Artigo validação CAAS PT

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Career Adapt-Abilities Scale - Portugal Form: 
Psychometric Properties and Relationships to Employment Status 
 
 
M. Eduarda Duarte1*, M. C. Soares2, S. Fraga2, M. Rafael1, M. R. Lima1, I. Paredes3, R. 
Agostinho4, A. Djaló5 
 
1Faculty of Psychology, University of Lisbon; 2Career Counseling Institute, University of 
Lisbon; 3SHL Portugal ;4 Guidance and Occupational Integration Service of the Faculty of 
Letters, University of Lisbon; 5Professional Training and Employment Institute 
 
 
 
*Author for correspondence: E-mail: mecduarte@fp.ul.pt 
csoares@iop.ul.pt; sfraga@iop.ul.pt; mrafael@fp.ul.pt; rmlima@fp.ul.pt; 
isabel.paredes@shlportugal.pt; rute.agostinho@fl.ul.pt; amadu.djalo@iefp.pt 
 
 
 
Running head: Portugal Career Adapt-Abilities Scale 
 
 
 
 
Abstract 
The Career-Adaptabilities Scale (CAAS) – Portugal Form consists of four scales, each with 
seven items, which measure concern, control, curiosity, and confidence as psychosocial 
resources for managing occupational transitions, developmental tasks, and work traumas. 
Internal consistency estimates for the subscale and total scores ranged from good to excellent. 
The factor structure was fairly similar to the one computed for combined data from 13 countries. 
The CAAS – Portugal Form includes all the items in the International Form, and it adds one 
further national item to each scale. The syntheses of a variety of differential studies are presented 
to illustrate the importance of an adaptability measure to the field of career construction. 
 
Key words: adaptability; validity; reliability 
 
 
 
 
Career Adapt-Abilities Scale - Portugal Form: 
Psychometric Properties and Relationships to Employment Status 
 
Situated on the Iberian Peninsula, Portugal is Europe‘s most Westerly-situated country. 
It benefits from an excellent geographical location, being situated in a geographically strategic 
position between Europe, America, and Africa. Catholicism is the main religion and Portuguese 
is the official language spoken throughout the country. Portuguese is the fifth most spoken 
language in the world and the third most spoken in the Western world. Moreover, Portuguese 
remains the official language of 7 other countries, being spoken by more than 200 million 
people, and there are Portuguese communities settled around the world (European Commission, 
2010). 
Pre-primary education is considered as the first step of the education system and is aimed 
at children aged 3 to 5 years. This is followed by Primary education, Lower secondary education, 
Upper secondary education, and Higher education. As of 2009, education is compulsory from 16 
to 18 years of age. Students who have reached the age limit for compulsory education and who 
have not successfully completed the 12th grade may continue their education via other forms of 
adult education. With regards to legislation, access to education and culture is a legal right of the 
whole population. The freedom to teach and learn is also ensured (European Commission, 2010). 
In recent years, Portugal has been making efforts to increase the education and skill level. These 
efforts are primarily aimed at the qualifications of people presently in the labor market, and 
intended to enhance competitiveness, economic growth, employment, and improvement of 
salaries (Agência para o Investimento e Comércio Externo de Portugal, 2011). 
 
