .39 with the Occupational Aspiration Scale (Miller &Haller, 1964). These studies have shown that the 1978 edition of the CMI hasdemonstrated appropriate validity and reliability.

RESULTS

We first examined the internal consistency reliability of the CMI-R. The inter-

nal consistency estimate obtained from the scores on the Attitude Scale in thissample, calculated by Cronbach’s alpha, was .54. The internal consistency esti-mate obtained from scores on the Competence Test was .52. The internal con-sistency estimate from the score for the total inventory was .61.

Because previous research has found significant differences between malesand females in career maturity scores (Crites, 1978c; Herr & Enderlein, 1976;Kornspan & Etzel, 2001), it was decided that separate analyses be conducted formales and females. Means and standard deviations are presented for the CMI-R and OPQ scales for males, females, and the total sample in Table 1. Femalestended to score higher than males on each of the inventory scales. To determineif these differences were significant, a one-way ANOVA was conducted. To guardagainst experiment wise error, Bonferroni’s correction was applied to a set alphavalue of .05. Results showed that significant sex differences existed in this sample.Females’ scores were significantly higher on the CMI-R Competence Test, F(1,156) = 7.51, p < .02, and CMI-R total score, F(1, 155) = 8.79, p < .02. However,there were no significant differences on the CMI-R Attitude Scale F(1, 155) =2.82, p =.07.

To examine the degree to which the CMI-R could differentiate among gradelevels, we conducted a one-way ANOVA with the CMI-R scales as the depend-ent variables. Although ideally examination of a measure’s developmental sensi-


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tivity should be conducted longitudinally, cross-sectional analysis can also pro-vide useful information on the monotonic increase in scores as a function of

grade levels. Separate analyses for males and females were conducted on thesescales. Results of the omnibus F test are presented in Table 2. Results show thatthere were significant differences across grade levels on the Attitude Scale, F(3,81) = 3.48, p < .02, and for the CMI-R total score, F(3, 81) = 3.86, p < .02, forfemales only. No significant differences were observed for either males or femaleson the Competence Test or for males on the total score.

Independent t tests were performed on the Attitude Scale for post hoc analy-sis. Results indicate significant differences between 9th- and 12th-grade females(t = 2.77, p < .01), with 12th graders’ (M = 18.13, SD = 2.13) scores being almost2 points on average higher than 9th graders’ (M = 16.50, SD = 3.85). Significantdifferences were also observed between 10th and 12th graders (t = 3.11, p < .01),with 12th graders (M = 18.13, SD = 2.13) scoring slightly less than 2 points onaverage than 10th graders (M = 16.28, SD = 3.08). No other significant differ-ences were observed among the grades on the Attitude Scale.

Independent t tests were performed on the CMI-R total score for post hocanalysis. Results indicate significant differences between 9th- and 12th-gradefemales (t = 2.74, p < .01), with 12th graders (M = 38.06, SD = 3.60) scoringslightly more than 3 points on average (M = 34.93, SD = 3.68). Significant dif-ferences were observed between 10th and 12th graders (t = 2.72, p < .01), with12th graders scoring slightly more than 3 points on average than 10th graders (M

Table 1

Means and Standard Deviations of the CMI-R and OPQ for Males, Females, and Total Group

Males Females Total(n = 72) (n = 85) (N = 157)

M SD M SD M SD

CMI-R

Attitude 17.11 3.27 17.96 2.51 17.57 2.91

Competence 16.57 3.27 17.91 2.84 17.29 3.11

Total 33.68 5.33 35.87 3.90 34.87 4.72

OPQ

Commitment 17.85 3.44 18.82 3.30 18.38 3.39

Experience 10.89 2.74 10.82 4.28 10.85 3.64

Consistency 18.36 5.91 19.47 5.14 18.96 5.51

Anticipated 6.72 2.06 6.59 2.21 6.65 2.13

Alternative Choices 9.33 2.17 9.40 2.01 9.37 2.08

Significance 5.67 2.06 6.49 2.03 6.11 2.08

Total 68.82 9.91 71.60 11.10 70.32 10.63

Note. CMI-R = Career Maturity Inventory–Revised; OPQ = Occupational Plans Questionnaire.


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= 34.33, SD = 4.30). No other significant differences were observed among thegrades on the CMI-R total score.

We further examined the criterion validity of the CMI-R by examining therelations among the scales of the CMI-R and OPQ. These analyses were con-ducted separately for males and females. Results are presented in Table 3 formales only. For males in this sample, significant correlations were generallysmall. The CMI-R Attitude Scale demonstrated small relations between OPQCommitment (r = .23, p < .01), OPQ Consistency (r =27, p < .01), OPQSignificance (r = .34, p < .01), and OPQ total score (r = .35, p < .01). No othersignificant relations were found among the CMI-R Attitude Scale and the OPQscales. The CMI-R Competence Test for males generally failed to correlate with

Table 2

Omnibus F Test of the Career Maturity Inventory–Revised Scales Across 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th Graders

