Occupational/Career Amotivation and Indecision for Gifted and Talented Adolescents: A Cognitive Decision-Making Process Perspective

Abstract

Two alternative versions of a model of the cognitive decision-making processes of gifted and talented adolescents associated with occupational or career indecision were tested in this study. A psychometrically rigorous survey instrument was used to collect data from 664 adolescents attending three academically selective high schools in Sydney, Australia. Data were analysed using structural equation modelling procedures. The superior model suggested that idiocentric orientations toward the future and social influences from the family are likely to direct gifted and talented adolescents away from a state of occupational amotivation, which is a likely predictor of occupational indecision. The findings may be used to more clearly understand and to better assist gifted and talented adolescents experiencing difficulty with their occupational decisions.