Received 03/29/18

Revised 07/18/18
Accepted 07/19/18
DOI: 10.1002/cdq.12164

Mindfulness and Decision-Making Style:

Predicting Career Thoughts
and Vocational Identity
Jacob Galles, Janet Lenz, Gary W. Peterson,
and James P. Sampson Jr.
Mindfulness has been a focus of psychological research and practice in recent decades.
Yet, there is limited research on the relationship between mindfulness and vocational
decision-making. This study’s purpose was to examine the role of mindfulness in
a career context by investigating the relationships among mindfulness, decision-
making style, negative career thoughts, and vocational identity. The sample included
258 undergraduate students (204 women, 54 men) at a large southeastern U.S.
university. Mindfulness was significantly (p < .01) associated with fewer negative
career thoughts, external and thinking-based decision-making styles, and higher
vocational identity. Multiple regression procedures found that mindfulness, coupled
with decision-making style, accounted for 31% of the variance in negative career
thoughts and 22% of the variance in vocational identity. These findings suggest
that more holistic career counseling interventions could incorporate mindfulness
techniques to help reduce anxiety and negative thoughts while increasing self-clarity
and problem-solving skills. Future research could include more diverse samples,
additional constructs (e.g., choice volition, self-efficacy), and a pretest–posttest
design to examine the efficacy of mindfulness-based career interventions.
Keywords: mindfulness, negative career thoughts, vocational decision-making style,
vocational identity, career counseling

Decision-making, including decision-making styles, remains an area of

interest in the vocational and career development field (S. D. Brown,
Hacker, & Abrams, 2012; Gati & Levin, 2014). Researchers have
explored the relationships between decision-making and vocational
identity (Holland, 1997), negative thoughts (Sampson, Peterson, Lenz,
Reardon, & Saunders, 1996b), mental health factors (Walker & Peterson,
2012), and a variety of other variables (S. D. Brown & Rector, 2008).
A topic that has received less attention in vocational research is that of
mindfulness (Kabat-Zinn, 1990) and how mindfulness might be connected
to career factors and, ultimately, improved career decision-making.
Making career decisions and surviving in an uncertain job market can
be difficult, especially when individuals lack knowledge about themselves
and options, and experience negative thoughts and emotions associated
with their lives and career situations. In the present study, we examined
how mindfulness coupled with decision-making style might relate to
negative career thinking and vocational identity.

Jacob Galles, Utopia Wellness, Tampa, Florida; Janet Lenz, Gary W. Peterson, and
James P. Sampson Jr., Career Center, Florida State University. Correspondence
concerning this article should be addressed to Janet Lenz, Career Center, Florida
State University, 100 South Woodward Avenue, 2122 DSC, Tallahassee, FL 32306
(email: jlenz@fsu.edu).
© 2019 by the National Career Development Association. All rights reserved.

The Career Development Quarterly MARCH 2019 • VOLUME 67 77

Mindfulness
Mindfulness, as a concept and practice, has a history spanning more than
2,500 years and has been a key focus in Western medical and psychological
practice over the past few decades (Davidson & Dimidjian, 2015). The
literature suggests that mindfulness is a complex and multidimensional
construct (Hart, Ivtzan, & Hart, 2013), although it appears that the
majority of definitions have certain qualities in common (Kabat-Zinn,
2003). Kabat-Zinn (2003) formulated a definition of mindfulness that
incorporates the idea of mindfulness as a state of being in which one
is nonjudgmentally aware of thoughts, emotions, bodily sensations,
and external stimuli, accompanied by characteristics such as openness,
acceptance, and curiosity. Mindfulness has extended beyond a means for
reducing stress to treating various psychological disorders, such as major
depression, generalized anxiety, and attention-deficit disorders (Hayes,
Strosahl, & Wilson, 1999; Teasdale et al., 2000). Regular mindfulness
practice has been found to be more effective in reducing depressive
symptoms and improving quality of life than antidepressant medication
maintenance (Kuyken et al., 2008). Mindfulness may also lead to reduced
tendencies to ruminate on negative thoughts and feelings, increased
ability to solve problems, and greater focus in the midst of trauma or
adversity (Ortner, Kilner, & Zelazo, 2007), as well as improvement in
life satisfaction (Felsman, Verduyn, Ayduk, & Kross, 2017).
Previous research on mindfulness points to its ability to reduce worry
and rumination about possible future scenarios and past experiences,
and its potential to increase individuals’ ability to be more fully in the
present and more prepared to handle difficult situations as they arise
(Baer, 2003; Deyo, Wilson, Ong, & Koopman, 2009; R. D. Siegel,
2010). These outcomes may have relevance to a person’s self-clarity or
vocational identity, level of negative thinking, and the ability to think
positively about current and future career choices. This previous research
suggests that mindfulness may serve as an effective intervention within
the context of career counseling that addresses the intersection of career
and mental health issues (Zunker, 2008).

