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Integrated Assessment of Vocational Interests and Self-Rated Skills and Abilities
Abstract
The study examined relations among measured vocational interests and self-rated skills and abilities in a sample of 112 college students (58 women and 54 men). Participants were administered the Strong Interest Inventory (Hansen & Campbell, 1985) and a self-ratings questionnaire assessing 14 general abilities and 30 specific skills. Results of principal components, correlational, and regression analyses suggested that (a) interests, abilities, and skills are sufficiently distinct to be considered separate constructs worthy of independent assessment, yet (b) interests, abilities, and skills within the same Holland type (1985a) show predictable relations to one another.
... With analyses based on examining correlations between ability ratings and RIASEC interests, such as property vector fitting, it is possible that gender differences could emerge in this analysis due to the influence of the People-Things dimension. Interactions between gender, ability perceptions, and Holland type in previous research (Swanson, 1993;Swanson & Lease, 1990) suggest that gender differences may emerge when embedding ability and skill variables into Holland's model. ...
... Previous studies of work-related abilities have extended beyond the broad cognitive areas. Swanson (1993) extended Randahl's (1991) work with the General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB) by using selfratings instead of standardized tests of 14 general abilities and 30 specific skills. The ability and skill measure in this study included helping, social, leadership, organizational, scientific, artistic expression, and literary abilities in addition to the traditional cognitive abilities found in the GATB. ...
... Ability self-ratings are typically based on ability constructs (e.g., Carroll, 1993), whereas self-efficacy measures are often derived from RIASEC-based activities to parallel interest measures. The majority of research on links between self-efficacy and interests has been conducted using measures designed to serve as parallel sets of RIASEC scales (Rottinghaus, Larson, & Borgen, 2003), with fewer studies incorporating self-rated abilities into the interest framework (Prediger, 1999a;Swanson, 1993). Integrating selfrated abilities drawn from the intelligence testing tradition provides an additional perspective on the links between interests and various elements of self-concept. ...
Holland's (1997) theory of corresponding person and work environment structures was evaluated by comparing the integration of individual and occupational ratings of interests, abilities, and skills. Occupational ratings were obtained from the U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database (U.S. Department of Labor, 2007). College students (494 women, 526 men) provided self-ratings of their interests, abilities, and skills. Property vector fitting was used to embed ability and skill ratings into the Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional (RIASEC) interest structure, and bootstrapping was used to generate confidence intervals for the angles of the vectors and the magnitude of their fit to the Holland model. Across the individual and occupational ratings, 18 of 45 (40%) ability vectors and 41 of 48 (85%) skill vectors were fit into the RIASEC model. No significant gender differences were found in the integration of self-rated abilities and skills into the RIASEC circumplex; however, some differences were found between individual and environmental ratings. Obtained results highlight the potential utility and limitations of using Holland's model for representing both individual and occupational data in a common structure.
... In contrast, other researchers distinguished self-rated abilities in certain knowledge and skill areas from self-efficacy (Brown et al., 2000;Bong & Skaalvik, 2003). In the development of vocational interests and choices, self-rated abilities were defined as normative judgments about one's current work-related abilities (Swanson, 1993). Some researchers measured self-rated abilities by asking respondents to compare themselves to others of their own age on artistic ability, scientific ability, and so forth, using a scale from "low ability" to "high ability" (Brown et al., 2000;Swanson, 1993). ...
... In the development of vocational interests and choices, self-rated abilities were defined as normative judgments about one's current work-related abilities (Swanson, 1993). Some researchers measured self-rated abilities by asking respondents to compare themselves to others of their own age on artistic ability, scientific ability, and so forth, using a scale from "low ability" to "high ability" (Brown et al., 2000;Swanson, 1993). On the other hand, self-efficacy has been defined as a reflection of an individual's expectations about future performance in specific tasks and environments that are based on judgments of capabilities (Lent & Brown, 2006;Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994). ...
\textbf{Background.}\textbf{Purpose/hypothesis.}\textbf{Design/method.}\textbf{Results.}\textbf{Conclusions.}$ Our findings support past research emphasizing academic preparedness in STEMfield progression, further corroborating the claim that K–12 math education is a key policy lever. Our findings also indicate distinctive patterns between engineering and non-engineering graduate study in relation to self-assessed skills and co-curricular experiences. This should promote research on which types of preparation during college are needed for different career paths, to develop both teamwork and leadership within the industry.
... Finally, although they do not use the concept of selfefficacy expectations per se, other researchers (Campbell, 1992;Swanson, 1993) have suggested the use of a related concept, self-rated skills and abilities, in interest inventory interpretation and career counseling, and Holland, in his Self-Directed Search (1985b), has long included a section on self-rated RIASEC competencies. ...
... Research evaluating the TSOSS (Osipow et al., 1993;Rooney & Osipow, 1992) has used a four-factor structure (Verbal, Interpersonal Skills; Quantitative, Logical, Business, and Scientific Skills; Physical Strength and Agility; and Aesthetic Skills). Swanson (1993) reported correlations ranging from .29 to .46 between RIASEC interests and self-rated skills, and from .38 to .46 between RIASEC interests and self-rated abilities. She used 14 abilities items and 30 skills items (5 per theme). ...
