• Journal of Gifted/Talented Education
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.921-946
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• 2010

The purpose of this study is to devise a model of career decision in the science-gifted by exploring factors of having influence upon career decision in the science-gifted undergraduates of our country, and by examining pattern and path of career decision. By suggesting a model of structure, which synthetically considered factors of parents (parental social support), school (stress of college life, adjustment to college life), and individual characteristics(problem solving ability, career decision-making self-efficacy, conviction for major selection)as for career decision in the science-gifted undergraduates through this study, the aim was to arrange the theoretical frame for career in the science-gifted undergraduates. The research subjects were 93(class of 2007~2009) students who completed education in 2002 and 2003 at the gifted education center affiliated with University, and 264 scholarship students(class of 2005-2008) by the President at home and abroad, who are receiving scholarship by being selected as a science scholarship student by the incumbent President. The measurement tools, which were used in this study for collecting data, are test of parental social support, test of problem-solving ability, test of stress in college life, test of adjustment to college life, test of efficacy in career decision, and test of having confidence in selecting a major. For statistical analysis of the collected data, SPSS Program and AMOS Program were used. As a result, the model showed a good fit to the present data in the science-gifted undergraduates, TLI=.928, CFI=.941, RMSEA=.059. It was confirmed to be a model that is accepted in the group of the science-gifted undergraduates. Also, hypotheses, which were established on the basis of a theoretical quest, could be known to have been all adopted except one path. The results of this study can be offered as basic data for developing program and implementing a system in order to broaden the width of understanding about career and to help the career decision in the science-gifted.

• Journal of Gifted/Talented Education
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.927-943
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• 2011

What are the critical factors in deciding future career to the gifted and talented students? The present study started with this question, and was to develop a career decision-making scale for scientifically gifted undergraduates. For this, literatures related to the scientifically gifted/talent and scientists' career decision-making were reviewed and examined in depth. Based on the review of the related literature, the developed scale of career decision-making was comprised of 26 items in 6 factors, such as individual aptitude & self-realization, economic aspect, work & leisure, familial influence, parents/teachers' recommendation, and experience of science activity during the school days. For the preliminary exploratory factor analysis, 153 undergraduate students who were majoring in natural sciences and engineer participated in the study. For the confirmatory factor analysis, 264 undergraduates who were awarded the presidential scholarships and 93 undergraduates who completed a university-affiliated gifted education center participated. The results of the study are as follows. The fit of measurement model was found to be $x^{2}$=645.157 (df=279, p=.00), TLI=.924, CFI= .935, RMSEA=.061, indicating most of fit indexes were acceptable. Cronbach's ${\alpha}$ in each sub-factor was quite high, .82 for individual aptitude & self-realization, .94 for economic aspect, .84 for work and leisure, .88 for familial influence, .79 for patents/ teachers' recommendation, and .79 for experience of science activity during the school days. The results of the study were discussed whether the developed scale could be used as a valid and reliable tool for measuring career decision-making factors of the scientifically gifted undergraduates in our country.