Mindfulness in a Career Counseling Context

Mindfulness has received limited attention in the career development
and counseling literature. Jacobs and Blustein (2008) discussed the
incorporation of mindfulness as a method to help individuals cope with
uncertainty involved in finding employment. They asserted that fostering
mindfulness-based viewpoints and teaching mindfulness skills may help
clients with decision-making in the face of uncertainty by decreasing
worry about the future and by increasing engagement with problem-
solving tasks. Zhang (2011) suggested that individuals who are more
mindful have fewer career decision-making difficulties stemming from
emotional concerns. Mindfulness has also been associated with more job
satisfaction and less emotional exhaustion at work (Hülsheger, Alberts,
Feinholdt, & Lang, 2013), as well as greater work engagement (Leroy,
Anseel, Dimitrova, & Sels, 2013). Despite the broader research findings
noted earlier that mindfulness may help reduce negative affect, such as
depression, anxiety, negative thinking, rumination, and worry, as well

78 The Career Development Quarterly MARCH 2019 • VOLUME 67

as help individuals process information in the present and be open to
future possibilities, there is a need for further empirical evidence on how
mindfulness might specifically inform career counseling and vocational
decision-making. This gap in the literature provided the impetus for
the current study.

Vocational Decision-Making Style

A person’s approach to a decision-making situation is referred to as
decision-making style. Harren (1979) distinguished between three styles
of decision-making—rational, intuitive, and dependent—and asserted that
a rational approach to decision-making is superior to other styles. Other
researchers have suggested that there are limits to rational approaches
(e.g., Krieshok, Black, & McKay, 2009). Phillips, Pazienza, and Ferrin
(1984) studied the relationships between vocational decision-making
style and problem-solving and found that individuals who endorsed
both a rational and an intuitive vocational decision-making style were
more likely to approach problem-solving tasks with greater confidence
and sense of personal control than were those who endorsed a rational
style alone. Blustein and Phillips (1988) found a positive relationship
between a thinking-oriented decision-making style in relation to career
exploratory behavior. Farrar (2009) found that students scoring higher
on the feeling-oriented and extroverted styles reported more career
decision-making difficulties. Given these mixed findings related to
decision-making style and selected career variables, our research sought
to further explore how mindfulness level, along with decision-making
style, might be related to career thoughts and vocational identity.

Career Thoughts
Cognitive information processing (CIP) theory (Sampson, Reardon,
Peterson, & Lenz, 2004) provides a framework for conceptualizing
the nature of career problems and a person’s readiness to engage
in the decision-making process. CIP theory includes a pyramid of
information-processing domains comprising self-knowledge, options
knowledge, decision-making skills, and metacognitions. Metacognitions
govern strategies used to solve career problems through self-talk, self-
awareness, and monitoring and control (Sampson et al., 2004). CIP
theory emphasizes how negative career thoughts may affect the career
decision-making process.
In cognitive therapy (Beck, 1976), negative thoughts are believed
to have a damaging effect on feelings and motivation to behave in an
effective way that causes difficulty in processing and effectively using
information to solve career problems. Making career choices requires
processing and using information about oneself and about available
options, engaging in a decision-making process, and monitoring
one’s thoughts and feelings throughout the process (Sampson et
al., 2004). Research has shown that negative thoughts can have a
damaging effect on the ability and motivation to process information
about oneself and one’s options, as well as the ability to execute a
plan of action to effectively solve career problems and make career
decisions (Sampson et al., 1996b).

