.Evaluation of an Intervention to Foster Time Perpective and Career Decided...

8/20/2019 .Evaluation of an Intervention to Foster Time Perpective and Career Decided...

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Received 03/25/10

Revised

11/22/10

Accepted 11/30/10

Global Visions

Evaluation of an Intervention to

Foster Time Perspective and

Career Decidedness in a Group of

Italian dolescents

Lea Ferrari, Laura Nota, and Salvatore Soresi

A

structured 10-didactic unit intervention was devised to foster

ad olescents

time

perspective and career

decidedness.

The study was cond ucted with 50 adolescents

who w ere selected from a group of 624; 25 of the participants were randomly as-

signed to the con trol grou p and 25 were assigned to the

experimental

group. They

were selected according to their level of career indecision and po or

propensity

to

look to th e future. A series of repeated measure analyses of

variance

were carried

out to

evaluate

p re- and p osttest differences between the

experimental

and control

groups regarding time perspective and career

decidedness.

At posttes t, the experi-

mental group

showed

higher levels of

continuity,

hope, and career decidedness than

did the control group . Implications for future practice and research arc discussed.

Keywords:

time

perspective,

career

decidedness,

career adaptability

The aim of this study was to describe and evaluate the efficacy of an

intervention that was devised to enhance young adolescents time per-

spective and career decidedness. These two dimensions are com ponents

of career adaptability and have a crucial role in career designing (Savikas

et al., 200 9).

Time perspective is defined by sense of continuity, optimism, and fu-

ture orientation (Savickas, 1997). Garstensen (2006) asserted that time

perspective has a positive impact on motivation, cognition, and em otion,

and it is linked to goal selection and goal pursuit. Savickas (1991) and

Ringle and Savickas (1983) considered

sense of continuity am ong past,

present, and future a more cognitive component of time perspective,

and optimism a more affective component. Gontinuity sustains planning

skills and optimism refers to a sense of confidence in the achievability

of

goals.

Greed, Patton, and Bartrum (2002) reported that Australian

students with a higher level of optimism had more career goals, were

more decided about their career choice, and showed higher levels of

career planning and exploration. Students with high pessimism showed

lower career and decision-making knowledge, higher career indecision,

and lower school achievement.


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For Savickas (1997), time perspective is a core component of career

adaptability, wh ich is defined as th e readiness to cope with the predict-

able tasks of prep aring for and particip ating in the w ork role and w ith the

unpredictable adjustments prompted by the changes in work and work

con dit ion s (p. 25 4) . Th e propensity to look to the future , acknow ledging

the r ight to make decisions to build one 's ow n future , looking arou nd to

explore career opportunities, and building up a sense of self-efficacy in

prob lem solving con tribute to form ing the critical dim ensions of vocational

development over the l ife span (Här tung, Porfel i , & Vondracek, 2008;

Savickas , 2005) . These aspects , which begin developing in childhood

and then consolidate in adolescence, are an integral part of career adapt-

ability. According to Savickas, career adaptability can be also described

as a development of the concept of career maturity. If the latter can be

seen as a predictable and linear continuum of developmental tasks, career

adaptability underscores the ability to see the signs of change and adjust

to respond t o new requests f rom the env ironm ent (Savickas , 19 97 ) . Hirs-

chi (2009) showed that career adaptability was related to positive youth

development, including higher levels of well-being and quality of life.

Propensity to look to the future in an optimist ic way was s tudied in

re la t ion to ca reer matur i ty . Jane iro and Marques (2010) found tha t

propensity to look to the f iature was positively correlated with career

m aturity, operationalized as career plan ning and exp loration in P ortu gu ese

adolescents . Janeiro (20 10 ) a lso obse rved th e impact of t ime perspective

on career matur i ty in ninth and 12th graders .

Be ing or ien ted tow ard the fu ture , sens ing a conn ec t ion be tw een pres -

ent activi t ies and future outcomes, and adopting an optimist ic a t t i tude

seem par t icular ly s ignif icant in today 's world of work, which, as Fouad

and Bynner (2008) highlighted, requires people to face transit ion pe-

r iods more of ten than in the past and to be ready for ni ture requests .

