What You’re Dealt or How It’s Played: ACES, COVID-19, and Ambiguity Response Impacts on Decision-Making

Stressors and one’s response to stress play not only a major role in one’s life but also have significant impacts on the career decision-making process. This study, grounded in Cognitive Information Processing Theory, explores the impacts of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), the COVID-19 pandemic, and response to ambiguity on career decision-making difficulty and negative career thoughts. Participants included 231 college students. Findings indicated that the COVID-19 pandemic had a greater impact on both career outcomes than ACEs, and one’s ambiguity response had an even greater impact on both career outcomes than the COVID-19 pandemic. These results indicate that recent stressors and one’s response to those stressors play a larger role than distal stressors in career decision-making. Practical application of CIP theory to address these issues and research implications are discussed.