The Career Development Quarterly MARCH 2019 • VOLUME 67 79

 Based on CIP theory (Sampson et al., 2004) and Beck’s (1976) cogni-
tive therapy approach, the Career Thoughts Inventory (CTI; Sampson
et al., 1996b; Sargent & Lenz, 2017–2018) was developed to measure
negative career thinking in career problem-solving and decision-making.
Research on negative career thoughts has found significant relationships
with decision-making style and cognitive thought patterns (Paivandy,
Bullock, Reardon, & Kelly, 2008), depression (Saunders, Peterson,
Sampson, & Reardon, 2000), hopelessness (Dieringer, Lenz, Hayden,
& Peterson, 2017), and vocational identity (Strohm, 2008; Yanchak,
Lease, & Strauser, 2005).
CIP theory can be used as a framework to understand the possible
benefit of incorporating mindfulness into career counseling. A number
of articles refer to mindfulness as a metacognition (e.g., K. W. Brown
& Ryan, 2003; Teasdale, 1999; Teasdale et al., 2002; Wells, 2002).
Teasdale (1999) asserted that the practice of mindfulness fosters greater
metacognitive insight and “allows for more clear sightedness and a greater
sense of manageability in one’s life” (p. 154). Along with negative career
thoughts, research suggests that clarity about one’s future (i.e., vocational
identity) may be a useful area to explore in relation to mindfulness given
the positive benefits associated with mindfulness practice (Baer, 2003;
Teasdale, 1999). These findings led to our final research question of
how mindfulness and decision-making style might relate to vocational
identity (Holland, 1997).

Vocational Identity
Career indecision has been hypothesized to be the result of difficulties
in forming a vocational identity (Holland & Holland, 1977). Vocational
identity refers to “the possession of a clear and stable picture of one’s
goals, interests, personality, and talents” (Holland, 1997, p. 42). The
possession of a clear vocational identity has been shown to lead to
increased confidence in making career decisions (Holland, Daiger, &
Power, 1980). Research findings support the notion that higher levels of
vocational identity relate to a number of positive career-related factors,
including career exploratory behavior (Gushue, Scanlan, Pantzer, &
Clarke, 2006), less negative thinking (Galles & Lenz, 2013), higher
levels of self-efficacy related to college plans (McKechnie, 2012), and
psychological well-being (Strauser, Lustig, & Ciftçi, 2008). In contrast,
lower vocational identity levels have been found to be related to
higher levels of negative career thoughts (Sampson et al., 1996b) and
symptoms of trauma (Strauser, Lustig, Cogdal, & Uruk, 2006). Despite
the number of studies linking vocational identity to various career and
mental health factors, no research has examined how mindfulness and
decision-making style, along with negative career thoughts, might be
related to vocational identity.

Purpose of the Study

Investigating relationships among mindfulness, decision-making style,
negative career thoughts, and vocational identity may contribute to a
better understanding of how incorporating mindfulness in a career context
might lead to improved outcomes for clients in terms of decision-making