Portugal has one of the highest unemployment rates of European Community (12.4), as 
well as a high level of long-term unemployment. This situation is a result of a labor market that 
is accompanied by low levels of mobility. Furthermore, Portugal is one of the European 
countries with the highest level of temporary employment, especially amongst young people. 
Economic immigration is a relatively recent phenomenon compared to what had taken place in 
the past, when many Portuguese families would emigrate in search of a better life. Immigration 
is now helping to sustain the population of the country’s labor force, and consequently, is 
compensating for issues such as the ageing of the population and the increase in life expectancy. 
The proportion of workers who have completed secondary, post-secondary and tertiary education 
has increased so that in 2010, 16% of the active population has frequented a higher education 
establishment (Agência para o Investimento e Comércio Externo de Portugal, 2011). 
Similar to other countries, career counselors in Portugal may benefit from the availability 
of a career adaptability measure. While the CAAS-International Form 2.0 demonstrated excellent 
reliability and appropriate cross-national measurement equivalence (Savickas & Porfeli, this 
issue), its validity for use in Portugal must be addressed through further analysis. The present 
article describes the CAAS-Portugal Form and reports its psychometric properties, including 
item statistics and internal consistency estimates. In addition, a comparison is drawn between the 
factor structure of the CAAS-Portugal and the multi-dimensional, hierarchical measurement 
model of the CAAS-International Form 2.0. 
Methods 
Participants 
The sample included 916 participants: 255 students from 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th grade, 
65% of them attend the 9th grade, with a mean age of 15.04 years (SD = 1.39); 395 employed 
 
adults, 64% of which have at least a bachelor degree, with a mean age of 46.62 years (SD =4.29), 
and 266 unemployed adults enrolled in training activities, with a mean age of 22.43 years (SD = 
8.00). Participants volunteered to complete the CAAS- Portugal as part of a research project. The 
global sample was composed of 52% female students, 51% female employed adults, and 47% 
female unemployed adults. Ethnic variables were not considered. 
Measures 
Career Adapt-Abilities Scale-Portugal Form. The CAAS- International Form 2.0 is 
comprised of 24 items which combine to form a total score that indicates career adaptability (for 
the items see Savickas & Porfeli, this issue). The CAAS- Portugal Form is comprised of 28 items 
which combine to form a total score that indicates career adaptability. Participants responded to 
each item employing a scale from 1 (not strong) to 5 (strongest). The 28 items are divided 
equally into four subscales which measure the adaptability resources of concern, control, 
curiosity, and confidence in Portuguese. Each scale of the Portuguese version includes the six 
items of the international version set, plus one additional item per each scale which had been 
demonstrated to have high factor loading on the Portuguese sample results analysis. The item 
descriptive statistics and loadings relative to the confirmatory factor model obtained with the 
international items administered to the Portuguese sample appear in Table 1. This analysis refers 
to 22 items as two of the international items, one from the concern and the other from the 
confidence scale, were not included in the Portuguese trial version used to collect the 
international data (for these issues see Savickas & Porfeli, this issue). 
[Insert Table 1 around here] 
The total score for the CAAS – International Form has a reported reliability of .92, which 
is higher for than the subscale scores of concern (.83), control (.74), curiosity (.79) and 
 
confidence (.85) (Savickas & Porfeli, this issue). The reliabilities (CAAS- Portugal Form) of the 
subscales appear in Table 1. The reliabilities are generally slightly lower for this sample relative 
to the total international sample. The total score for the CAAS-Portugal Form has a reported 
reliability of .90, which is higher than the subscale scores of concern (.76), control (.69), 
curiosity (.78) and confidence (.79). 
Procedures 
The CAAS - Portugal was administered in October and December 2009, in three of the 
Professional Training and Employment Institute’s centers, to individuals who attended 
professionaltraining in order to obtain a secondary level of qualification (unemployed adults 
sub-sample). 
Between January and April 2010, the CAAS -Portugal was administered to students from 
9th to 12th grade during career counseling process which took place at the Career Counseling 
Institute of the University of Lisbon (students sub-sample). Simultaneously, these students were 
asked to give the CAAS -Portugal to their parents to complete (employed adults sub-sample). 
Anonymity of the aforementioned was guaranteed to all participants in the research project. 
Results 
The CAAS-Portugal item means and standard deviations suggest that the typical response 
was in the range of very strong to strongest (this may be accounted for by an increased answer 
selection of the two strongest alternatives, representing 76% of all answers). Skewness and 
kurtosis values for the CAAS-Portugal items ranged from (-.86 to 0.04) and (-.74 to 0.15) 
respectively; and for constructs ranged from (-.42 to -.15) and (-.36 to -.14) respectively. In both 
cases most of these statistics indicate a significant deviation from the normal distribution, 
suggesting that not all items or constructs conform to the assumptions of the correlation-based 
 