The studies presented in this article resulted in the findings that gender differences in self-efficacy for the Holland themes are consistent with previous findings regarding gender differences in Holland interest patterns, although the gender differences are less pronounced in employed adults than in college students. Within occupational group, the self-efficacy profiles of women and men were very similar and closely corresponded to the Holland interest code of the occupation. Confidence for and interest in a theme were moderately correlated, and recommendations for the counseling use of joint combinations of interests and self-efficacy are made. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
... One application of self-efficacy is its usage in a manner parallel to interest types. Several authors have constructed self-efficacy ratings that would parallel Holland's RIASEC types and found that these self-efficacy RIASEC scales correlate highly with the matching RIASEC scales from interest instruments (Betz et al., 1996;Campbell, 1992;Swanson, 1993). Holland (1985aHolland ( , 1985b has proposed that self-assessment of skill (which appears very similar, if not identical, to self-efficacy) is structured in a manner similar to that for preferences for activities and occupations. ...
... Also, there is little reason to assume that the RIASEC types will as adequately represent the self-efficacy domain as they do the interest area. Most research in the area (e.g., Betz et al., 1996;Campbell, 1992;Swanson, 1993) starts with self-efficacy scales that adhere to Holland's RIASEC types without examining whether RIASEC types are the best representation of self-efficacy. A third purpose of this study was to examine, using a wide range of self-efficacy estimates, whether self-efficacy and interests share a common structure or whether the demonstrated relation between self-efficacy and interests is an artifact of restricted sampling of the selfefficacy domain to specific RIASEC types. ...
A questionnaire packet assessing occupational preferences, activity preferences, and career self-efficacy expectations was administered to 2 samples of college students. The structural invariance of each data set (activity, self-efficacy, and occupation items) was examined for the 1st sample via principal-components analysis and they correlated. The structure was found to be highly similar across data types. The items were then aggregated into 18 scales representing the spherical model of interests proposed by T. J. G. Tracey and J. Rounds (1996b). The 18 scales were found to fit the spherical model for both the original and validation samples. No gender differences in the structure of the scales were found, but there were gender mean differences found in the scale scores similar to results of past research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
... The Holland's vocational personality represents a construct of interest in research on couple compatibility because it fits into a large conception of personality based on six enduring dispositions (i.e., Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional) with respect to interests, competencies, personality traits, and values (Holland, 1997;Laudeman & Griffeth, 1978;Mount et al., 2005;Swanson, 1993). As similarities on backgrounds, values, and interests in romantic partners are likely to promote mutual reinforcement through conversations and activities, and to foster greater agreement in decisions (Jacobson & Christenson, 1996), the Holland's theory may be useful in explaining compatibility between romantic partners. ...
In the early 1980s, three studies had found that vocational similarity between romantic partners was significantly associated with couple adjustment. However, given that these studies had important methodological and statistical limitations that compromised their validity, the contribution of vocational similarity to couple functioning needs to be further explored. This study aimed to examine the potential mechanisms explaining vocational similarity within couples and the extent to which vocational similarity contributes to couple functioning, using two similarity indices: The C index and the profile similarity correlation (PSC). A sample of 104 cohabiting couples was recruited and completed online questionnaires. Results showed that vocational similarity between partners was low to moderate and was mainly explained by mating preferences. Moreover, higher vocational similarity was significantly associated with greater couple adjustment and relational stability, especially when partners were similar on the Artistic or Enterprising type. The PSC was a stronger predictor of couple adjustment and relational stability than the C index. Sharing similar vocational interests and competencies seems to help in creating and maintaining well-adjusted romantic relationships.
... Five soft-skills factors, excluding enterprising skills, were previously mentioned in various studies (Agrawal & Thite, 2006;Husain et al., 2010;Pinkowska et al., 2011;Keil et al., 2013). Enterprising skills that exhibit the entrepreneurial ability of an individual were not mentioned in any of the studies from the IT sector, although they were mentioned in literature from other fields (Swanson, 1993;Hartshorn, 2002;Dalyan, 2004). We studied the 44 traits and six factors further to achieve our third objective, which was to examine the existing gap in soft skills traits and factors between technical students and IT professionals. ...
The purpose of this study is to identify the soft skills, relevant to the future talent pool in the information technology (IT) sector. Further, the study aims to investigate soft skills gaps among students which are hampering the availability of talent. Soft skills traits were first identified through a literature review. Then, using a structured questionnaire, we surveyed 269 IT professionals working in five IT companies and 329 students pursuing degrees in the IT/CS from 12 technical institutes. The analysis was performed using principal component analysis and an independent t test. We examined important soft skills such as personal traits, leadership, interpersonal skills, team skills, enterprising skills, and organizational skills. The independent t test results showed a perception gap between professionals and students regarding the importance of soft skills. This study contributes to the literature by adding to the understanding of critical soft skills in IT sector. It underlines the partnership between educational institutions and the IT industry to address this gap. This partnership will benefit all stakeholders. We argue that although talent management is dealt with at the industry level, academia play an important role in making this process easier and effective by developing the desired skills in students.
