Career Problem Checklist (CPC)

Abstract

The Career Problem Checklist (CPC), developed by Lee and Lee in 2023, is a concise 16-item psychometric evaluation instrument. It is specifically designed to identify and categorize career challenges faced by college students navigating the crucial school-to-work transition period. The theoretical foundation of the CPC is rooted in the Cognitive Information Processing (CIP) theory (Peterson et al., 1991). Initial development and psychometric validation were conducted using a sample of Korean college seniors, demonstrating robust reliability and validity across its four primary factors.

The scale provides a structured means for researchers and counselors to assess specific areas of career difficulty, including deficits in self-knowledge, occupational awareness, and job-seeking proficiency.

Keywords

Self-Awareness, Occupational Information, Job-Seeking Skills, Career Decision-Making, Career Problems, College Students, School-to-Work Transition Period, Cognitive Information Processing Theory

Authors

Lee, Janghee, Lee, Sang Min

Purpose

The primary objective of the Career Problem Checklist (CPC) is to systematically identify and categorize the specific career problems encountered by university students. This focus is particularly relevant for those individuals engaged in the demanding school-to-work transition period, where deficits in knowledge or skills can lead to increased anxiety and reduced career preparation behavior.

By classifying these challenges into four distinct factors, the CPC allows for targeted intervention and counseling strategies tailored to the student’s specific area of difficulty, thereby facilitating a smoother entry into the professional world.

Construct

The CPC measures career problems based on the principles of the Cognitive Information Processing (CIP) theory, which posits that effective career decision-making relies on the processing of information related to self and occupation. The scale is structured around four primary latent factors, each representing a critical area where students commonly experience problems during career development:

• Self-Awareness: Problems related to understanding one’s own interests, values, and skills.

• Occupational Information: Difficulties in acquiring, organizing, and utilizing knowledge about the world of work and specific occupations.

• Career Decision-Making: Challenges associated with the process of making definitive career choices and formulating plans.

• Job-Seeking Skills: Deficits in practical skills required for employment, such as interview preparation or resume writing.

Validity

The validity of the CPC was established through both construct and concurrent validation procedures, confirming that the instrument accurately measures the intended psychological constructs and correlates appropriately with related external variables.

Construct Validity: Support for construct validity was provided by the results of the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The CFA demonstrated that the four-factor structure derived from the theoretical basis of CIP adequately fit the observed data, confirming that the scale effectively operationalizes the distinct theoretical constructs of career problems.

Concurrent Validity: The CPC subscales demonstrated significant concurrent validity by showing meaningful statistical relationships with other established measures. Specifically, positive correlations were observed between the CPC subscales and measures of job-seeking anxiety (related both to the environment and conditions). Conversely, all CPC factors showed significant negative correlations with positive affect, general life satisfaction, and proactive career preparation behavior, indicating that higher levels of identified career problems correspond to lower levels of psychological well-being and preparatory action.

Reliability

The Career Problem Checklist (CPC) exhibits strong reliability, primarily assessed through measures of internal consistency using Cronbach’s alpha coefficients.

The overall scale demonstrated excellent internal consistency, reporting a robust alpha coefficient of 0.918. Furthermore, the four identified factors maintained high levels of internal consistency, confirming their coherence as independent components of the scale: Self-awareness (alpha = 0.778), Occupational information (alpha = 0.911), Career decision-making (alpha = 0.879), and Job-seeking skills (alpha = 0.859). These consistent and high alpha values reinforce the suitability of the four-factor model for measuring career problems.

Factor Analysis

Both Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) were utilized during the development phase to confirm the underlying structure of the 16-item scale.

Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA): EFA identified a four-factor solution as optimal, based on Kaiser’s Rule, which requires factors to have eigenvalues equal to or greater than 1.0 (Kaiser, 1960). This solution was further supported by analysis of the scree plot. The resulting four-factor model was confirmed as appropriate, with each factor meeting the necessary structure coefficient criteria and demonstrating acceptable internal consistency.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA): The CFA results supported the satisfactory fit of the four-factor model to the data. Key fit indices met established benchmarks: the TLI and CFI values were 0.90 or above, and the RMSEA value was less than 0.05. The analysis also established the invariance of the factor structure, revealing no significant differences in factor variance based on demographic variables such such as gender or university affiliation.

Instrument

Test Type: Original

Format: The CPC is structured as a checklist where items are answered using a simple yes/no scale.

Language Available: Korean.

Population Group: Human (Male and Female).

Age Group: Adulthood (18 years and older).

Population Details: The initial sample used for the development and psychometric evaluation consisted of college students located in South Korea.

Test Methodology: The methodology employed in the development and evaluation of the CPC included: Test Validity, Concurrent Validity, Construct Validity, Test Reliability, Internal Consistency, Factor Analysis, Confirmatory Factor Analysis, and Exploratory Factor Analysis.

Keywords

Self-Awareness, Occupational Information, Job-Seeking Skills, Career Decision-Making, Career Problems, College Students, School-to-Work Transition Period, Cognitive Information Processing Theory

Authors

Lee, Janghee

• Author ORCID Identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1311-2488

• Affiliation: Korea University, Department of Education

Lee, Sang Min (Corresponding Author)

• Author ORCID Identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6148-772X

• Affiliation: Korea University, Department of Education

• Affiliation Email addresses: [email protected]

• Correspondence Address: Korea University, College of Education, Department of Education, Anam-dong, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, Korea, Republic of, [email protected]

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Permissions: To obtain permissions for use of the scale, interested parties must contact the Corresponding Author (Lee, Sang Min).

Fee: No data is Available

Commercial: No data is Available

Test Year: 2023

References

Lee, J., & Lee, S. M. (2023). Development and initial psychometrics of the career problem checklist. Journal of Employment Counseling, 60(3), 126–143. https://doi.org/10.1002/joec.12211

Items of the Career Problem Checklist (CPC)

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

The Career Problem Checklist is a 16-item scale. The items are categorized into four subscales: Self-awareness, Occupational Information, Career Decision-making, and Job-seeking Skills. The specific items are presented in the Appendix on page 143 of the source reference.