However , many individuals in our complex society unfor tunately do

not or ient themselves toward the future and seldom, if a t a l l , th ink

about how the i r ca reers could evolve (Creed & Pa t ton , 2 0 0 3 ; N o t a ,

Sores i , So lberg , & Fer ra r i , 2005) . Pee tsma, Hascher , van der Veen ,

and Roede (2005) emphas ized tha t o lder adolescents focused more on

their personal development and le isure t ime than they focused on their

school or career choices . Recently , Ferrar i , Nota , and Soresi (2010)

showed that I ta l ian adolescents , par t icular ly around the ages of 16 and

17 years , rare ly thought of how their profess ional l i fe could develop.

Many of them were of ten engaged in explor ing the self and the reali ty

sur rounding them but seemed espec ia l ly concerned about the here and

now , neg lecting to determ ine th e con sequ ence s that such a focus may

have on the i r fu ture . A m on g these adolescents , the und ec ided and those

with low-efficacy beliefs in their own decisional abilities showed even

lower levels of future or ientat ion, continuity , and optimism.

Another var iable that we considered was career indecis ion, which is

the inability to select a professional option and the inability to engage


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engaging in more career planning and exploration over time. Creed,

Fallón, and Hood (2009) found that career decision making together

with career planning, career exploration, and self-regulation represented

a second-order factor of career adaptability.

More recently, Savickas et al. (2009) suggested a life-designing model

in which youth are assisted in building their lives by positively consider-

ing their future. People should be helped to strengthen ability to find

points of connections between past experiences, present life, and future

expectations. This implies thinking of themselves as persons involved

in processes of professional development and career advancement, to

understand professional enhancement and progress, and to be aware of

the social and relational aspects that may affect professional development

(Marko & Savickas, 199 8; Savickas, 20 05 ).

Savickas (2002), in particular, maintained that to increase optimism

and ability to project into the future, the following should be done by

counselors: (a) work on strengthening individuals' abilities to make new

experiences and grasp any opportunities offered by their setting; (b)

develop decisional abilities and abilities to set educational and career

goals that can allow the acquisition of increasingly greater control on

school-career choices; (c) increase vocational knowledge and aspirations

by exploring the school-career options one is interested in; and (d)

encourage agency and persistence behaviors by increasing self-efficacy,

problem-solving abilities, and abilities to cope with barriers.

With these suggestions in mind, we devised the training called Hopes

and Expectations for the Futu re, the goal of which is to encourage ado-

lescents to look toward the fiiture , increase their perception of alternative

options and scenarios, and acquire decision-making and planning strate-

gies.

The intervention was devised for students with low levels of time

perspective and career decidedness who were randomly assigned either to

the experimental or to the control group. At posttest, the experimental

group was expected to show higher levels of continuity, optimism, and

hope and higher career decidedness than the control group.

Method

rticip nts

D u r i n g t h e first p h a s e o f t h e i n t e r v e n t i o n , 6 2 4 a d o l e s c e n t s p a r t i c i p a t e d ;

2 6 4 w e r e b o y s a n d 3 6 0 w e r e gi rl s ( M a g e = 1 6 . 2 6 y e a r s , S 0 . 5 5 ) w h o

w e r e a t t e n d i n g v o c a t i o n a l g u i d a n c e a c t i v i t i e s o r g a n i z e d b y t h e s c h o o l . A s

p a r t o f t h e a c t i v it ie s , s t u d e n t s v o l u n t a r il y c o m p l e t e d a b a t t e r y o f m e a s u r e s

i n g r o u p t e s t i n g s e s s io n s . W e c o n s i d e r e d t h i s t o b e a c o n v e n i e n c e s a m p l e .