... Through factor analysis, we got 44 vital attributes out of 53 traits, clustered into six factors -personal skill, leadership skill, interpersonal skill, organizational skill, team skill, and enterprising skill. Enterprising skill has not been cited in literature related to the ICT sector, though it has been mentioned in studies from other fields (Broad, 2007;Dalyan, 2004;Swanson, 1993;Turner, 2002). ...
... To test the significance of mean differences between males and females, independent samples t test was conducted. Due to large sample sizes all differences are significant at the 5 % alpha level with the exception of years of history/social sciences in high school a See Table 2 for variable description and descriptive statistics of observed variables used to calculate Financial stress Prior research supports relations between interests, skills, and abilities within the same Holland type, but these associations tend to be rather small (Ackerman and Heggestad 1997;Randahl 1991;Swanson 1993, cited in Nauta 2010. At the same time associations between Holland type and self-efficacy tend to be more substantial (Betz et al. 1996;cited in Nauta 2010). ...
Females are underrepresented in certain disciplines, which translates into their having less promising career outlooks and lower earnings. This study examines the effects of socio-economic status, academic performance, high school curriculum and involvement in extra-curricular activities, as well as self-efficacy for academic achievement on choices of academic disciplines by males and females. Disciplines are classified based on Holland’s theory of personality-based career development. Different models for categorical outcome variables are compared including: multinomial logit, nested logit, and mixed logit. Based on the findings presented here, first generation status leads to a greater likelihood of choosing engineering careers for males but not for females. Financial difficulties have a greater effect on selecting scientific fields than engineering fields by females. The opposite is true for males. Passing grades in calculus, quantitative test scores, and years of mathematics in high school as well as self-ratings of abilities to analyze quantitative problems and to use computing are positively associated with choice of engineering fields.
... From a practical perspective, Gottfredson, Jones, and Holland (1993) suggested that career interests and personality do not overlap enough to be considered a substitute for one another. There has been an increasing trend for counselors to employ multiple psychological assessments (e.g., career interests, personality, and abilities) to assuage this issue (Chartrand & Bertok, 1993;Lowman, 1991Lowman, , 1993Subich & Billingsley, 1995;Swanson, 1993). Personality can help both the counselor and client ''understand the client's strengths and weaknesses and, thus, make more appropriate and realistic occupational choices'' (Costa & McCrae, 1995, p. 130). ...
Career/vocational counsellors and researchers have traditionally focused on career interest surveys as a way of better matching client to careers that they will find both interesting and rewarding. However, recent research has demonstrated that personality is also an important, significant predictor of vocational choice, though is distinct from career interests. Only recently have researchers begun to explore personality in a broader context, by examining personality constructs outside of the five-factor model (FFM). In the current study, we explored whether the Dark Triad would add incremental prediction in broad scales of career interests beyond that of the FFM. Our findings indicated that the Dark Triad accounted for incremental prediction and unique variance in career interests as measured by the Jackson Career Explorer. The implications of this are discussed.
... The four sections of the SDS are approximately equally weighted and therefore confound an individual's vocational personality results with information regarding competencies (Lowman & Williams, 1987). Swanson (1993) points out that interests, skills, and abilities are related, yet distinct, constructs and highlights that having skill or ability in a certain area does not necessarily equate with also having an interest in that area. ...
... As one of the most active fields of educational measurement, career assessment research frequently examines the ''congruence hypothesis'' (Tracey & Robbins, 2006) and study interests' predictive role in later educational/occupational satisfaction and performance (Swanson, 1993). Many methods, such as logistic regression and multivariate classification analysis techniques, have been used to study the prediction power of vocational interests (Hansen & Zytowski, 1979). ...
This study integrated Bayesian hierarchical modeling and receiver operating characteristic analysis (BROCA) to evaluate how interest strength (IS) and interest differentiation (ID) predicted low–socioeconomic status (SES) youth’s interest-major congruence (IMC). Using large-scale Kuder Career Search online-assessment data, this study fit three models, the one-level BROCA, the two-level BROCA, and the ordinal Probit BROCA, to examine the moderating effects of gender and race/ethnicity. Both IS and ID displayed race/ethnicity differences in predicting low-SES females’ IMC. Gender difference was found only on IS in predicting low-SES youth’s IMC. Results suggested that low-SES White males and low-SES minority females may need help the most to develop stronger career interests and to differentiate their interests. This study illustrated that BROCA can be a powerful tool for test evaluation and utility analysis in the field because of its capacity of analyzing continuous, nominal, and ordinal data; its graphical nature of result presentation; multiple statistical test options; and its little requirement of Level 2 sample sizes.
... It should be noted that although they are not always referred to as selfefficacy expectations or confidence, self-estimates of ability, along with interest scores, are gaining use in career counseling. Campbell's Interest and Skill Survey (see Campbell, Hyne, & Nilsen, 1992), Swanson (1993), Holland's (1994) Self-Directed Search, and ACT's Career Planning Program, which includes the UNIACT (see Prediger & Swaney, 1995) all assess both interest and self-estimates of ability. Lucas, Wanberg, and Zytowski (1997) described the development of a 30-item scale measuring self-efficacy for tasks corresponding to Kuder's 10 occupational interest areas (Kuder & Zytowski, 1991). ...
