Standardization of Childhood Career Development Scale in Isfahan City, 2022

Measuring children's career development is very important for their future success in work environment, education and life in general. However, existing measures somehow lack the necessary validity and reliability, highlighting the need for better tools. The present study was conducted to prepare a standard table for the childhood career development scale among lower elementary school students in Isfahan.

The present study was a descriptive study of standardization type. The study population included all the lower elementary school students of Isfahan in 2022, from which 351 students were selected by random-cluster sampling. The research tools were Childhood Career Development Scale (Schultheiss & Stead, 2004) and Career Adapt-Ability Scale—Short Form (Maggiori, Rossier & Savickas, 2015). For data analysis, the descriptive statistics of frequency and percentage were used. Cronbach's alpha was used to check the internal consistency of the scale and correlation coefficient was applied to determine convergent validity. Data were analyzed by SPSS22.

The reliability criterion used in this study was Cronbach's alpha which showed relatively high reliability of the tool (0.94). Also, there was a significant correlation between the components of the tool (52.036). Results of convergent validity showed that this tool is significantly correlated with Career Adapt-Ability Scale-Short Form (0.78, P=0.001).

Overall, findings showed that the Persian version of the Childhood Career Development Scale is sufficiently valid and reliable to measure this concept in Iranian children. It is suggested to carry out more researches in different groups, in order to benefit from this tool and enhance its efficiency.