Abstract:

Interaction with penultimate year students and some final year high school students show a mixed message or attitude concerning a future career choice. Most are confused and uncertain about what they want to study after completing high school. This attitude motivated the design of this study. The aim of this study is the investigation of the factors that could possibly predict career maturity of high school students in Nigeria. The study employed a descriptive cross-sectional survey design. The sample consisted of 703 senior high school students selected from six schools. The Career Maturity Questionnaire comprising of five (5) research trajectories viz Self Efficacy scale, Self-Esteem scale, Parental Social Economic Scale, Academic Need Achievement Scale and the Career Maturity Scale was employed for data collection. All the sub-scales in The Career Maturity Questionnaire were validated. Data is currently being analysed. The results will be discussed, conclusions shall be drawn and recommendations on factors that will improve students’ career maturity highlighted. The identification of these factors will assist schools and vocational counsellors’ to offer early career counselling and to create appropriate interventions.

Keywords:

Career maturity, subject choice, self-efficacy, self-esteem, students.