This article reviews the applicability of self-efficacy theory to the career assessment of women. The article begins by summarizing Bandura's self-efficacy theory, including its particular relevance to women's career development. Next, the domains of occupational, scientific—technical, and mathematics self-efficacy are reviewed, followed by those represented by Holland's RIASEC model and Rooney and Osipow's (1992; Osipow, Temple, & Rooney, 1993) Task-Specific Occupational Self-Efficacy Scale (TSOSS). The article concludes with a review of work on the relationship of self-efficacy to vocational interests and on counseling implications of self-efficacy theory.
... In his review of the psychology of vocational interests, Savickas (1999) presented evidence showing that individuals' interests result from their self-perception of their abilities. Examining the relations between interests and self-estimated abilities, Swanson (1993) found that interests and self-estimated abilities are suYciently distinct to be considered separate constructs, yet interests and self-rated abilities within the same Holland (1997) type show predictable relations with one another. Prediger (1999b) reported median correlations of .43 and .45 between interests and self-estimated abilities across the six Holland types for two samples. ...
The present research investigated the relations among the declared preferred degree for using career-related abilities in one’s future career, self-estimates of these abilities, and measured abilities in a sample of 201 career-counseling clients. The highest correlations (range .57–.65) were found between the preferred degree for using an ability and the self-estimates of the ability. However, the direction of the gap between self-estimates and preferred degree of use varied among clients and among abilities. Clients also varied in the pattern of differences between their measured abilities and self-estimates, with 69% of the clients overestimating their abilities, while only 9% underestimated them. The hypothesis that self-estimate mediates the relation between one’s preference for using an ability and the respective measured ability was supported. The correlation between a client’s measured ability and preferred degree of use was higher among clients with a fairly accurate self-estimate than among those whose self-estimates were biased. Implications for research and counseling are discussed.
... Tracey (1997) supported this conclusion, based upon his analysis that showed a similar structure for interests and self-efficacy. In contrast, others including Swanson (1993), Isaacs, Borgen, Donnay, and Hansen (1997), Donnay and Borgen (1999), Tracey and Hopkins (2001), and Rottinghaus, Lindley, Green, and Borgen (2002) have argued that although interests, skills confidence, and self-rated abilities are related, they are sufficiently distinct to be considered separate constructs. ...
This study empirically synthesizes and evaluates studies that have examined the relation between vocationally relevant domains of self-efficacy and interests. We conducted a meta-analytic review of 60 empirical independent samples (N=39,154) in which relations between self-efficacy and interests had been examined. Fifty-three of these samples (N=37,829) included parallel measures of the constructs. Relations between parallel measures of Holland’s RIASEC themes, the specific dimensions of art, math, science and math/science combined, and traditionally female and male occupations are also presented. Results demonstrated that self-efficacy and interests are independent constructs that correlate moderately. Differences by sex, measure, and age group are noted. Future directions for research regarding links between self-efficacy and interests are discussed.
... For example, Randahl (1991) found that RIASEC personality type scores were related to corresponding ability scores from the General Aptitude Test Battery. Swanson (1993) also found support for predictable relations between interests, skills, and abilities within the same Holland type, although these relationships tended to be fairly small. Relations between RIASEC interest and corresponding self-efficacy types are more substantial, with correlations ranging from .20 to .70 (e.g., Betz, Harmon, & Borgen, 1996). ...
This article celebrates the 50th anniversary of the introduction of John L. Holland's (1959) theory of vocational personalities and work environments by describing the theory's development and evolution, its instrumentation, and its current status. Hallmarks of Holland's theory are its empirical testability and its user-friendliness. By constructing measures for operationalizing the theory's constructs, Holland and his colleagues helped ensure that the theory could be implemented in practice on a widespread basis. Empirical data offer considerable support for the existence of Holland's RIASEC types and their ordering among persons and environments. Although Holland's congruence hypotheses have received empirical support, congruence appears to have modest predictive power. Mixed support exists for Holland's hypotheses involving the secondary constructs of differentiation, consistency, and vocational identity. Evidence of the continued impact of Holland's theory on the field of counseling psychology, particularly in the area of interest assessment, can be seen from its frequent implementation in practice and its use by scholars. Ideas for future research and practice using Holland's theory are suggested.
Purpose
Given that 45% of new businesses fail in their first five years (US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2020), individuals often observe others' entrepreneurial failures (EFs) in their vicinity. The purpose of this paper is to review the effects of vicarious EFs on individuals by proposing both entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial identity aspiration as mediators, which are widely studied proximal antecedents of entrepreneurial intent.
Design/methodology/approach
Using structural equation modeling, the authors empirically test survey data collected from 10,020 college students across 46 colleges or universities in Brazil. The hypothesized model examines the mediating effects of vicarious EFs on individuals' entrepreneurial intent via entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial identity aspiration.
