The Structure of the Career Decision-Making Difficulties Questionnaire Across 13 Countries

Assessing the causes of career indecision is among the first steps in career counseling. Gati et al. (1996) proposed a multidimensional taxonomy of career indecision and developed the Career Decision-Making Difficulties Questionnaire (CDDQ), consisting of 10 scales that cohere into three higher-order clusters and a total score. However, studies investigating the CDDQ reported cross-cultural variations in its factor structure. To examine the cross-cultural generalizability of the CDDQ, we compared four alternative factor models using data from 39 diverse samples from 13 countries with nine language versions (N = 19,562). Using weighted least squares mean- and variance-adjusted estimation, a robust estimator for nonnormal data, comparison of fit indices supported the original CDDQ structure across countries and languages. These findings support the cross-cultural generalizability of the structure of the CDDQ and the use of 10 scale scores, three cluster scores, and a total score, consistent with the taxonomy underlying the CDDQ.

Automated summary

Assessing the causes of career indecision is an important step in career counseling. This study examined the cross-cultural generalizability of the Career Decision-Making Difficulties Questionnaire (CDDQ) and confirmed its structure across different countries and languages.