Development and Validation of the “Career Confidence for Activities in the Future” to Assess Italian Adolescents’ Self-Efficacy Beliefs in Handling Global Challenges

This paper reports the development and psychometric requisites of the Career Confidence for Activities in the Future (CCAF). This scale of 25 items assesses adolescents’ self-efficacy beliefs about the capacity to learn and execute professional activities necessary to handle six global challenges. These are the safeguard of the environment and life on the planet, health and well-being of all the people, fair and sustainable economic development, the use of technology for the benefit of all, the construction of right-conscious and inclusive societies, and the valorization of culture and education to cosmopolitanism. Two studies were carried out. Study 1 included 706 adolescents (M age = 17.39; SD = 0.81; 31.9% male and 67.8% female) and examined the factor structure through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Additionally, this study examined the convergent and discriminant validity of the questionnaire with measures of career adaptability and the propensity to sustainability in making decisions about one’s future. Study 2 included 706 adolescents (M age = 17.31; SD = 0.89; 50% male and 50% female) and provided measurement invariance across genders. Results supported the use of the CCAF in career guidance activities to encourage adolescents to positively contribute to handling the six global challenges considered.