An examination of the relationships between career development and decision making styles of elementary school 8th grade students

The purpose of this study is to examine whether decision making styles of elementary school 8th grade students predict their career development. In addition, the purpose of this study is to examine whether career development of elementary school 8th grade students according to gender, age, perceived social economic status, academic achievement, education levels of mother and father.400 (213 female and 187 male) students from 7 formal elementary schools from Kırıkkale city participated to this study. Adolescent Decision Making questionnaire (ADMQ), Childhood Career Development Scale (CCDS) and Personal Information Form are used to collect data. Simultaneous Multiple Regression Analyze, one way ANOVA and t test are used to analyze data. According to the results of this study;1. The self-esteem in decision making, vigilance, panic, complacency and cop-out subscales scones together accounted for a significant proportion of the variance (%23) of the career development scores. The vigilance, decisional self esteem and panic are very power predictors of the career development.2. There are no significant differences in career development scores of the students according to gender, the education levels of mother and father.3. When age, social economic status and academic achievement levels of the students are increased the career development levels of there are increased. These finding indicated that age, social economic status and academic achievement affected to career development.