Career-Adapt-Abilities-Scale—China-Form-Constructi

CareerAdapt-AbilitiesScale—ChinaForm:ConstructionandinitialvalidationZhi-JinHoua,⁎,S.AlvinLeungb,⁎⁎,XixiLib,1,XuLia,HuiXua,2aBeijingNormalUniversity,ChinabChineseUniversityofHongKong,HongKongSAR,ChinaarticleinfoabstractArticlehistory:Received6January2012Availableonline14January2012TheCareerAdapt-AbilitiesScale(CAAS)—ChinaFormconsistsoffoursubscales,withsixitemseachtomeasureConcern,Control,Curiosity,andConfidenceaspsychosocialresourcesformanagingoccupationaltransitions,developmentaltasks,andworktraumas.Thisstudyinves-tigatedtheconstructionandvalidationofitsChineseForm.Resultsindicatedthat1)internalconsistencyestimatesforthesubscaleandtotalscoresrangedfromgoodtoexcellent;2)thefactorstructureofthisscalewasquitesimilartotheonecomputedwithcombineddatafrom13countries;3)theCAASChinaFormwasidenticaltotheInternationalForm;4)malestudentsdisplayedsignificantlyhigherscoresthanfemalestudentsonalldimensionsofCAASexceptforConcern,andfreshmenandjuniorsexhibitedhigheradaptabilitythansopho-mores.Implicationsandfutureresearchdirectionsareexamined.©2012ElsevierInc.Allrightsreserved.Keywords:Careeradapt-abilityCareerdevelopmentCareerassessmentCareeradaptabilitywasdefinedbySavickas(1997)as“thereadinesstocopewiththepredictabletasksofpreparingforandpar-ticipatingintheworkroleandwiththeunpredictableadjustmentspromptedbychangesinworkandworkingconditions”(p.254).Thistermreferstoaperson'spsychosocialresourcesforcopingwithsocietalchangesandmaintainingharmonywiththeenviron-ment.Today,globalizationisreshapingadults'lifecoursesincludingtheircareerchoiceanddevelopment,andtheimpactisespe-ciallysalientonyoungergenerations(Buchholzetal.,2009).Inarapidlychangingglobalcontext,itisimportantthatindividualsacquirethecompetencetoadapttocareerdevelopmentrequirementsandemploymentdemands.CareeradaptabilityisespeciallyimportantinChinaasthepaceofeconomicandsocialchangehasbeenunparalleledinmoderntimes.DevelopingandvalidatingameasureofcareeradaptabilitythatisanchoredinthesocialandculturalcontextofChinawouldcontributetocareerdevelopmentandpractice,asitwouldhelptounderstandhowcompetenceinmanagingcareertransitionsrelatestoothercareerdevelopmentvariablesaswellaspersonal,social,andculturalvariables(Hou&Leung,2011;Leung,Hou,Gati,&Li,2011).WhiletheCareerAdapt-AbilitiesScale—InternationalForm2.0(CAAS—International)demonstratedexcellentreliabilityandappropriatecross-nationalmeasurementequivalence(Savickas&Porfeli,2012–thisissue),itsvalidityforuseinChinarequiresfur-therinvestigation.Inresponsetothisneed,thepresentarticledescribestheCareerAdapt-AbilitiesScale—ChinaForm(CAAS—China)andreportsitspsychometricproperties,includingitemstatisticsandinternalconsistencyestimates.Inaddition,thisstudyexaminedthefactorstructureoftheCAAS—Chinaandcomparedthefindingstothehypothesizedmulti-dimensional,hier-archicalmeasurementmodeloftheCAAS—InternationalForm2.0.Weselecteduniversitystudentsasthetargetpopulationforthisstudyduetotheurgentneedforresearchtoinformcareerdevelopmentpracticeforthispopulation(Leungetal.,2011).AnumberofdevelopmentshaveacceleratedtheneedtostudycareeradaptabilityamonguniversitystudentsinChina.First,inthepastde-cade,theannualnumberofuniversitygraduateshaveincreaseddramaticallyfromthe.85millionin1999to5.31millionbytheyearof2009(NationalBureauofStatisticsofChina,2010).Withsuchagreatnumberofpotentialjobseekersfloodingintotheoverheatedlabormarket,thetimewhen“havingauniversitydegreemeanshavingadecentjob”isnolongertrue.UniversityJournalofVocationalBehavior80(2012)686–691⁎Correspondenceto:Z.-J.Hou,SchoolofPsychology,BeijingNormalUniversity,Beijing,100875,China.⁎⁎Correspondingauthor.E-mailaddresses:[e-mail](Z.-J.Hou),[e-mail](S.A.Leung).1XixiLiisnowatDepartmentofSocialWork,EastChinaNormalUniversity.2HuiXuisnowatCounselingandCounselingPsychology,SchoolofLettersandSciences,ArizonaStateUniversity.0001-8791/$–seefrontmatter©2012ElsevierInc.Allrightsreserved.doi:10.1016/j.jvb.2012.01.006ContentslistsavailableatSciVerseScienceDirectJournalofVocationalBehaviorjournalhomepage:(Zhou,Leung,&Li,2011).Underthepressureofse-verecompetitionintheuniversityentranceexam,mosthighschoolstudentsconcentrateexclusivelyonimprovingtheirtestscoresandputlittleeffortsintoexploringtheiracademicinterests.Forinstance,alargesurvey(MycosInstitute,2011)ofChineseuniversitystudentswhograduatedin2007reportedthatonly27%ofstudentsselectedtheirmajorbyinterest.Furthermore,22%ofstudentsdecidedtochangetheirmajoraftertheyentereduniversityduetoincongruentchoices.Manystudentsexperienceddis-satisfactionwiththeiracademicmajorsafterenteringuniversityyetthesysteminChinaisquiterigidandallowsforfewchangesinuniversitymajorsafterentrance.Careeradaptationisthusanimportantconcepttointroduceinresearch