International Journal of
Psychology and Counselling

  • Abbreviation: Int. J. Psychol. Couns.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 2141-2499
  • DOI: 10.5897/IJPC
  • Start Year: 2009
  • Published Articles: 223

Full Length Research Paper

Career indecision and state anxiety of returned international Chinese undergraduate students in Taiwan

  Huiling H. Peng1*, Robert E. Johanson2 and Mei-Hua Chang3  
  1Department of Finance, National Taipei College of Business, Taiwan. No.321, Tsi Nan Road, Section 1, Taipei 100, Taiwan. 2Department of Applied Foreign Languages, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, No. 43, Sec. 4, Keelung Rd., Taipei City, 10673, Taiwan. 3Student Counselling Center, National Taipei College of Business, No.321, Tsi Nan Road, Section 1, Taipei 100, Taiwan.
Email: [email protected], [email protected]

  •  Accepted: 23 July 2012
  •  Published: 31 October 2012

Abstract

 

This study investigates career indecision and levels of state anxiety among 647 returned international Chinese undergraduate students enrolled at 90 universities/colleges in Taiwan. The Chinese-language versions of the Career Decision Scale (CDS) and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) were administered; results indicated that returned international Chinese undergraduate students in Taiwan are rarely free of state anxiety and career indecision. Moreover, it was discovered that career indecision could be predicted by whether or not students were interested in the subjects they had chosen to study and their current grade point averages, whereas levels of state anxiety could be predicted by whether or not students were interested in the subjects they had chosen to study and if they held part-time jobs during the semester in which the study took place. The results and implications for continuing research among participants of various cultural and linguistic backgrounds are discussed.

 

Key word: Career education, career indecision, state anxiety, international students.