statistics for this sample. Scale means and standard deviations for the CAAS-Portugal country 
appear in Table 1. Furthermore, the four subscales correlated from .74 to .81 to the adaptability 
total score. 
Confirmatory Factor Analysis 
Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) using LISREL 8.8. software (Jӧreskog & Sӧrbom, 
1993) showed that data for the CAAS- Portugal Form fit the theoretical model. The fit indices 
were RMSEA= 0.061, SRMR=0.049 and CFI = 0.97, which are in conformity with the 
established joint fit criteria (Hu & Bentler, 1999). They are slightly less favorable than the fit 
indices for the CAAS-International model which were RMSE=0.053 and SRMR=0.039 
(Savickas & Porfeli, this issue Table 2, row M1b). Most of standardized loadings of items (see 
Table 1) are near .50. 
Comparison of Portugal factor model to international factor model 
 As stated before, two of the 24 international items – control #1 and confidence #5 – were 
not initially considered in the CAAS- Portugal data. Nonetheless a general comparison between 
the two models of CFA remains useful. Comparing the CAAS- Portugal hierarchical factor 
model to the model for the CAAS-International confirms a shared structural model, although 
with differences in the loadings of the first-order items of adaptability (lower for CAAS- 
Portugal). In both models the items with highest loading for three of the subscales are the same: 
concern #2 (realizing that today’s choices shape my future), control #5 (counting on myself) and 
curiosity #2 (looking for opportunities to grow as a person). For confidence the highest loading 
item in the international model is one that is absent in Portuguese data (confidence #4 
overcoming obstacles). Of the second order constructs, control exhibited the greatest difference 
in loading between the Portuguese (.92) and international samples (.86), with the Portugal 
 
exhibiting a stronger loading. The loading for Portugal concern was .75 compared to .78 for 
International Form control. The loading for Portugal curiosity was .90 compared to .88 for the 
International form. The Portugal confidence loading was .89 compared to .90 for the 
International Form. The Portugal mean scores were slightly higher than the International mean 
scores: Portugal concern (3.94), International concern (3.79); Portugal control (4.21), 
International control (3.93); Portugal curiosity (3.88), International curiosity (3.69); Portugal 
confidence (4.13), International confidence (3.93); and Portugal adaptability (4.04), International 
adaptability (3.84). 
Differential studies 
Some differential studies for CAAS-Portugal were also conducted to consider gender, 
educational attainment, and occupational status (Duarte, Soares & Fraga, 2011). The results 
appear in Table 2. 
[Insert Table 2 around here] 
Student subsample females expressed more concern (pof 
competences, in order to obtain new employment opportunities. 
 Based on the results reported herein, the CAAS-Portugal Form appears as a very 
promising tool for use by researchers and practitioners who wish to measure adaptability 
resources among students and also in adults who are living or anticipating occupational 
transitions, which the Portuguese team included in this study’s sample. However, further 
research in the near future should help to refine specific aspects of the tool in order to improve its 
convergent validity. 
 
References 
 
Agência para o Investimento e Comércio Externo de Portugal (2011) [Portugal Agency for 
investment and external commerce]. Portugal - Country Profile. Retrieved from 
http://www.portugalglobal.pt 
Anderson, J. C., & Gerbing, D. W. (1988). Structural equation modelling in practice: A review 
and recommended two-step approach. Psychological Bulletin, 103 (3), 411-423. 
Duarte, M. E., Soares, M. C., & Fraga, S. (2011). Career adaptability in Portugal. In M. E. 
Duarte (convener), The Career-Adaptabilities Scale: Construction, reliability and 
measurement, Symposium conducted at the Vocational Designing and Career 
Counseling Conference, Padova, Italy. 
European Commission (2010). National system overviews on education systems in Europe and 
ongoing reforms. Retrieved from http: //eacea.ec.europa.eu/education/eurydice 
Hu, L.-t., & Bentller, P. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: 
Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling, 6 (1), 1-
55. doi: 10.1080/10705519909540118 
Jӧreskog, K., & Sӧrbom, D. (1993). LISREL 8: Structural equation modeling with SIMPLIS 
Command Language. Lincolnwood: Scientific Software International. 
Savickas, M. L., & Porfeli, E. J. (this issue). Career Adapt-Abilities Scale: Construction, 
reliability, and measurement equivalence across 13 countries. 
 
