CAREER MATURITY AMONG ADOLESCENTS IN RELATION TO THEIR SELF-CONCEPT AND ANXIETY

Career maturity among adolescents is of prime concern as they constitute an important part of the society. In the current scenario the career education and career guidance programmes have been reorganized for the secondary and senior secondary students in the context of the recent changes in the education system. In the present study, the researcher has tried to explore the relationship between career maturity, self-concept and anxiety of the adolescents. The study also aimed at comparing career maturity, self-concept and anxiety of the adolescents with respect to their gender, type of schools and academic stream. Career maturity was treated as the dependent variable and the independent variables comprised of self-concept, anxiety, type of schools. For the purpose of investigation, descriptive survey method was employed. The sample comprised of 120 students of class XII studying in CBSE affiliated schools located in Rohtak city. Multi-Stage Random Sampling Technique was used to select the sample for the present study. Career Maturity Inventory (CMI) developed by Gupta (2013), Self-concept Questionnaire (SCQ) developed by Ahluwalia (2005) and Sinha's Comprehensive Anxiety Test (SCAT) by Sinha & Sinha (2003) were used to measure the career maturity, self-concept and anxiety of the students. The obtained data was analyzed using Means, SD's, t-test and Pearson's Product Moment Correlation. The findings of the study revealed: i) Significant differences were found between career maturity of adolescents studying in government and private schools ii) No significant differences were reported between the self-concept and anxiety of adolescents studying in government and private schools iii) There was found a significant and positive correlation between career maturity and self-concept; career maturity and anxiety of adolescents studying in government schools iv) The study reported a small and substantial relationship between self-concept and anxiety of adolescents studying in government schools v) The self-concept of adolescents studying in the private schools was found to be moderately associated with their level of anxiety.