80 The Career Development Quarterly MARCH 2019 • VOLUME 67

effectiveness, self-clarity, and fewer negative career thoughts. Examining
how decision-making style interacts with these variables could provide
additional clarity on how and for whom mindfulness may be beneficial
with regard to reducing negative career thoughts and increasing vocational
identity levels. Previous research suggests that mindfulness practice leads
to increased behavioral and emotional regulation, increased coping, and
decreased symptoms of depression and anxiety (Baer, 2003; Kuyken et
al., 2008; R. D. Siegel, 2010). These findings highlight the potential
benefit of incorporating mindfulness into more holistic career counseling
approaches (Zunker, 2008). Mindfulness concepts and interventions
continue to be a focus in counseling research and practice (Davidson
& Dimidjian, 2015). Teasdale (1999) described how the metacognitive
insight associated with mindfulness can enhance decision-making and
reduce the impact of dysfunctional thoughts. Using CIP theory (Sampson
et al., 2004) as a framework, we investigated mindfulness and decision-
making style as predictors of career thoughts and vocational identity.
We sought to improve the understanding of how these variables are
related to negative career thoughts and vocational identity, with the hope
that the results lead to improved career interventions that incorporate
mindfulness and attention to decision-making styles.

Method
Participants
Participants consisted of 258 undergraduate students (204 women, 54
men) from a large university in the southeastern United States. Most
participants identified as Caucasian (n = 189, 73.3%), followed by His-
panic American (n = 26, 10.1%), African American (n = 23, 8.9%), Asian
American (n = 11, 4.3%), and other (n = 9, 3.5%). Participants ranged
in age from 17 to 47 years, with a mean age of 20.3 years (SD = 2.8).

Measures
Mindfulness. The Cognitive Affective Mindfulness Scale–Revised (CAMS-
R; Feldman, Hayes, Kumar, Greeson, & Laurenceau, 2007) was used to
measure mindfulness. The CAMS-R is a 12-item measure designed to
capture the breadth of Kabat-Zinn’s (2003) definition of mindfulness
(attention, present-moment awareness, and attitude of acceptance). The
CAMS-R was developed specifically for use with populations that have
no formal meditation experience but may have cultivated mindfulness
through other means (e.g., life experience, religious practice, psycho-
therapy). Respondents rate each item on a 4-point Likert-type scale
ranging from 1 (rarely/not at all) to 4 (almost always). Sample items
include “I am preoccupied by the past” and “I am able to accept the
thoughts and feelings I have.” The internal consistency of the CAMS-R
in the initial sample was found to be .76 (Feldman et al., 2007). Baer,
Smith, Hopkins, Krietemeyer, and Toney (2006) reported an internal
consistency for the CAMS-R of .81. In the present study, the internal
consistency of the CAMS-R was .78. Feldman et al. (2007) and Baer et
al. provided evidence for the CAMS-R’s convergent validity.
Vocational decision-making style. The Vocational Decision Style Indicator
(VDSI; Walsh, 1986) was used to measure vocational decision-making

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style. The VDSI contains two 20-item subscales: Thinking–Feeling
(T-F) and Introversion–Extroversion (I-E). The VDSI was developed
based on an explicit integration of theory and research regarding the
decision-making process (Harren, 1979) and the characteristic ways
in which people relate to others and the environment (Jung, 1923).
Blustein and Phillips (1988) noted that “the VDSI was constructed
based on individual variation in each aspect of the decision-making
process” (p. 207).
Respondents rate each item on a 5-point Likert-type scale ranging
from 1 (always) to 5 (never). Higher scores on the T-F subscale indicate
a more rational, cognitive approach to decision-making (i.e., thinking),
whereas lower scores indicate a more intuitive, feeling-oriented decision-
making approach (i.e., feeling). Examples of T-F subscale items include
“I make decisions in a systematic way” and “I don’t spend a lot of time
gathering information before I make a decision.” Higher scores on the
I-E subscale indicate a more active, independent, internal approach to
decision-making (i.e., introvert), whereas lower scores indicate a more
passive, dependent, external approach (i.e., extrovert). Examples of
I-E subscale items include “I make choices without the help of other
people” and “Before I make a decision I ask other people what they
think I should do.”
Walsh (1986) reported alpha reliability coefficients of .80 and .89
for the T-F and I-E subscales, respectively. Using the 40-item version,
Blustein and Phillips (1988) reported internal consistency levels of .77
for the T-F subscale and .85 for the I-E subscale, as well as test–retest
reliabilities of .89 and .85, respectively. In the present study, the T-F
subscale’s internal consistency was .79, and the I-E subscale’s internal
consistency was .85. Walsh provided evidence for convergent and
discriminant validity.
Career thoughts. Career thoughts were measured using the CTI (Samp-
son, Peterson, Lenz, Reardon, & Saunders, 1996a). The CTI comprises 48
items, which are rated on a 4-point Likert scale ranging from 0 (strongly
disagree) to 3 (strongly agree). The CTI is intended to measure negative
career thoughts in career problem-solving and decision-making. Higher
scores may indicate decision-making confusion, commitment anxiety,
and conflict with significant others. Sample items include “I can’t be
satisfied unless I can find the perfect occupation for me” and “I get so
depressed about choosing a field of study or occupation that I can’t get
started.” In the initial sample, the internal consistency of the CTI total
score was .97, and test–retest reliability over 1 month was .86 (Sampson
et al., 1996b). In the present study, the CTI’s internal consistency was
found to be .97. Evidence of the CTI’s convergent and discriminant
validity has been reported (Sampson et al., 1996b).
Vocational identity. Vocational identity was measured using the
Vocational Identity (VI) subscale of the My Vocational Situation (Holland
et al., 1980). The VI subscale measures self-perceptions of interests,
talents, goals, and personality. The VI subscale comprises 18 true/false
items. Sample items include “I am not sure of myself in many areas of
life” and “If I had to make an occupational choice right now, I am afraid
I would make a bad choice.” Holland et al. (1980) reported internal
consistency coefficients ranging from .86 to .89 for the VI subscale. In

