Canonical correlation analysis of the career attitudes and strategies inventory and the adult career concerns inventory

This study investigated the relationships between the scales of the Adult Career Concerns Inventory (ACCI) and those of the Career Attitudes and Strategies Inventory (CASI). The scores of 202 South African adults for the two inventories were subjected to a canonical correlation analysis. Two canonical variates made statistically significant contributions to the explanation of the relationships between the two sets of variables. Inspection of the correlations of the original variables with the first canonical variate suggested that a high level of career concerns in general, as measured by the ACCI, is associated with high levels of career worries, more geographical barriers, a low risk-taking style and a non-dominant interpersonal style, as measured by the CASI. The second canonical variate suggested that concerns with career exploration and advancement of one’s career is associated with low job satisfaction, low family commitment, high work involvement, and a dominant style at work.

Tracking Adult Career Development

The Adult Career Concerns Inventory (ACCI) was designed to measure career planning and career adjustment in four stages of career development: exploration, establishment, maintenance and disengagement. In this study 288 employees, aged between 25 and 55 completed the ACCI. A factor analysis found that the items in five of the six subscales of the establishment and maintenance scales loaded together. Eight other items, which loaded together, could be interpreted to represent becoming established in a job or workplace. Two previous factor analyses testing a four factor model gave conflicting results, and the discrepancy between the studies is discussed. That adults move through stages in their careers is not questioned. Research areas that remain open for investigation include the number of stages in mid-career and the measurable constructs in those stages, the relationships between stages of career development and other career variables and the empirical establishment of the sequence of the stages.