Findings
The findings confirm that vicarious EFs negatively affect one's entrepreneurial self-efficacy and that entrepreneurial self-efficacy mediates the effect of vicarious EFs on one's entrepreneurial intent. On the other hand, vicarious EFs positively affect one's entrepreneurial identity aspiration, and entrepreneurial identity aspiration mediates the effect of vicarious failures on entrepreneurial intent.
Originality/value
The entrepreneurship literature focuses mainly on the consequences of EF on those entrepreneurs who have experienced failure. However, there is a lack of knowledge regarding how that failure impacts others in its vicinity. This study provides new insight into the effects of vicarious EFs in facilitating individuals' entrepreneurial intent and presents theoretical and practical implications to promote greater levels of entrepreneurial intent in individuals.
Background
Increasing human resources in engineering is a key concern for the United States. While some research has considered pathways to doctoral study, there is no clear empirical evidence on the role of undergraduate experiences in motivating engineers to continue to graduate school, both in engineering programs and more broadly.
Purpose/Hypothesis
We investigated three influences on engineers’ decisions to enter graduate school: mathematics proficiency, self‐assessments of engineering skills, and co‐curricular experiences.
Design/method
Using data from 1,119 engineers, we developed a hierarchical multinomial logistic model to examine engineers’ graduate school enrollment patterns.
Results
Math proficiency, participation in undergraduate research, and self‐assessed leadership skills are significant positive predictors of attendance in an engineering graduate program, although self‐assessed teamwork skills are a negative predictor. For attendance in a nonengineering graduate school program, math proficiency, nonengineering community volunteer work, and engineering clubs were positive predictors, but none of the self‐assessed skills were significant predictors.
Conclusions
Our findings support past research that emphasized academic preparedness in mathematics, and further corroborate the claim that K–12 math education is a key policy lever to the engineering pipeline from undergraduate to graduate education. Our findings also indicate differences between engineering and nonengineering graduate study in relation to self‐assessed skills and co‐curricular experiences. Future research is needed on which types of preparation during college are needed for graduate school choice.
The term “multipotentiality” has appeared in the literature over 100 times in the past 35 years. The term has, however, been used in slightly different ways by different authors. This lack of consistency became evident to the present authors, who then set out to analyze the concepts surrounding use of the term multipotentiality in the literature. It has become clear that multipotentiality refers only to multiple abilities. Career decision-making problems accompany multipotentiality only when interests, motivations, and opportunities are also abundant. In this case, when motivation to learn is high, an “overchoice syndrome” can be said to exist.
The studies presented in this article resulted in the findings that gender differences in self-efficacy for the Holland themes are consistent with previous findings regarding gender differences in Holland interest patterns, although the gender differences are less pronounced in employed adults than in college students. Within occupational group, the self-efficacy profiles of women and men were very similar and closely corresponded to the Holland interest code of the occupation. Confidence for and interest in a theme were moderately correlated, and recommendations for the counseling use of joint combinations of interests and self-efficacy are made.
A questionnaire packet assessing occupational preferences, activity preferences, and career self-efficacy expectations was administered to 2 samples of college students. The structural invariance of each data set (activity, self-efficacy, and occupation items) was examined for the Ist sample via principal-components analysis, and they correlated. The structure was found to be highly similar across data types. The items were then aggregated into 18 scales representing the spherical model of interests proposed by T. J. G. Tracey and J. Rounds (1996b). The 18 scales were found to fit the spherical model for both the original and validation samples. No gender differences in the structure of the scales were found, but there were gender mean differences found in the scale scores similar to results of past research.
This article reviews literature published in 1993 that is of interest and use to career counselors. Topical areas include definitions of career counseling, descriptions of and outcome research on career assessment and intervention methods, career counseling issues and techniques of particular relevance to women and members of various special groups, and counseling with persons making career transitions.
This study examined the relationship between vocational interests and abilities. The Rothwell-Miller Interest Blank (Miller, 1958), a self-report instrument that measures 12 career interests (outdoor, mechanical, computational, scientific, personal contact, aesthetic, literary, musical, social service, clerical, practical and medical) was used to assess vocational interests. Abilities were assessed by two group-administered objective tests of ability: the Standard Progressive Matrices (Raven, Court & Raven, 1992) and the ML-MQ (Australian Council for Educational Research, 1981). The sample consisted of 3446 individuals (880 females and 2566 males). A weak to modest relationship between interests and abilities was found. The pattern of relationships was consistent with our predictions. Although ability assessment has not traditionally been an important part of vocational assessment, it was concluded that objective ability assessment, together with vocational assessment, assists the development of self-knowledge and realistic career decision-making.
The present study investigated the test-retest reliability and construct validity of the Skills Confidence Inventory (SCI; Betz, Borgen, & Harmon, 1996), a measure of self-efficacy expectations with respect to the six Holland (1985a) themes. In a sample of 113 college students, 67 men and 46 women, test-retest reliability over a 3-week interval ranged from .83 (Realistic confidence) to .87 (Social confidence). In a sample of 345 students, 164 men and 181 women, evidence for the construct validity of the SCI was found. Results of a confirmatory factor analysis suggested a fair fit of the data to the six-factor structure of Holland's theory.