T h e a c t iv i ti es i n c l u d e d ( a ) a d m i n i s t r a t i o n o f a b a t t e r y o f i n s t r u m e n t s ,

w b i c b w e r e t b e L o n g - T e r m P e r s o n a l D i r e c t i o n S c a l e ( L T P D ; W e s s m a n ,

1 9 7 3 ) , th e A c h ie v a bi li ty o f F u t u r e G o a l s S c al e ( A F G ; H e i m b e r g , 1 9 6 1 ) ,

t h e F l o p e S c a l e ( S n y d e r e t a l . , 1 9 9 1 ) , I d e a s a n d A t t i t u d e s o n S c h o o l -

C a r e e r F u t u r e : H i g h S c h o o l v e rs io n ( I A S C F ; S o r es i & N o t a , 2 0 0 3 ) ; ( b )


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propen sity toward th e fiature (dm e perspective), and scho ol-career indeci-

sion. The students who had scores 1

SD

below the mean were identified

and 50 part icipants were selected. These par t icipants recorded lower

scores t han the o the r 57 4 ado lescen ts on the LT PD , f ( l , 623 ) = 4 .0 02 ,

p

= . 0 4 6 ; t h e A FG , i ' ( l , 6 2 3 ) = 1 4 0 . 9 4 5 ,

p

= .0 0 1 ; the Ho pe Sca le , P ( l ,

6 2 3 ) = 4 . 3 2 2 , p = .0 38 ; and the IAS CF , i= '( l, 62 3) =

3 . 9 1 1 ,

p = . 0 4 8 .

Considering only the gender variable, the 50 adolescents (38 girls, 12

boys ; M ag e = 16 .20 , SD = .60) were rando m ly assigned to eithe r th e

experimental or the control grou p. The experimental grou p was mad e up

of

6

boys and 19 gir ls (M ag e = 16 .20 , SD = 0.61 ) and the con trol gro up

was com prised of 6 boys and 19 girls (M a g e =

1 6 . 2 1 ,

SD = 0 .60) . N o

significant differences were recorded between the experimental and the

control group as regards the var iables gender , x^( l ) = 0.739, and age,

^•(1, 49) = 0 .099 , p = .7 55 , and th e m easures considered in the s tudy,

L T P D ,

i ' ( l , 49) = 0 .384 , p = .538 ; AFG, P( l , 49) = 0 .008 , p = . 9 3 1 ;

Sense of Agency, F{1 49) = 0.3 29 ,/»= .56 9; Pathways, F{1 49) = 0 .3 64 ,

p = .54 9; and Level of Decision an d Assurance Related to O ne 's Sc hoo l-

Career Future , F{1 49) = 0 .615 , p = . 4 3 7 .

While the experimental group was taking part in the s tudy, the control

group cont inued wi th normal school work.

e sures

Th e LT PD (Wessman, 197 3) measures eognidve beliefs abou t co nnec don s

between past, presen t, and fiature behavior (e on dn uity) . Posidve items reflect

a sense of eondnuity of past, present, atid ñiture as well as motivation for

and commitment to long-term goals. Negadve items reflect unstructured

and fragmented con cep do n of dm e widi absence of aims and direction. T he

20 items of the ins trum en t are rated on a 7-p oin t L ikert scale ranging from

not at all descriptive

( 1 )

to perfectly descriptive (7). The instrum ent was first

translated into Italian, following Van de Vijver and Hambleton's (1996)

suggesdons for the transladon of tests in cross-cultural research, and was

then back translated. Principal component analysis with subsequent oblimin

rotadon showed that the Italian version for high school students (Ferrari

et al., 2010) included 18 items and revealed the presence of three factors

accoundng for

47.23%

of the total variance. The first factor was Sense of

C on dn uity (nine item s, e.g., I plan much of my life aro un d a few main

goals ) ,

die second factor was Structured Concepdon of Time (six i tems,

e.g., I feel that dm e is brok en, fi-agmented, and with ou t direc do n ), and

the third factor was called Pro jecd on I n to the FuUire (three item s, e.g., I

move in an orderly way toward goals set long ahead of

d m e ) .