82 The Career Development Quarterly MARCH 2019 • VOLUME 67

the present study, the VI subscale’s internal consistency was found to be
.89. Holland, Johnston, and Asama (1993) concluded that the test–retest
reliability and construct validity of the VI subscale were substantial.
Convergent and discriminant validity of the VI subscale have also been
documented in other research (Sampson et al., 1996b; Savickas, 1985).

Procedure
The study was approved by the university’s institutional review board
prior to data collection. Participants were volunteer undergraduate
students from four university courses who received credit for their
participation. The volunteers were sent a Qualtrics survey link that was
used to administer the consent form, demographic questionnaire, and
the instruments online. The instruments were administered randomly
to control for order effects. Identifying information was not attached to
participant responses to ensure confidentiality, and all participants who
consented received credit, regardless of whether they completed the
surveys. A total of 264 students were given credit for participating in the
study. Six cases were excluded from the sample because of incomplete
surveys, leaving a final sample of 258 that was used in the data analysis.

Results
Descriptive statistics and correlations for the variables of interest appear in
Table 1. Significant relationships (p < .01) were found between mindfulness
and all of the other variables, indicating that mindfulness was moderately
associated with fewer negative career thoughts (r = –.50), external (r = .31)
and thinking-based decision-making styles (r = .33), and higher vocational
identity (r = .40). An association was also found between a thinking-based
decision-making style and fewer negative career thoughts (r = –.32). The
results also revealed that an external decision-making style was related to
fewer negative career thoughts (r = –.37), as well as higher vocational
identity levels (r = .34). Higher vocational identity levels were strongly
related (r = –.70) to having fewer negative career thoughts.
We conducted two multiple regression analyses to examine whether
mindfulness and decision-making style predicted participants’ endorse-

TABLE 1
Means, Standard Deviations, and Correlations for
the Study Variables
Variable 1 2 3 4 5
1. Mindfulness —
2. Thinking–feeling .33* —
3. Internal–external .31* .15 —
4. Negative career thoughts –.50* –.32* –.37* —
5. Vocational identity .40* .25* .34* –.70* —

M 32.10 66.99 57.04 47.38 11.13

SD 5.29 8.11 10.90 22.79 4.89
Note. Thinking–feeling = thinking–feeling decision-making style; internal–external =
internal–external decision-making style.
*p < .01.

