Talent development, work habits, and career exploration of Chinese middle-school adolescents: Development of the career and talent development self-efficacy scale

Mantak Yuen*, Norman C. Gysbers, Raymond M C CHAN, Patrick S.Y. Lau, Peter M.K. Shea

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

32 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This article describes the development of an instrument - the Career and Talent Development Self-Efficacy Scale (CTD-SES) - for assessing students' self-efficacy in applying life skills essential for personal talent development, acquisition of positive work habits, and career exploration. In Study 1, data were obtained from a large sample of Chinese middle-school students (N=15,113) in Grades 7-9 in Hong Kong. The CTD-SES is an 18-item questionnaire with subscales containing items that address students' orientations toward developing their own talents, acquiring and applying positive work habits, and exploring their career possibilities. Evidence is provided for internal consistency, temporal stability, and factor structure of the CTD-SES. Goodness of fit statistics provided support for a three-primary-factor-plus-higher-factor model, and this solution was used in the statistical analyses. The data also indicated that students with plans for university study reported significantly higher scores than those without on all three domains of career and talent development. In Study 2 (N=308) Grade 10 high-ability students' scores in CTD-SES were correlated with scores in career decision self-efficacy and academic performance. The development and validation of CTD-SES is the first step toward investigating career exploration, work habits, and talent development among Asian middle-school adolescents.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)47-62
Number of pages16
JournalHigh Ability Studies
Volume21
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2010

Scopus Subject Areas

  • Education

User-Defined Keywords

  • Adolescents
  • Assessment
  • Career development
  • Chinese
  • Individual plan
  • Life skills
  • Middle school
  • Self-efficacy
  • Talent development
  • Work habits

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Talent development, work habits, and career exploration of Chinese middle-school adolescents: Development of the career and talent development self-efficacy scale'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this