This study investigates the cross-cultural construct validity of perfectionism using the Chinese translation of the Almost Perfect Scale—Revised (APS-R; Slaney, Mobley, Trippi, Ashby, & Johnson, 1996) with 509 Chinese high school students from Hong Kong. The factor structure of the Chinese APS-R and correlations between the APS-R subscales and measures of Depression, Satisfaction with Life, and Loneliness are examined. Participants are grouped into three clusters—adaptive and maladaptive perfectionists and nonperfectionists. A comparison of group means revealed that adaptive perfectionists reported higher Satisfaction with Life scores and lower Depression scores than the other two groups. This sample of Chinese students also reported higher Discrepancy scores compared to U.S. students' scores in previous studies. Similarities and differences in comparison to previous studies using U.S. participants are examined. Finally, the limitations of this study and implications for future research with Chinese participants are discussed.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to review identified key features of teacher support and its influence on students’ career decision making and development. It also examines the types of research approaches to data collection and analysis in order to provide a more in-depth evaluation of this field of study. Design/methodology/approach: The review examined 18 studies, the majority being quantitative in design. Cross-sectional and longitudinal effects of teacher support were investigated, and differences in teacher support relative to grade level and gender were considered. Findings: Results indicated that since 2000, there has been an increase in the number of empirical studies of teacher support in the career development field, the majority involving middle and high school students. The most commonly cited frameworks that underpin the studies are the social cognitive career theory, the career construction theory and Super’s career development theory. The most frequently used instrument for data collection was the teacher support scale (Metheny et al., 2008). Originality/value: The review will be beneficial to researchers, teachers and policy makers seeking to optimize support systems for students’ career development. The findings contribute to further theory development and have practical implications for the career guidance field. Recommendations for future research and practice are suggested.

This article describes the development of an instrument – the Career and Talent Development Self‐Efficacy Scale (CTD‐SES) – for assessing students’ self‐efficacy in applying life skills essential for personal talent development, acquisition of positive work habits, and career exploration. In Study 1, data were obtained from a large sample of Chinese middle‐school students (N=15,113) in Grades 7–9 in Hong Kong. The CTD‐SES is an 18‐item questionnaire with subscales containing items that address students’ orientations toward developing their own talents, acquiring and applying positive work habits, and exploring their career possibilities. Evidence is provided for internal consistency, temporal stability, and factor structure of the CTD‐SES. Goodness of fit statistics provided support for a three‐primary‐factor‐plus‐higher‐factor model, and this solution was used in the statistical analyses. The data also indicated that students with plans for university study reported significantly higher scores than those without on all three domains of career and talent development. In Study 2 (N=308) Grade 10 high‐ability students’ scores in CTD‐SES were correlated with scores in career decision self‐efficacy and academic performance. The development and validation of CTD‐SES is the first step toward investigating career exploration, work habits, and talent development among Asian middle‐school adolescents.