The Career Development Quarterly MARCH 2019 • VOLUME 67 83

ments of (a) negative career thoughts and (b) vocational identity (see
Tables 2 and 3). All of the variables were found to meet the assumptions
of normality with respect to skewness and kurtosis for regression analy-
sis. The first regression analysis included mindfulness, thinking–feeling
decision-making style, and internal–external decision-making style as
predictors of negative career thoughts and was statistically significant,
R2 = .32, adjusted R2 = .31, F(3, 254) = 40.20, p < .001. Together, the
three predictors accounted for 31% of the variance in negative career
thoughts. Mindfulness significantly predicted negative career thoughts
(β = –.37, p < .001), as did thinking decision-making style (β = –.17, p
= .003) and internal decision-making style (β = –.23, p < .001).
The second multiple regression analysis, which included mindful-
ness, thinking–feeling decision-making style, and internal–external
decision-making style as predictors of vocational identity, was also
statistically significant, R2 = .23, adjusted R2 = .22, F(3, 254) =
24.96, p < .001. Together, the three predictors accounted for 22%
of the variance in vocational identity. Mindfulness significantly pre-
dicted level of vocational identity (β = .29, p < .001), as did internal
decision-making style (β = .24, p < .001). However, thinking–feeling
decision-making style was not a statistically significant predictor of
vocational identity (β = .12, p = .038).

Discussion
The present study examined mindfulness and decision-making style
as predictors of career thoughts and vocational identity. Greater
understanding of these variables may lead to improved career
interventions that incorporate mindfulness and attention to decision-
making styles as a means of reducing negative career thinking and
enhancing vocational identity.
An initial finding of this study suggests that mindfulness is significantly
and inversely related to negative career thoughts. This finding implies
that greater mindfulness, or self- awareness and acceptance in the present,
is associated with less decision-making confusion, commitment anxiety,
and conflict with significant others. Because mindfulness has been
characterized as a metacognition, or the capacity for thinking about
thinking (K. W. Brown & Ryan, 2003; Teasdale et al., 2002), it is not
surprising that a higher level of mindfulness was found to be associated
with fewer negative career thoughts.

TABLE 2
Regression Analysis for Variables Predicting
Negative Career Thoughts
Variable B SE B b t p
Mindfulness –1.60 .25 –.37 –6.55 <.001
Thinking–feeling –0.46 .15 –.17 –3.01 .003
Internal–external –0.48 .11 –.23 –4.19 <.001
Note. R 2 = .32, adjusted R 2 = .31, F(3, 254) = 40.20, p < .001. Thinking–feeling =
thinking–feeling decision-making style; internal–external = internal–external decision-
making style.

84 The Career Development Quarterly MARCH 2019 • VOLUME 67

 TABLE 3
Regression Analysis for Variables Predicting
Vocational Identity
Variable B SE B b t p
Mindfulness .27 .06 .29 4.76 <.001
Thinking–feeling .07 .04 .12 2.08 .038
Internal–external .11 .03 .24 4.05 <.001
Note. R 2 = .23, adjusted R 2 = .22, F(3, 254) = 24.96, p < .001. Thinking–feeling =
thinking–feeling decision-making style; internal–external = internal–external decision-
making style.

