MODERATOR EFFECTS OF CLIENTS’ CHARACTERISTICS ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF CAREER COUNSELING Jonas Masdonati, Sophie Perdrix, Koorosh Massoudi, & Jérôme Rossier Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Anthropole, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland

IAEVG 2009 Conference2 Introduction Effectiveness of career counseling  Career interventions are moderately effective, with varying effect sizes.  Variations of effect sizes are explained e.g. by the number of sessions, the intervention ingredients, the treatment modality, and the type of outcome measure.  More research is needed in order to verify: - which variables moderate the efficacy of career counseling; - which type of intervention modality is effective for which kind of clients. Brown et al. (2003); Heppner & Heppner (2003); Whiston et al. (1998); Whiston & Rahardja (2008)

IAEVG 2009 Conference3 Introduction The longitudinal study “Professional tracks” Aims:  To assess the short- and long-term effectiveness of career counseling;  To consider specific and non-specific outcome indicators;  To investigate the influence of moderator variables, such as relational factors and clients’ characteristics. Masdonati et al. (in press); Massoudi et al. (2006; 2007; 2008)

IAEVG 2009 Conference4 Method Sample  Intervention group: 252 clients, 129 women and 123 men; aged between 14 and 56 years (M = 21.7, SD = 7.4); 67% studying, 16% working, 17% unemployed; 20% compulsory education (secondary I), 56% in post- compulsory education (secondary II), 23% in higher education (tertiary level).  Reference group: 84 students, 43 women and 41 men; aged between 14 and 20 years (M = 16.6, SD = 1.5).

IAEVG 2009 Conference5 Method Measures  Career Decision-making Difficulties Questionnaire revised (CDDQr; Gati, Osipow, Krausz & Saka, 2000): 34 items assessing Total Career Indecision, Lack of Readiness, Lack of Information and Inconsistent Information.  Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS; Diner et al., 1985; Blais et al., 1989): Five items assessing general satisfaction with life.  Satisfaction With the Intervention (SWI; Massoudi et al., in press): 10 items assessing the general and subjective satisfaction concerning the career counseling intervention.

IAEVG 2009 Conference6 Method Measures  Working Alliance Inventory (WAI; Horvath & Greenberg, 1989): 36 items assessing global working alliance, agreement about the Goals, agreement about the Tasks, and quality of the Bond.  NEO Five-Factor Inventory Revised (NEO-FFI-R; McCrae & Costa, 2004): 60 items assessing 5 dimensions: Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness.  Wonderlic Personal Test (WPT; Wonderlic Inc., 1983): 50 items, 12 minutes; Brief measure of general mental ability.

IAEVG 2009 Conference7 Method Measures  Emotional Intelligence scale (EI; Schutte et al., 1998): 33 items inspired from Salovey et Mayer’s model (1990).  Demographic data: age; sex; current or past school difficulties; current additional difficulties; educational level. Intervention  Individual counseling, lasting between 4 and 6 one-hour sessions, and containing at least 4 of the ingredients identified by Brown et al. (2003).  Three stages: demand and goals; assessment and information; decision- making and planning.

IAEVG 2009 Conference8 Method Procedure 1st 3rd Last WAI, NEO-FFI-R, EI and WPT SWLS, CDDQ and SWI Clients 1st week 5 week later SWLS and CDDQ Reference group SWLS and CDDQ SWLS and CDDQ

IAEVG 2009 Conference9 Method effectiveness Clients’ characteristics: NEO-FFI-R, WPT, EI, Demographic data (age, sex, difficulties, educ. level) (Relational factors: WAI) moderator Pre CDDQ-r SWLS direct Post CDDQ-r SWLS Post SWI

IAEVG 2009 Conference10 Results Effectiveness of career counseling  2 =.19  2 =.11 Clients Reference

IAEVG 2009 Conference11 Results Moderator effects of personality

IAEVG 2009 Conference12 Results Moderator effects of personality

IAEVG 2009 Conference13 Results Moderator effects of personality SWLS

IAEVG 2009 Conference14 Results Moderator effects of other clients’ characteristics

IAEVG 2009 Conference15 Results Moderator effects of other clients’ characteristics Personal or family difficulties: SWLS

IAEVG 2009 Conference16 Discussion Synthesis  Career counseling is effective considering both specific (decision difficulties; d ≈.96) and non-specific (life-satisfaction; d ≈.70) outcome indicators.  Conscientiousness has small to medium moderator effects on the evolution of non-specific (d ≈.28) and specific (d ≈.35) outcome indicators.  The existence of personal or family problems has medium moderator effects on non-specific outcome indicators (d ≈.45).  Emotional intelligence and school problems directly influence (d ≈.28; d ≈.46) satisfaction with the intervention.  Age, sex, education and mental ability do not moderate the effectiveness of career counseling.

IAEVG 2009 Conference17 Discussion effectiveness Personality: C (N) Personal/family difficulties (EI, educational level) moderator direct Pre CDDQ-r SWLS School difficulties EI Post CDDQ-r SWLS Post SWI Age, sex, WPT, (educational level)

IAEVG 2009 Conference18 Discussion Implications  Standard career counseling interventions seem to be effective with most types of clients, both at career-specific and global levels.  Interventions should take into account: - clients’ personality (particularly, their level of conscientiousness); - their existing school, family or personal difficulties.  Specific activities should be conceived in order to: - “compensate” clients’ lack of conscientiousness; - discuss the interference of difficult life situations on career pathways.

IAEVG 2009 Conference19 Discussion Perspectives  Longitudinal studies: - How do intervention effects evolve after the counseling process? - Do clients’ characteristics have differed moderator effects?  Process studies: - Do relational variables moderate or mediate the impacts of career counseling? - What about other process variables (e.g. ingredients, intervention type)?

IAEVG 2009 Conference20 References  Brown, S. D., Ryan Krane, N. E., Brecheisen, J., Castelino, P., Budisin, I., Miller, M., et al. (2003). Critical ingredients of career choice interventions: More analyses and new hypotheses. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 62,  Heppner, M. J., & Heppner, P. P. (2003). Identifying process variables in career counseling: A research agenda. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 62,  Masdonati, J., Rossier, J., & Massoudi, K. (in press). Effectiveness of face-to- face career counseling and the working alliance. Journal of Career Development.  Massoudi, K., Masdonati, J., Clot-Siegrist, E., Franz-Pousaz, S., & Rossier, J. (2008). Evaluation des effets du counseling d’orientation: Influence de l’alliance de travail et des caractéristiques individuelles. Pratiques Psychologiques, 14, …

IAEVG 2009 Conference21 References  Massoudi, K., Masdonati, J., & Rossier, J. (2006). De l’efficacité de la consultation en OSP. Panorama, 6,  Whiston, S. C., & Rahardja, D. (2008). Vocational counseling process and outcome. In S. D. Brown & R. W. Lent (Eds.), Handbook of Counseling Psychology (4th ed., pp ). New York: Wiley.  Whiston, S. C., Sexton, T. L., & Lasoff, D. L. (1998). Career-intervention outcome: A replication and extension of Oliver and Spokane (1988). Journal of Counseling Psychology, 45, This research project is financed by the Swiss National Science Foundation Thank you to the team of the counseling center of the University of Lausanne: Eva Clot-Siegrist, Prof Jean-Pierre Dauwalder, Sylvie Franz, Vincent Risse.