A reliability generalization meta-analysis of career anxiety scale in Türkiye sample

Abstract Career-related anxiety is considered a result of the difficulties experienced by the adolescent in the career development process where he/she makes career decisions and career indecisions. The Career Anxiety Scale (CAS), developed to determine the career concerns of high school students, is frequently preferred in research. This study aims to determine the average reliability of the scores by combining all the studies reporting reliability estimates through reliability generalization meta-analysis, in other words, to obtain a general reliability estimate and confidence interval for the scores obtained from the Career Anxiety Scale. A total of 43 articles using CAS between 2016 and 2024 were read and examined, but studies for which reliability calculations were not made from the sample groups were not included in the meta-analysis. After reviewing each study, the results of 15 different studies were included for the subscales, and the results of 16 studies were included for overall scale reliability in the meta-analysis. The random effects model was chosen to generalize the results. In the reviewed studies, the average Cronbach’s alpha value of the family effect is 0.88, and profession effect is 0.88. The average Cronbach’s alpha value of CAS-total is 0.90. The CAS is a reliable tool to measure career anxiety; however, further studies are needed to investigate what variables might explain the observed variability. It is believed that the reliability generalization findings obtained for the Career Anxiety Scale will be useful for researchers today when career research plays an important role in career development.