From a CIP theoretical perspective (Sampson et al., 2004), mindfulness,

as a metacognition, may help individuals maintain an awareness of
themselves as career decision makers, govern their self-talk, and enable
them to monitor and control where they are in the career decision-
making process, including being aware of a career problem, analyzing its
causes, developing options, arriving at a decision, and implementing it.
These results also lend support to the relationship between mindfulness
and vocational identity levels. Individuals higher in mindfulness were
found to have significantly higher vocational identity levels, suggesting
that greater mindfulness contributes to a clearer and more stable picture
of one’s goals, interests, and talents. Of interest is that negative career
thoughts and vocational identity were highly correlated constructs (r =
–.70); thus, both share common variance with mindfulness.
The first regression analysis (see Table 2) provides support for the
notion that mindfulness—along with an internal, thinking-oriented
decision-making style, rather than an external, feeling-oriented decision-
making style—may lead to fewer negative career thoughts. Some previous
research (Hartung & Blustein, 2002; Krieshok et al., 2009; Phillips et al.,
1984; Rubinton, 1980) has suggested that a balanced decision-making
style, between thinking and feeling and introversion and extroversion,
is optimal. In contrast, Harren’s (1979) conception and Walsh’s (1986)
reconception of vocational decision-making style both asserted that a
rational approach to decision-making is superior to other styles. Our
findings seem to support Harren’s and Walsh’s position with respect to
decision-making style, specifically in relation to negative career thoughts.
To further elaborate on the relationship between internal thinking
versus external feeling and negative career thoughts, we draw on Kahn-
eman’s (2003) two-systems perspective of judgment and choice. The
first system, intuiting, may be described as automatic, effortless, often
emotionally charged, influenced by habit, not amenable to introspec-
tion, and difficult to control and modify. By contrast, the second system,
deliberate reasoning, is characterized as slower, serial, effortful, flexible,
rule governed, and consciously monitored and controlled. Negative career
thoughts are emotionally charged attributes of career decision-making
(Sampson et al., 1996b). Thus, individuals who endorse many negative
thoughts on the CTI may be prone to exhibit characteristics of intuitive
reasoning in career choice, whereas individuals who endorse few nega-
tive career thoughts are more likely to reflect deliberative reasoning, or
perhaps what Frank Parsons (1909) meant by “true reasoning” (p. 5).

The Career Development Quarterly MARCH 2019 • VOLUME 67 85

 The second regression analysis indicated that mindfulness and an inter-
nal decision-making style predicted vocational identity level. Individuals
who are prone to self-awareness and self-acceptance, along with a more
active, independent decision-making style, are also more likely to report
higher vocational identity levels—namely, greater self-confidence and
clarity regarding career goals and aspirations. In CIP terms, individuals
high in mindfulness and who possess an internal decision-making style
likely have metacognitive skills within the executive processing domain
(Flavell, 1976; Meichenbaum, 1977) that guide and regulate ongoing
educational and career decisions that keep them on a productive path
over time. Therefore, mindfulness, as a concept and construct, furthers
the definition and understanding of the executive processing domain in
CIP theory (Sampson et al., 2004).

Limitations
Data were collected from a criterion sample of students enrolled in
a large southeastern university in the United States and recruited
through a participant pool that consisted of introductory educational
psychology courses within an educational psychology and learning systems
department in a college of education. Therefore, generalizability to all
college students may not be appropriate. In addition, students enrolled
in the courses may have differed from the general university population.
However, recruiting students from a variety of sections, with a variety
of majors and class standings, likely helped to ensure external validity.
The sample in this study consisted of primarily Caucasian women, which
further limits the generalizability of the results to other racial/ethnic
and gender classifications.
It is also possible that the instruments used in our study did not
fully capture or represent the defined variables. Specifically, the VDSI
was developed to measure decision-making style with the assumption
that the thinking and internal approaches are superior to the feeling
and external approaches. The inherent bias in the construction of the
VDSI may have influenced the results, contributing to the findings
that the thinking and internal decision-making styles were associated
with higher vocational identity and fewer negative career thoughts. In
addition, all of the measures used to assess the variables of interest relied
on participants’ self-report, which may limit the conclusions that can
be drawn from the results.

Directions for Future Research

Several authors have suggested that mindfulness may contribute to
effective career problem-solving and decision-making (K. W. Brown &
Ryan, 2003; Jacobs & Blustein, 2008; Kabat-Zinn, 1994; Tolle, 1999).
However, there is a lack of empirically and theoretically based studies that
have specifically considered the role of mindfulness in career problem-
solving and decision-making. Our findings illustrate some of the possible
benefits of including mindfulness in future career counseling research.
It appears that individuals high in mindfulness are likely to have fewer
negative career thoughts related to career decision-making and to have
higher levels of vocational identity. Furthermore, our results suggest that
the relationship between greater mindfulness and fewer negative career

