Have you ever worked with young people who are unmotivated and undecided about their future work? Chances are you have, considering that only 9.6% of 15-year-olds will stick with the same work choice until the age of 25.
Career development activities can give young people the opportunity to learn more about their skills and interests, which can give them tools to make choices about their future. Yet young people’s motivation to participate in these activities varies. As a result, the impact of school and career guidance and information activities can vary widely, being very positive for those who are motivated to participate, and less so for those who are forced to attend. At least, that’s what studies on career indecision presume.
Boulet, Guay, and Bradet ask the question differently: What if it was rather indecisiveness that influenced the motivation to participate in guidance activities? Following this hypothesis, the state of indecision may paralyze students, eroding their motivation over the course of the activities. If this hypothesis is correct, it will be important to develop intervention strategies that address the factors that lead to indecision rather than focusing only on motivation.
The data for this study come from a survey involving 834 students at college (CEGEP) level in 2001 and 2002. Two questionnaires of 32 statements measuring four types of motivation towards guidance activities were administered. These types of motivation are the following:
- Intrinsic motivation, i.e. doing an activity for the personal satisfaction gained from doing it.
- Identified motivation, i.e. doing an activity because it is considered important or necessary.
- Introjected motivation, i.e. doing an activity to please or to avoid a negative emotion, such as guilt.
- External motivation, i.e. doing in an activity to obtain a reward or avoid a consequence.
Intrinsic or identified motivation would have more positive impacts on the individual, while introjected or external motivation could be detrimental to the sense of autonomy and personal satisfaction.
Statistical analyses of the survey data revealed a relationship between career indecision and young people’s motivation to participate in guidance activities. Indeed, indecision predicted patterns of motivation, rather than the other way around. Specifically, the article concludes that young people who are indecisive will have an introjected or external motivation to participate in guidance activities, and not an intrinsic or identified motivation. In other words, a person who is indecisive in their first year of CEGEP will have less interest in guidance activities and will therefore attach less importance to them. On the other hand, their sense of guilt and desire for reward will increase.
The results of the article show that intervening with young people’s motivation is not effective in reducing indecision. Instead, the article suggests that we should intervene directly with indecision factors, such as anxiety. As potential solutions, the research team suggests :
- Offering quality services for managing anxiety in career decision-making.
- Creating a supportive environment for students to identify their values and interests.
- Encouraging experimentation with different activities to help students discover their career interests.
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