Consistent

with Wessman's (1 97 3) findings, most i tems could be included in the first

and second factors. However, in the Italian version, three items make up a

third factor, which did not appear in the original version of the scale. The

total scale internal consistency alpha was .79; the first, second, and diird

alpha values were .82, .77. and .6 1 , respecdvely. In line with M ark o and

Savickas (1998) and Savickas, Silling, and Schwartz (1984), die total scale


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the instrument. The Italian version for high school students (Ferrari et

al.,

2010) included six items and confirmed the presence of

principal

co m po ne nt , acc ou ntin g for 46.7 8 of the total variance. Th e total scale

internal consistency alpha was .74.

The Hope Scale (Snyder et al., 1991) measures positive motivational

state and consists of^l2 items that are rated on a 4-point Likert scale that

ranged from

definitely false {\

to

definitely true

(4). Th e same proced ure

was followed for the translation of the instrument. Principal component

analysis with subsequent oblimin rotation showed that the Italian version

for high school students (Ferrari et al., 2010) included eight items and

pro du ced tw o factors tha t acc oun ted for 52.25 of the total variance.

The first factor comprised four items (e.g., I energetically pursue my

goals),

accounting for 39.51 of the total variance and was called Sense

of Agency. It appeared to measure a more affective aspect of nature ori-

entation. The second factor comprised items (e.g.. There are lots of ways

aroun d any problem ), accounting for 12.73 of the total variance and was

called Pathw ays. It appeared to m easure a m ore co gnid ve aspect of fiiture

orientation. These results support Snyder et al. 's (1991) findings and the

factors coincide. The total scale internal consistency alpha was

.77;

the

first and second alpha values were .64 and .71, respectively.

The IASCF (Soresi & Nota, 2003) is a standardized questionnaire that

is used to measure career indecision. The measure is derived from the

work of Jones (1989) and Saviekas and Jarjoura (1991) and is a 16-item

self-report instrument that asks participants to rate on a 7-point scale (1

= does

not

describe

m e at all, 7

= describes

me very

well the extent to which

each s tatem ent describes their usual way of thinkin g and behav ing. A series

of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses provided support for a

three-factor struc tur e, acc ou ntin g for 60.86 of the total variance (Soresi

& Nota, 2003). The first factor was Level of Decision and Assurance

Related to One's School-Career Future (LDASCF, 10 items; e.g. , I have

decided what to do and I am sure I have chosen well). The second factor

was Level of Locus of Control Associated With Professional Problem-

Solving (internality; LoC, four items; e.g.. It is useless to devote time

to professional goals. What an individual will do actually depends on so

many other factors). The third factor was Ability to Gather Information

Usefi.ll to Making a Choice (AGI, two items; e.g., I know how to get the

information I need ). Scale scores were obtain ed by sum min g item response

scores co rresp on din g t o each of the three factors, after reversing th e scores

of negatively worded items. Soresi and Nota (2003) reported adequate

internal consistency reliability estimates, with alpha values for the three

factors o f .9 2, . 7 1 , and .67 , respectively. In this study, we dec ided to use

only the first factor, which measures level of decidedness.

ro edure

The adolescents of the experimental group were administered the train-

ing, which comprised 10 weekly meetings of 2 hours each, during the


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At every meeting, participants received didactic material (a student

manual) and were trained to discuss and practice the proposed skills in

order to stimulate reflection, increase awareness, and help trainees acquire

them . Teaching techniques included trainer explanation of concepts, class

discussion, individual and group exercises, atid feedback.

s

suggested by

Brown and Ryan Krane (20 00 ), special emphasis was placed on written

exercises, individualized interpretation and feedback, information on

the world of work, modeling opportunities, and attention to building

support for choices within one's social network. During the meetings,

participants were asked to write down their reflections and complete

exercises about personal situations. They were also given personalized

feedback and were encouraged to look for sources of support individuals

who could provide support.