86 The Career Development Quarterly MARCH 2019 • VOLUME 67

thoughts is enhanced by thinking and internal decision-making styles.
Finally, the relationship between mindfulness and vocational identity is
also enhanced by an internal decision-making style. These initial findings
point to the need for additional research to explore the phenomenon
of mindfulness in relation to career decision-making.
Our study was the first to examine mindfulness and decision-making
style and their relationship to negative career thoughts and vocational
identity. In light of the exploratory nature of the study, replication is
warranted to determine the sustainability of the findings. There is also a
need to replicate the research with more diverse samples to see whether
similar results are obtained and before career interventions are prescribed
that incorporate mindfulness techniques for various student populations.
Finally, given the VDSI’s potential limitations in accurately assessing a
balanced decision-making style, replication of this study with a measure
that captures a balanced conceptualization of decision-making may be
useful in extending these findings.
Future research could use an experimental pretest–posttest design
with a standardized mindfulness intervention to determine whether
mindfulness practice leads to positive outcomes in relation to se-
lected career constructs. A worthy direction for future investigations
regarding mindfulness and its effect on career problem-solving and
decision-making would be to discern whether other constructs, such
as choice volition, locus of control, and self-efficacy, might mediate
the relationship between mindfulness and vocational identity and/
or career thoughts.

Implications for Practice

In today’s evolving global economy, graduating high school and college
students continue to face challenging economic and job market conditions
(Carnevale, Jayasundera, & Gulish, 2016). Furthermore, individuals
who are forced into early retirement, who face multiple employment
transitions, and who are struggling with ongoing challenges related
to career issues may experience a number of “psychological ailments,
including depression, anxiety and low self-esteem” (Crabtree, 2014,
para. 4). The increasing complexity of career development points to
the need for new, more holistic career counseling approaches designed
to help individuals make informed and appropriate career decisions.
Mindfulness has been shown to positively affect depression, anxiety,
and attention problems by assisting with cognitive restructuring
(K. W. Brown & Ryan, 2003; Teasdale, 1999) and supporting
healthier neurological function (D. J. Siegel, 2007). These findings
are consistent with the notion that mindfulness inter ventions
could lead to enhanced metacognitive functioning and improved
self-knowledge, self-regulation, and identity formation, which in
turn could improve career decision-making and problem-solving
effectiveness. Farkas (2014) provided useful examples of how various
mindfulness activities can be incorporated into career counseling
practice. While recognizing the potential benefits of mindfulness as
an intervention, practitioners must consider the extent to which it
may be an appropriate and effective therapeutic approach in light of a
client’s unique life experience and cultural identity (Sobczak & West,

The Career Development Quarterly MARCH 2019 • VOLUME 67 87

2013). Our findings bolster the potential of mindfulness techniques
when used by properly trained career practitioners to promote career
development because mindfulness has been shown to be associated
with decreases in negative career thoughts and higher vocational
identity levels for certain types of decision makers.
Our findings also suggest that thinking-based and internal decision-
making styles may be superior to feeling-based and external decision-making
styles for reducing negative career thinking and promoting higher vocational
identity levels. Therefore, it may be prudent for career counselors to not
only encourage clients to become more self-aware and self-accepting, but
also use rational problem-solving, along with reliance on personal agency,
to promote more positive career thoughts and to foster self-confident goal
directedness. Finally, mindfulness, decision-making style, vocational iden-
tity, and negative career thoughts were found to be closely related to one
another. Therefore, practitioners may want to consider these constructs
together as part of a holistic approach to better assist individuals who are
struggling with career problem-solving and decision-making.

Conclusion
The findings of our study suggest that individuals higher in mindfulness,
as well as those with thinking-based and internal decision-making styles,
experience fewer negative career thoughts and higher levels of vocational
identity. Our results also indicate that mindfulness is associated with
lower levels of negative career thoughts and higher levels of vocational
identity for certain types of decision makers. Together, these findings
provide additional evidence for the potential benefit of incorporating
mindfulness into the career intervention process.

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