In this article, the authors review some of the distinctive characteristics of several self-reported ability/skill/efficacy measures and discuss the issues that need to be addressed in the construction: temporal dimensions, scaling, concurrent relationships to interest inventories, and other criteria. The authors report the development of the Kuder Skills Assessment, six self-efficacy scales congruent with the career cluster scales of the Kuder Career Search. It has been axiomatic from the beginning of vocational guidance (Parsons, 1909) that individuals are well advised to include some assessment of aptitudes or abilities in the mix of variables that should be considered in deciding on a career. Almost a century since, such thinking continues to be represented in a number of career theories (e.g., Dawis & Lofquist’s 1984 theory of work adjustment). The problem, still largely unresolved, is how abilities should be measured and, if measured accurately, whether they have useful validity.
This article begins with a rationale for and review of parallel measures of self-efficacy (confidence) and interests for basic dimensions of vocational activity. Recent development of and research on the Expanded Skills Confidence Inventory, Campbell Interest and Skills Survey, Kuder Skills Assessment, and Inventory of Work-Relevant Abilities are described and reviewed. Research on the incremental predictive validity of these measures for understanding and for counseling uses is discussed. Numerous suggestions for further research and for career assessment are provided.
To obtain reliable and valid self-ratings of abilities of adolescents, a self-rating instrument was designed to incorporate six of Maybe and Wests' (1982) measurement conditions. The instrument was administered to 210 ninth-graders. Test-retest reliability coefficients are mostly in the .70s and .80s for self-ratings and accuracy of self- ratings. Coefficient alphas and test-retest correlations for composite scores range from .74 to .90. For the total sample of students, the major findings are: (a) Correlations between self-rated abilities and measured abilities range from the .30s to the .60s, with medians in the .50s; (b) Students overrated all of their abilities except scholastic aptitude and Space Relations; (c) Students were most accurate in rating their scholastic aptitude and least accurate in rating their special aptitudes; (d) and self-ratings of some abilities were inaccurate, although they were reliable and substantially correlated (.63, .61) with measured ability. Ethnic differences were found on all ability scores, all self-ratings, and all accuracy of self-rating scores. Gender differences were found on some special abilities, some self-ratings, and some accuracy of self-rating scores. The self-rating instrument does not show evidence of differential validity across different ethnic and gender groups.
A two-study design was used to examine the relationship between Holland's vocational interest types, personality characteristics, and abilities. Study 1 consisted of 139 individuals (48 men and 91 women) who participated in a vocational assessment exercise. They completed the Self-Directed Search, the revised NEO Personality Inventory, and the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale—Revised. Study 2 consisted of 669 men and 206 women employed in the finance industry who completed the SDS, the Myers-Briggs Type Inventory, and a measure of general abilities, the PL-PQ. In both studies conceptually similar vocational interests and personality were found to be empirically related. A weak to moderate relationship was observed between general abilities and Investigative interests and between general abilities and the personality characteristics of Openness to Experience and Intuition. It was concluded that assessment of all three domains of interests, abilities, and personality has several advantages for assisting clients seeking vocational counselling.
Tests of musical aptitudes are reviewed. Despite decades of research and at least modest evidence for the validity of such tests (particularly regarding their ability to assess a mechanical-acoustic factor), the objective assessment of musical aptitudes is not part of the standard career assessment battery. Reasons for this situation are suggested. A renewed effort to develop musical aptitude tests is recommended, particularly along the lines already established through the research programs of Karma (1994), Dowling and Harwood (1986), and Vispoel (1992).
Using a large national sample of employed adults, this study found minimal gender differences in self-efficacy for the Holland themes among women and men within 21 occupations, and within six Holland job families. For both women and men, evidence for the validity of the Skills Confidence Inventory, the measure of self-efficacy, indicated considerable predictive utility of the six General Confidence Themes for membership in one of the six Holland job families. However, some job family and gender differences in the relation of self-efficacy levels to probability of group membership were also observed.
Improvements in technology, enhanced access to information, changes in the job market, movement to multiple careers, greater sophistication of job seekers, and increased emphasis by employers on career assessment all indicate the need to expand traditional views of career assessment. New data also indicate the need to assess more than the traditional catalog of individual skills, abilities, and interests. Both individuals seeking career advice and potential employers are interested in more than job and skill fit; they also want to know about a person's ability to move outside the bounds of traditional career ladders and about the fit between an individual's and organization's goals and values. We present an expanded model of career assessment and some preliminary data to support this model.
This article reviews what is believed to be one of the most important trends in vocational research and career assessment, that is, that body of work integrating vocational interest measurement with the concepts of self-efficacy and personal styles. Beginning with a review of Bandura's self-efficacy theory, recent work in which parallel measures of interests and self-efficacy (or confidence) are used to improve the prediction of vocational choice behavior and the comprehensiveness of career assessment and counseling is examined. Following this, the use of measures of personal styles, such as those on the Strong Interest Inventory, along with vocational interests in vocational research and counseling are reviewed. Implications of both of these trends for future research and for career counseling are discussed.