Each meeting was based on a goal described as the conditions of the

context in which a given skill was to be applied, performance, and a mastery

criterion of expected student performance at end of the unit. Specifically,

participants were asked to answer 10 multiple-choice questions on the

issues focused on in the meeting. Mastery criterion was achieved if the

student correctly answered eight of 10 questions; additional meetings

were planned for students who had not been successful. As suggested

by Kidd and Killeen (1992) in the evaluation of developmental guidance

intervention, the use of learning outcomes

as

mastery criteria

is

appropriate

because they are relatively easy to assess and help to determine whether

learning has occurred. Subsequently, in line with suggestions proposed by

Heppner, Baumgardner, Larson, and Petty (1988), all participants were

invited to write down their thoughts and reflections on what had been

dealt with in the meeting. Program aims, phases, teaching techniques and

sequences, and examples to be used during training were described for

each meeting in a trainer's manual (the treatment manual).

The Tim e Perspective ntervention

This s tructured 10-didactic unit intervention was designed to increase

future

time perspective and enhance career decidedness .

In the first meeting, the activity was illustrated and the importance of

active participation and of doing the assigned hom ew ork was em phasized.

Students

signed a contract as recognition of

the

importance

of their

active

participation during meetings and of die homework.

In

the second mee t ing , us ing Jan i s and Mann ' s (1977) theory o f

decisional conflict, the issue of decision was addressed. The students

were

given research da ta tha t de m ons tra ted h ow som e dec is ions , som e

of

which concerned one ' s fu ture , a re more complex than o thers and

are therefore m ore w orr isom e, associated with high er levels of r isk, and

need

more time and effort to be handled efficaciously. The discussion

with

th e s tud en ts focused also on the fact that such decis ions som etim es

depended on the individual 's ability to take into account social factors

such

as exp ectat ion s, req ues ts , and pressures from oth ers (e .g . , family,


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chance events just happen and o thers happen if favorable conditions are

created. We pointed out that people can capitalize on chance events if

they have an open mind, are curious, and are persistent, bu t also if they

are optimistic and are willing to take risks. During the second part of

the meeting, we focused on the definition of interest and of self-efficacy

beliefs and on their connections. The students were encouraged to refiect

on their interests and on their self-efficacy beliefs.

In the fourth meeting, making reference to the work of Peterson,

Sampson, Reardon, and Lenz (1996), Amundson (1997), and Mitchell

and Krumboltz (199 6) , we introduced the issue of irrational ideas. After

examining the students' own definitions (ideas based on stereotypes,

hearsay, or pessimistic ideas) and analyzing examples of irrational ideas,

we encouraged students to discuss the consequences of sticking to ir-

rational ideas, such as reduced possibility of choice and perception of

dissatisfaction. The students were urged to transform some irrational

ideas by using a variety of strategies (e.g., reformulation, searching for

valid and reliable da ta) . The fifth meeting, which followed an analysis of

the reform ulated irrational ideas on which the students had reflected,

focused on environmental factors that are likely to infiuence the choice

process, interests, efficacy beliefs, and irrational ideas. The s tudents were

invited to think back to their past and to assess how such factors might

have affected their life and the way they were now. We also asked them

to identify individuals who might be actual supports for their career

project and to find ways to plan such a project.

During the sixth meeting, based on the work of Betz and Hackett

(1981) and Gallagher and Kaufman (2005), we encouraged students

to discuss efficacy beliefs in mathematics and the role such beliefs have

in characterizing some choices and in determining differences between

boys and girls. The students were invited to start writing the book of

their life (Niles & Harris-Bowlsbey, 20 05 ) beginning with significant

past events. We also asked them to focus on the consequences of those

events in increasing their streng ths and to identify the connections

between the past, the present, and the niture.

During the seventh meeting, we explored with the participants some

features ofthe current world of work (Blustein, 2006; Savickas, 2005).

For example, there is a growing need in the workplace for individuals

with well-developed intellectual abilities, greater flexibility, and relational

and problem-solving abilities. The youth were then invited to project

into the future and write at least another chapter of their book, pictur-

ing themselves in 5 and 10 years' time. They were asked to imagine

where they would be, what they would do, and the people with whom

they would interact.

In the eighth meeting,

w

focused on (a) professional objectives (Savickas,

20 05 ), (b) why it was important for youth to think thro ugh objectives,

(c) how they could formulate their own professional objective starting

from refiections on themselves, and (d) their own characteristics and


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formation they obtained in the discussion, the youth were invited to

define decisional aspects and to compare significant professional options

in relation to their set professional objective.

