Facilitating International Research on Career Indecision: Developing Career Indecision Profile-Short-5 in China and the U.S.

Abstract

While five-factor model of career indecision proposes five cross-culturally important indecision factors, a psychologically sound brief measure of career indecision that corresponds to the five-factor model is lacking. Thus, using a Chinese college sample (n = 588) and an U.S. college sample (n = 762), this study developed and validated the Career Indecision Profile-Short-5 factor (CIP-Short-5) in China and the U.S. Applying item response theory, the CIP-Short-5 consists of five items each for the five overarching domains of career indecision. It showed desirable option occurrence patterns and minimal gender-oriented differential item functioning in both China and the U.S. Additionally, the scale supported the five-factor model over an alternative, four-factor model of career indecision in both China and the U.S. The convergent and discriminant patterns of the CIP-Short-5 with criteria were largely supported in China and the U.S. Last, the results supported the configural and metric invariance of the CIP-Short-5 but did not fully support the scalar invariance of the CIP-Short-5 across China and the U.S. Together, the results offer psychometric evidence for the CIP-Short-5, which has important implications for research and practice on career indecision in the international context in general and in China in specific.