Self-efficacy beliefs and self-rated abilities are conceptually overlapping constructs that have emerged from two parallel literatures in career psychology. The present investigation employed three different analytic strategies to assess empirically whether they represent unique constructs. In the first analysis, confirmatory factor analyses of measures of each of these two constructs revealed that a two-factor model fit the data better than did a one-factor model. Second, it was found that LISREL estimates of self-efficacy beliefs were more highly related to vocational interests and perceived career options than were estimates of self-rated abilities. Third, the relation of ability self-estimates to interests was found to be mediated by self-efficacy beliefs. The implications of these findings for theory and practice are considered.
Investigated the relationships of self-efficacy (via the Holland themes) to dimensions of personal style and personality. Examined correlations (1) Skills Confidence Inventory (SCI); (2) Myers-Briggs Type Indicator; and (3) Strong Interest Inventory. Findings support the validity of the SCI and, therefore, of all three instruments. (Author/EMK)
Reviews the literature on vocational choice, decision-making, vocational assessment, and career counseling interventions for the years 1991–1993. The 325 articles chosen for review were those that focused on pre-entry behavior for individuals, as opposed to vocational behavior after employment or from an organizational perspective. The literature is summarized in each major section, with general summary comments made about the literature at the end of the paper. General methodological concerns are delineated, and recommendations are made for future research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Reviews the literature on 10 themes about vocational interests: development, correlates, measurement, homogeneity and differentiation, career choice, sex differences, stability, structure, career counseling, and cultural influences. These 10 themes are similar to major issues discussed by E. K. Strong (1943) in his landmark book on interests,
Vocational Interests of Men and Women. Directions for future research are presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
In a sample of 365 college students, the authors examined the incremental role of personality, self-efficacy, and interests in explaining level of educational aspirations. Measures were the Adjective Check List (ACL) (Gough & Heilbrun, 1983), the Skills Confidence Inventory (Betz, Borgen, & Harmon, 1996), and the six General Occupational Themes (GOTs) of the Strong Interest Inventory (Harmon, Hansen, Borgen, & Hammer, 1994). The Big Five personality dimensions were estimated from the ACL using John's (1990) method. The authors predicted that each of these domains would make independent contributions to explaining level of educational aspirations (1= bachelor's, 2= master's, and 3= doctorate). Sequentially, following Lent, Brown, and Hackett's (1994) social cognitive career theory, blocks of the Big Five, six General Conference Themes, and six GOTs were entered into a hierarchical regression predicting educational level. With the addition of each block, R2 rose from .10, to .26, to .29 for the total sample; similar incremental predictions were obtained separately for women (.13, .29, and .32) and men (.13, .30, and .37).
The purpose of this study was to explore the influence of a career education program on children's interest in nursing as a career choice, especially related to gender in fifth-grade students. A within-subjects design compared interest in nursing as a career of 70 fifth-grade students before and after participation in a 4-week career education program about nursing. There was a 61% (N = 70, p < 0.001) increase of students expressing they would consider nursing as a career after participating in the career education program. This positive effect was discovered among both male and female students. Further results provided a pre and post-career assessment of the students' development that was congruent with findings from previous vocational studies. The results underscore the positive effect career education can have on children's career interests and substantiate the importance of exposing students to practicing nurses as a key strategy to stimulate interest in nursing to help maintain a steady recruitment of young people into the future nursing workforce.
Thesis (Ph. D.)--Texas Tech University, 1997. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 116-126).
116 of the 162 Occupational scales of the 1981 revision of the Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory (SCII) were constructed with new criterion samples. This study (a) assessed the concurrent and predictive validity of the revised SCII and explored its usefulness for predicting college majors (Exp I) and (b) examined the differential effect of stable and unstable interests during college on the validity of the SCII (Exp II). Data were analyzed for 354 females and 261 males who completed the SCII as college freshmen; 81% were still enrolled in school at the time of this study. Results indicate that the revised SCII can be used to predict college majors, having concurrent and predictive validity comparable to previous forms of the SCII. It was slightly more predictive for females than for males. Findings also show that the majority of Ss had stable interests during their college careers. The revised SCII was significantly more predictive of college majors for Ss who were satisfied with their majors or who had stable interests than it was for those who were dissatisfied or had unstable interests. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The purpose of this article is to explain the basic principles of multiple regression, to demonstrate the flexibility of this procedure for analyzing data from a number of designs, and to discuss issues related to the interpretation of results from a multiple regression analysis. The regression equations for a single independent variable and for two or more independent variables are presented, followed by a discussion of several coefficients related to these equations. Three analytic strategies are compared. Finally, several variations of the multiple regression theme, including the analysis of categorical variables, interactions, and covariance, are illustrated with an example from counseling research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Validity studies of the Strong Vocational Interest Blank have produced consistent results with male samples; to compare validity for females and males on the Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory (SCII), 232 female and 386 male undergraduates took the SCII and a satisfaction measure 3½ yrs after initial testing with the SCII. Using the McArthur method (see record
