<p>Difficulties in career decision-making represent a key developmental challenge during adolescence. These difficulties can have long-term consequences for educational attainment and career trajectories. Relying mostly on cross-sectional designs, existing studies offer limited insight into how career decision-making develops in adolescence and particularly within specific cultural contexts. This study examines longitudinal changes in career decision-making difficulties among Croatian adolescents across two age cohorts over 3 years, involving 543 primary and 673 secondary school students. Results indicated overall stability in decision-making difficulties over time, with early adolescents generally reporting greater difficulties than their older peers. The only significant longitudinal change was a decrease in the Lack of Readiness domain, observed among early adolescents. The study also examined the role of gender and subjective socioeconomic status (SES) in shaping the career decision-making process. SES impacted initial difficulties in early adolescence, while gender was more relevant in middle adolescence. However, neither factor influenced changes over time. By employing a longitudinal design, this study extends existing research and underscores the importance of stage-specific career guidance interventions.</p>