Grade N M SD df F

Attitude, males 9 18 16.50 3.85 3, 68 1.46

10 21 16.28 3.08

11 18 17.83 3.50

12 15 18.13 2.13

Attitude, females 9 28 17.61 2.57 3, 81 3.48*

10 18 17.28 2.42

11 23 17.74 2.41

12 16 19.69 2.06Competence, males 9 18 15.94 3.17 3, 68 .87

10 21 16.33 3.47

11 18 17.61 3.31

12 15 16.40 3.09

Competence, females 9 28 17.32 2.97 3, 81 2.22

10 18 17.06 3.52

11 23 18.96 2.16

12 16 18.38 2.22

Total score, males 9 18 32.44 6.22 3, 68 1.41

10 21 32.62 5.02

11 18 35.44 5.80

12 15 34.53 3.41Total score, females 9 28 34.93 3.68 3, 81 3.86*

10 18 34.33 4.30

11 23 36.70 3.33

12 16 38.06 3.60

*p < .05.


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Table 3Pearson Correlations Between the CMI-R and OPQ Scales for Males Only

OPCMI-R CMI-R OPQ1 OPQ2 OPQ3 OPQ4 Altern

Attitude Competence Commitment Experience Consistency Anticipated Cho

CMI-R Attitude 1.00

CMI-R Competence .33** 1.00

OPQ1 Commitment .23 .14 1.00

OPQ2 Experience .09 .03 .01 1.00

OPQ3 Consistency .27* .10 .18 .01 1.00

OPQ4 Anticipated .12 –.09 .40** .02 .20 1.00OPQ5 Alternative Choices –.08 –.12 .26* .20 –.22 .04 1.0

OPQ6 Significance .34** .24* .25* .03 .30* .25* –.1

OPQ total .35** .12 .65** .34** .71** .50** .2


*p < .05. **p < .01

4 4

9


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OPQ scales. The one exception was between CMI-R Competence Test and

OPQ Significance (r = .34, p < .05).Table 4 shows results of correlational analysis for females only. The only sig-

nificant correlation occurred between the CMI-R Attitude Scale and OPQExperience (r = .25, p < .05). There were no significant relations between CMI-R Competence Test and OPQ scales.

We next examined whether the correlations among the CMI-R scales andOPQ scales for males and females were significantly different. To accomplishthis, Fisher r to z transformations were conducted. Results indicated that therewere no significant differences between correlations obtained for males andfemales. We then examined the relations among the scales for the total sample.

Table 5 shows results of correlations among the CMI-R and OPQ scales forthe total sample. CMI-R Attitude Scale demonstrated small relations betweenOPQ Commitment (r = .19, p < .05), OPQ Experience (r = .18, p < .05), OPQConsistency (r = .22, p < .01), OPQ Significance (r = .27, p < .01) and OPQ totalscore (r = .28, p < .01). There were no significant relations between the CMI-R Competence Test and OPQ scales.

We examined the ability of the CMI-R scales to predict the respondents’ per-ceived fit in an occupation as measured by the OPQ total score using the sam-ple. Results of the hierarchical regression analysis are presented in Table 6. InStep 1, the Attitude Scale was entered and accounted for 8% of the variance of OPQ total score in this sample. In Step 2, the Competence Test was added butfailed to contribute any additional variance in OPQ total score.

DISCUSSION

This study examined the evidence of construct and criterion validity of theCMI-R, as well as to obtain estimates of internal consistency of its scales.Construct validity was examined by investigating the monotonicity of the CMI-R scales. Criterion validity was examined by investigating the relation of the CMI-R scales to person-occupation fit or realism of career choice. Results of the pres-ent study have demonstrated modest but limited support for the revised CMI.The CMI-R shows the tendencies of its predecessor but not in the same robustfashion.

Consistent with previous research results, females tended to manifest morecareer-mature responses than males (Crites, 1978c; Herr & Enderlein, 1976;Kornspan & Etzel, 2001). Previous research has also found earlier versions of theCMI to be uniformly sensitive to developmental changes as a function of gradelevel (e.g., Alvi & Khan, 1983; Crites, 1971; Herr & Enderlein, 1976). However,results of this study showed significant differences across grade levels on the Attitude Scale and total score for females but not for males. In contrast, theCompetence Test failed to display any evidence of monotonicity. These resultsare contrary to those reported by Alvi and Khan (1983) who found competencies


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Table 4Pearson Correlations Between the CMI-R and OPQ Scales for Females Only



CMI-R Attitude 1.00

CMI-R Competence .06 1.00

OPQ1 Commitment .10 .00 1.00

OPQ2 Experience .25* .02 .41** 1.00

OPQ3 Consistency .14 .06 .44** .17 1.00

OPQ4 Anticipated –.10 .06 .41** .10 .18 1.00OPQ5 Alternative Choices –.02 .03 .05 .08 –.09 .10 1.0

OPQ6 Significance .15 –.02 .26* .14 .07 .02 .0

OPQ total .20 .05 .80** .64** .69** .46** .2


*p < .05. **p < .01

4 5

1


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Table 5Pearson Correlations Between the CMI-R and OPQ Scales for Total Sample



CMI-R Attitude 1.00

CMI-R Competence .23** 1.00

OPQ1 Commitment .19* .10 1.00

OPQ2 Experience .18* .02 .26** 1.00

OPQ3 Consistency .22** .10 .31** .09 1.00

OPQ4 Anticipated .01 –.02 .39** .07 .16* 1.00OPQ5 Alternative Choices –.05 –.04 .16 .12 .15 .07 1.0

OPQ6 Significance .27** .14 .28** .10 .28** .11 –.0

OPQ total .28** .11 .73** .53** .70** .47** .2


*p < .05. **p < .01

4 5 2


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to be monotonically related to age and grade level in a sample of 9th-through12th-grade high school students. This minimal support of significant differentia-tion among grades creates a serious limitation for an inventory that declares tomeasure a developmental variable.