1955-06355-001), excellent predictive validity (good hit) was evidenced for 42.5% of females and 59.3% of males in the direct-hit category. Concurrent validities were 58.0% and 64.0%, respectively. A MANOVA revealed differences among good-hit, poor-hit, and clean-miss groups on satisfaction, perceived congruence, and J. L. Holland's theoretical signs (see Pa, Vol 58:6452). Limitations with respect to the comparability of male and female validity data and the selection of a follow-up criterion for females are discussed. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Reviews 55 studies in which self-evaluations of ability were compared with measures of performance to show a low mean validity coefficient (mean
r = .29) with high variability (
SD = .25). A meta-analysis by the procedures of J. E. Hunter et al (1982) calculated sample-size weighted estimates of
–- r and
SDr and estimated the appropriate adjustments of these values for sampling error and unreliability. Among person variables, high intelligence, high achievement status, and internal locus of control were associated with more accurate evaluations. Much of the variability in the validity coefficients (
R = .64) could be accounted for by 9 specific conditions of measurement, notably (a) the rater's expectation that the self-evaluation would be compared with criterion measures, (b) the rater's previous experience with self-evaluation, (c) instructions guaranteeing anonymity of the self-evaluation, and (d) self-evaluation instructions emphasizing comparison with others. It is hypothesized that conditions increasing self-awareness would increase the validity of self-evaluation. (84 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Ability, interest, gender, and family socioeconomic status of 13,248 tenth-grade participants in Project TALENT were studied as they relate to occupational attainment by using discriminant analysis. Individuals were classified into 12 broad categories reported 11 years after graduation. Accuracy analyses indicated correct classifications significantly above chance for all except the Technical and Sales categories. Within-category classification percentages were higher for all groups except Construction. Five canonical discriminant functions that jointly accounted for 96.8% of the between-groups variance were interpreted. The first 2 accounted for 81.9% of the variance. Function 1 was a general ability function; Function 2 differentiated the categories on the basis of mathematics ability and gender. Functions 3 through 5 accounted for 14.9% of the between-groups variance. Some implications of these findings are discussed.
Students' ratings of their abilities and skills were examined in relationship to self-esteem and to their ratings of same-gender peers. Participants were 112 students (59 women and 53 men) who were administered the Rosenberg (1965) self-esteem scale and a questionnaire assessing self-ratings of 14 general abilities and 30 specific skills, as well as peer ratings of the skills. Results indicated that (a) gender differences were observed on 3 of the 14 general abilities, (b) there were significant interactions between gender, peer versus self-ratings and skill areas, and (c) self-esteem scores were related to some of the self-ratings.
This study examined the validity of self-estimates of ability on a vocational interest measure (the Self-Directed Search). Self-ratings of 149 female undergraduates were correlated with well-validated measures of abilities corresponding to each of Holland's six interest domains. Employing a multitrait, multimethod methodology, the study found a pattern of, at best, moderate correlations between self-ratings of ability and the objective ratings. Higher correlations were found between self-ratings of abilities and objective measures than for self-ratings of competencies on the Self-Directed Search. However, for both areas there were findings contrary to predictions. Implications for the use of self-ratings in the measurement of vocational interests and related constructs are discussed.
College-bound high school juniors provided brief self-assessments of their qualifications employing worker trait concepts introduced in the Dictionary of Occupational Titles. When compared with standard measurements of aptitudes, achievements, and interests, their brief self-descriptions revealed (a) an uneven appreciation of preparation, e.g., too few students reported arithmetic competence and too many an ability to counsel people with serious problems; (b) ability claims which were based more upon interest and self-confidence than upon aptitude; and (c) heightened sex stereotyping of interests and mathematical ability. These results serve as a caution to the unquestioning use of brief self-assessments in career exploration.
A fourteen-year follow-up was made of the Strong VIB for 61 male Ss. The following conclusions may be drawn: "1. The Strong has at least the validity claimed for it as a measure of interests. 2. Its most rigorous validation criterion will be the prediction of actual behavior, but even that criterion is met at least 1 time in 2. 3. We may regard as critical for understanding the use of the test Strong's proposed 'future calculations as to how much other factors, such as family pressures, etc. affect a man's occupational career." 27 references. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
During the past few years, there has been a marked increase in the number of publications which focus on advice for individuals engaged in the process of career decision making. Most of these publications rely on self-assessment as the major input to the decision making process. This study compared the accuracy of self-assessment to expert assessment based on an assessment center procedure for a sample of potential college graduates. Significant discrepancies were found between the student's and assessor's ratings on 10 of the 13 dimensions assessed. Implications of these results are discussed and suggestions for further study are made.
The Academic Comfort (AC) Scale of the Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory (SCII) underwent its second name change within 16 years on the latest revision of the SCII (D. P. Campbell & J. C. Hansen, 1981, Manual for the SVIB-SCII (3rd ed.), Palo Alto, CA: Stanford Univ. Press). The purposes of this study were (a) to further define the construct of “academic comfort” by investigating criteria associated with the scale throughout its development and (b) to investigate Academic Comfort as a moderator variable of predictive validity of the SCII. Data were obtained from two sources: the occupational criterion samples from the 1981 revision of the SCII, and a longitudinal study of liberal arts students. Results indicated that the AC scale is moderately correlated with grade point average and strongly related to attained educational level; that AC scores are positively related to educational goals and graduate school plans; and that the SCII is substantially more predictive of college majors for those students with high AC scores than it is for those students with low AC scores.