In the 10th and final meeting, we focused on ways the students could

use in choosing the educational pathways that would enable them to

pursue their professional objectives. We summarized the work that had

been completed, encouraging the youth to discuss those tasks. We also

stimulated students' thoughts about their future and about the differ-

ences they could see in their current thoughts and the ones they had at

the beginning of the intervention.

Results

ducationai Outcomes

One of our

aims

was that each meeting would allow the youth to increase

their knowledge and abilities, thereby enabling them to set a goal to

pursue. In six ou t of nine meetings, all 25 (100 ) participants reached

the mastery criterion; in the third and the eighth m eeting , 24 (96 )

students did, and in the sixth meeting, 23 (92 ) students did. Thus,

our overall goal was reached for most of the students.

mpirical Outcomes

Repeated-measures analyses of variance were used to evaluate changes

in time perspective measures and decidedness over time and as a func-

tion of treatment condition. The independent variable was treatment

condition (experimental vs. control), and pre-post measurement was

the repeated measurement factor (Time) with two levels (pretest and

posttest m easurement). Only the Treatment Condition x Time interac-

tion produced effects of interest for the study and will be reported. The

Bonferroni correction

{p

.05/5) were used. The effect sizes of the

interactions were calculated in accordance with Field's (2005) sugges-

tion of converting F ratios to an effect size

r.

When r

=

.10 the effect

is considered small, when

r

.30 the effect is considered medium, and

when r

=

.50 the effect is considered large.

A repeated-measures analysis of variance showed a main interaction ef-

fect of the treatment condition and the pretest and posttest m easurement,

Wilks's lambda = .619, P(5, 44) = 5.428, p

.0 01. Univariate analyses

showed an interaction effect for the LTPD,

F{1

48) = 12.774,

p =

.001,

r

.46. For the AFG, no significant interaction effect emerged. For the

Hope Scale, an interaction effect emerged on Pathways, P ( l , 48) = 8.178,

p

.006, r

=

.38. For the LDASCF, an interaction effect emerged, f(l,

48) = 19.199,

p

.001,

r=

.54. T-score means of the experimental and

the control groups at pretest and posttest are reported in Table 1. The

interaction graphs (Figures

to 3) highlighted that the experimental group

showed higher

sense

of continuity, higher Pathways (Hope

Scale),

and also

higher levels of career decidedness at posttest than did the control group.


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TABLE 1

Means T Scores) and Standard Deviations of Experimental

and Control Groups at Pretest and Posttest

Pretest Posttest

Control

Group

Experimental

Group

Control

Group

Experimental

Group

Measure

LTPD

AFG

Sense of Agency

Pathways

LDASCF

M

49.11

49.87

49.18

49.14

51.11

S

9.80

9.48

9.02

8.81

10.21

M

50.88

50.12

50.81

50.89

48.88

S

10.31

10.68

11.01

11.17

9.85

M

48.60

49.79

49.79

49.56

51.87

S

12.17

11.31

8.33

9.37

12.21

M

59.70

54.88

58.41

58.38

60.52

S

10.09

10.40

8.59

9.31

6.96

Note

LTPD = Long-Term Personal Direction Scale; AFG = Achievability of Future

Goals S cale; LDASCF = Level of D ecision and A ssurance Related to O ne s S chool-

Career Future.

own eareer projeet with greater com petence and awareness. As expected,

at posttest, the experimental group showed higher levels of condnuity,

hope Pathways), and career decicledness than did the control g rou p.

Contrary to expectations, no differences were found for Optimism and

58

—

56

—

0)

S 54-

52 —

5 0 -

48 —

• — • Experimental Group

O-

O Control

Group

/

o

/

/


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58 —

Q 56

û

5 2

50 —

48 —

•—•Experimental Group

O Control Group

/

O

/

o

Pretest

I

Posttest

Time

FIGURE 2

Pathways for Expérimentai and Control Groups at Pretest

and Posttest

ote LTPD = Long Term Personal Direction Scale.