Results were also modest on the relation between career maturity and fitbetween occupational preferences and self-concept. Low but significant correla-tions were observed between the CMI-R Attitude Scale and the scales of theOPQ. Career-mature attitudes related to commitment to occupational choice,consistency of choice based on appraisal of one’s abilities, values, interests, and

the significance of the work role in a person’s life. That is, those scoring higherin career maturity should be ready to make realistic and wise occupationalchoices. The significant relations between the scales were more evident for malesthan females of this sample. A possible explanation for the discrepancy betweenmales and females on this criterion suggests that sex-role socialization and atti-tudes may influence occupational preferences, despite being high in careermaturity (Fitzgerald & Crites, 1980).

Perhaps the most significant result of this study was the low internal consis-tency reliabilities on the scales of the CMI-R. This result is similar to findings byPowell and Luzzo (1998) who also reported low internal consistency estimates forthe CMI-R in their study. The Attitude Scale, Competence Test, and total scorehad reliabilities that were below those of the previous version of the CMI and fellbelow the minimum acceptable level of .70 (Guilford, 1956). Because reliabilityaffects validity, this can in part explain the less than robust findings of this study.Internal consistency can affect power, effect sizes, and statistical significance(Henson, 2001). These lower internal consistency estimates may be in part dueto the CMI-R being a shorter version than its predecessor. The Attitude Scale wasrevised from 50 items to 25 items, and the interpretation of the five attitude sub-scales has been removed. Likewise, the Competence Test was revised from fiveseparate multiple-choice subtests to a 25-item dichotomous response test.

Table 6

Summary of Hierarchical Regression Analysis for CMI-R Attitude Scaleand Competence Test Predicting OPQ Total Score (N = 157)

Scale B SE B

Step 1

Attitude Scale 1.03 .28 .28**

Step 2

Attitude Scale 1.00 .29 .27**

Competence Test .15 .27 .04

Note. CMI-R = Career Maturity Inventory–Revised; OPQ = Occupational Plans Questionnaire.R

2= .08 for Step 1; R

2= .00 for Step 2.

**p < .01.


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Therefore, it is possible that there are more dimensions to the scales of the CMI-

R. This may also explain the low internal consistency estimates in this study. A primary limitation of the study involves the nature and size of the sample.

The present study employed a nonprobability-based sample, thereby increasingrandom error in the data. This combined with the low estimates of internal con-sistency on the CMI-R scales could have a combined effect. This may havereduced the power of the analyses.

The results of this study suggest that the CMI-R does operate in the directiontheoretically expected, though only weakly. Our results indicate that the CMI-R does not possess comparable psychometric properties of its predecessor. Due tothe aforementioned limitations, we suggest that the measure is used cautiously incareer counseling and results be interpreted with supplementary and supportingevidence to confirm career maturity scores.

Future research should investigate the factor structure of the inventory. Thiswill explain the appropriateness of item content and the dimensionality of thescales. Results from such studies may provide a solution to the problem of lowinternal consistency of the scales. In addition, analysis of items concerning theirrelation to grade level is necessary to understand the developmental sensitivity of the items. Results of such investigations will help clarify the appropriateness of the items and scales. Such studies will assist researchers using the CMI-R tounderstand what types of modifications may be necessary to make meaningfulinterpretations.

REFERENCES

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Crites, J. O. (1961). A model for the measurement of vocational maturity. Journal of CounselingPsychology, 8, 225-259.

Crites, J. O. (1965). Measurement of vocational maturity in adolescence: I. Attitude Scale of the Vocational Development Inventory. Psychological Monographs, 79(2, Whole No. 595).

Crites, J. O. (1971). The maturity of vocational attitudes in adolescence. Washington, DC: American Personnel and Guidance Association.

Crites, J. O. (1973). The Career Maturity Inventory. Monterey, CA: CTB/McGraw-Hill.

Crites, J. O. (1974a). The Career Maturity Inventory. In D. E. Super (Ed.), Measuring vocationalmaturity for counseling and evaluation. Monograph of the National Vocational Guidance Association.

Crites, J. O. (1974b). Methodological issues in the measurement of career maturity. Measurementand Evaluation in Guidance, 6, 200-209.

Crites, J. O. (1978a). Administration and use manual for the Career Maturity Inventory (2nd ed.).Monterey, CA: CTB/McGraw-Hill.

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