 
 
 
 
Table 1. Career Adapt-Abilities Scale: Items, Standardized Loadings, Descriptive Statistics, and 
Internal Consistency Reliabilities. 
Construct Item (First-Order Indicators) Mean SD Loading 
Concern 1. Thinking about what my future will be like 3.86 0.90 0.55 
 2. Realizing that today's choices shape my future 4.28 0.73 0.36 
 3. Preparing for the future 3.84 0.76 0.55 
 4. Becoming aware of the educational and career 
choices that I must make 
3.88 0.81 0.52 
 5. Planning how to achieve my goals 3.85 0.79 0.55 
 6. Concerned about my career 3.97 0.89 0.34 
Control 1. Keeping upbeat* 
 2. Making decisions by myself 4.29 0.70 0.42 
 3. Taking responsibility for my actions 4.47 0.64 0.37 
 4. Sticking up for my beliefs 4.22 0.74 0.41 
 5. Counting on myself 4.25 0.75 0.46 
 6. Doing what's right for me 3.85 0.80 0.40 
Curiosity 1. Exploring my surroundings 3.74 0.75 0.40 
 2. Looking for opportunities to grow as a person 3.91 0.76 0.51 
 3. Investigating options before making a choice 3.78 0.77 0.47 
 4. Observing different ways of doing things 3.87 0.75 0.48 
 5. Probing deeply into questions I have 3.97 0.75 0.47 
 6. Becoming curious about new opportunities 4.00 0.81 0.45 
Confidence 1. Performing tasks efficiently 4.12 0.66 0.43 
 2. Taking care to do things well 4.17 0.70 0.48 
 3. Learning new skills 3.96 0.72 0.47 
 4. Working up to my ability 4.35 0.71 0.46 
 5. Overcoming obstacles* 
 6. Solving problems 4.03 0.72 0.46 
Construct Construct (Second-Order Indicators) Mean SD Loading 
Adaptability 1. Concern 3.94 0.55 0.75 
 2. Control (Absent item “Keeping upbeat”) 4.21 0.49 0.92 
 3. Curiosity 3.88 0.53 0.90 
 4. Confidence (Absent item “Overcoming 
obstacles”) 
4.13 0.52 0.89 
Notes: All of the loadings are statistically significant at α = 0.01; * Items not initially considered 
in the CAAS- Portugal Form 
 
 
 
 
Table 2. 
 
Means for Dimensions of CAAS-Portugal considering Gender, Educational Attainment and 
Occupational Status (by sub-samples) 
 
Gender 
Educational 
Attainment of 
Employed Adults 
Occupational Status of 
Adults subsamples 
Students 
(n=255) 
Unemployed 
Adults 
(n=266) 
Employed 
Adults 
(n=395) 
Less 
than 
Bachelor 
degree 
(n=142) 
Bachelor 
degree 
or more 
(n=253) 
Unemployed 
Adults 
(n=266) 
Employed 
Adults 
(n=395) Gender Gender Gender 
Male Female Male Female Male Female 
Concern 3,76 3,92* 4,22 4,25 3,84 3,79 3,75 3,85* 4,23* 3,82 
Control 4,01 4,09 4,37 4,39 4,22 4,20 4,18 4,23 4,38* 4,21 
Curiosity 3,70 3,79 4,09 4,09 3,83 3,82 3,74 3,86* 4,09* 3,82 
Confidence 3,86 4,04** 4,21 4,26 4,16 4,27 4,15 4,26 4,23 4,22 
* p