Sense of Agency. However, the results obtained seem encouraging. The

effect sizes were between .38 and .54 and can be considered medium to

large. They seem satisfactory when compared with the average weighted

effect sizes of other career interventions, which are about .30 to .34 , as

reported in meta-analytic studies (Brown Ryan Krane,

2000;

Whiston,

Sexton, Lasoff 1998).

At the end of the intervention, there was a significant increase in

students' LTPD scores. Working on continuity between students' past,

present, and future and on goal setting may have stimulated these youth

to find a stronger relation between what they were currently doing

and what they might pursue in the fiiture. In addition, training them

to think about the future may have made the latter more real to them

and facilitated projection and anticipation of events (Saviekas, 2002).

An increase in the hope for the future was also recorded in Pathways.


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60

5 4

51

4 8 -

•—•Experimental Group

O--O

ontrol

Group

O--/

/

o

T

Pretest

T

Posttest

Time

FIGURE 3

LDASCF for Experimental and Control Groups at Pretest

and Posttest

ote

LDASCF = Level of Decision and A ssurance Related to One s School-Career Future.

options, and asking the youth to explore the options and relate them

to their own objectives very likely contributed to the youth having a

clearer idea of choice. These results seem to support Sampson, P eterson ,

Reardon , and Lenz s (2 000) position, which proposed a significant role

for existing knowledge, both on oneself and school-career reality, and

for decisional strategies in favoring higher levels of decision.

However, the students scores on the Optimism About the Future

scale and the dimension of sense of agency did not show any changes.

It could be that more time is needed for students to experience choice

situations that make them perceive some sort of optimism and sense

of agency. It also may be that more experimental activities should be

proposed, as suggested also by Marko and Savickas (1989), to produce

a more sizable affective change. Perhaps, as Leondari (20 07) indicated,

it could also be useful to devote more time to imagine possible desirable

selves and to envisage possible futures, which is generally associated with


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between present behaviors and nature outcomes) and the affective one

(i.e.,

mood and hope about the future)—can be changed and improved

in developmental-age youth. Implementing specific interventions can

diminish adolescents' natural tendency to concentrate more on the

present (Ferrari et al., 2010; Janeiro, 2010).

Regarding implications for practice, the variables that we focused on in

the intervention are indeed sensitive to educational actions and they can

certainly be examined in developmental age both for at-risk youtii and

in a preventive perspective. The importance of addressing small groups

should also be considered because such an approach allows the trainer

to discuss questions at the individual level and to give specific feedback

to every participant, as suggested by Brown and Ryan Krane (2000).

Moreover, working with groups allows the intervention to be carried out

with a larger num ber of individuals, thereby making it less expensive. In

addition, students also can draw some useflil ideas and refiections from

the comments, refiections, and proposals of their school peers.

Future research should examine whether this type of intervention can

affect career adaptability in general and whether it could prove efficacious

with students with different characteristics, such as younger studen ts or

individuals from different ethnic backgrounds.

Although our findings are encouraging, there are some limitations

that must be considered. First, we selected a group of low-scoring

participants. Using this method brings regression toward the mean into

play and the students ' scores may have a natural tendency to increase,

even though this did no t happen with the control g roup . Second, our

control group attended usual school activities. It may simply be that

the added attention that the experimental group received contributed

to their higher scores. Future research should propose other kinds

of training sessions for the control group. Third, it must also be re-

membered that the satisfactory assessment of training efficacy should

not be limited to recording changes that occur only a few weeks after

program completion. This implies that future research should also

include 6- and 12-month follow-ups to determine whether students

maintained and generalized the abilities focused on in the training. It

is difficult to discern which interventions or combinations of interven-

tions produced significant results. Future research should also examine

this kind of question.

In conclusion, our results seem to confirm that this program can expand

adolescents' perception ofthe future, a period that adolescents do not

tend to think of in a proactive way. The results also suggest that it is

possible to encourage adolescents to think that they can do something

to actively construct their own fiiture.

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