The Career Goal Adjustment Scale
Gerardo Petruzziello, Marco Giovanni Mariani
This study carries out an initial evaluation of the psychometric properties of an Italian version of the Goal Adjustment Scale, first introduced by Wrosch and colleagues (2003), to measure the self-regulation capacities of goal disengagement (i.e., capacity to relinquish unattainable goals) and goal re-engagement (i.e., committing to new purposes). After translating and adapting an Italian version of the scale (focalizing on career goals), an evaluation of its factorial structure at a confirmatory level and its internal consistency was performed. 282 Italian university students and graduates completed an online questionnaire containing the Italian version of the Goal Adjustment Scale. The results confirm the bi-factorial structure of goal adjustment, in line with existent literature, and report acceptable internal consistency values for both goal disengagement and goal re-engagement scales. Although promising results have been obtained, more work has to be done to delve into the development of this scale, with additional validation analyses with more heterogeneous and larger samples. Moreover, this initial evaluation can highlight the quality and agility of this scale as a tool to be used in Italian research contexts (i.e., for evaluating the effectiveness of goal management capabilities) and practical settings (such as career counseling and development programmes).
Keywords
Career guidance, Goal adjustment, Italian version of the Goal Adjustment Scale, Psychometric properties.
