Self-Ideal Congruence Among Engineering Managers

62 engineering managers described their actual and ideal job selves using Q sorts. Self-ideal congruence scores (Z scores) from the Q sorts were correlated with personality test scores, measures of job performance, and other variables. A significant positive relationship was found between self-ideal congruence and management effectiveness. The concept of self-ideal congruence, utilized by client-centered counselors to measure progress of counseling, also has meaning in an industrial context with “normal” persons. Since managers with high self-ideal congruence received higher job performance ratings, the self-ideal congruence score can possibly be considered as an index of job adjustment or measure of self-in-job actualization.     

A challenge to vocational psychology: How important are aspirations in determining male career development?

Nationally representative longitudinal data on 1394 employed white men aged 15 to 24 in 1966 were used to assess whether job opportunities or vocational aspirations are the more important determinants of later job held. Support was found for two hypotheses: (a) men more often achieve congruence between their aspiration and their field of employment by changing aspirations to match the job rather than vice versa; and (b) aspirations for field of work generally are not as useful as actual job field for predicting the field of jobs held 1 to 5 years later. Contrary to expectation, middle-class young men were no more able to attain their aspirations either for field of employment or for status level of occupation than were lower-class male youths. These results suggest that although aspirations have some predictive power, the opportunity structure—which both conditions aspirations to narrow ranges early in life and affects the direction of early career development—is too often neglected by vocational psychology. One suggestion for counseling practice is that interest and maturity assessments be used as sources of information to both client and counselor about past influences. Attempts to actually counteract those influences should be clearly specified as such and separated from the assessment process.     

Success Rates in the Vocational Rehabilitation Of Mental Patients

The post-treatment work adjustment of mental patients receiving rehabilitation services is extremely difficult to evaluate. A follow-up study of 223 patients referred for vocational rehabilitation to the Mental Health and Manpower project from the Fort Logan Health Center revealed percentages of patients successfully employed or in training which appear to be slightly higher than those usually reported. There were marked differences in post-rehabilitation adjustment between alcoholic and psychiatric referrals. These differences in success rates appeared to be partly a function of type of placement (i.e., direct job placement, on-the-job placement, or institutional training placement).     

The Development of Person–Vocation Fit: A Longitudinal Study Among Young Employees

This two-phase panel study examines the development of the congruence between vocational interests and perceived skill requirements. Participants were 492 Dutch men and women between 18 and 26 years old, with a paid job in both phases. Three hypotheses inspired by the theory of work adjustment (Dawis and Lofquist 1984) and congruence theory (Holland 1992) were tested, using a composite index of fit proposed by Cronbach and Gleser (1953). The first hypothesis proposing that participants experiencing incongruence between their vocational interests and their perceived skill requirements are dissatisfied with their job was supported. The hypothesis that incongruence has a positive relationship with job change and a negative relationship with tenure was not confirmed. The expectation that the congruence between vocational interests and perceived skill requirements increases over time was confirmed. Furthermore, exploring determinants of change in vocational interests and perceived skill requirements, it was found that change in these domains was predicted by different variables, educational level being the only common factor. It is concluded that this study supports the longitudinal propositions of prevailing work-related person-environment fit theories.     

VOCATIONAL INTERESTS, PERSONALITY AND EFFECTIVE POLICE PERFORMANCE

Scores on vocational interest inventories are commonly thought to be unrelated to job performance. A close examination of the literature suggests, however, that vocational scales other than those describing the occupational group in question may often predict job performance. A case in point is reported here, using Holland's Self Directed Search and two groups of policemen. Scores on the Artistic and Conventional scales consistently predict effective performance as a patrolman in this Realistic and Social occupation.     

班级辅导对改善初中生乐观心理品质的实验研究

以《生活取向测量修订版》、《儿童解释风格问卷》、《中国中学生心理健康量表》为评估工具,从积极心理学和积极心理健康教育的理念出发,对实验班进行8周的班级辅导。结果表明:班级心理辅导能改善和培养初中生乐观心理品质。     

Vocational identity and career choice congruence of gifted and talented high school students

This study examined the career development of gifted high school juniorss in terms of vocational identity and congruence. The My Vo;cational Situation (MVS)was used to measure the career development of gifted high school ljuniors. Gender differences in vocational identity were found. Students who hasd tentative career and college major choices were found to have a higher level of vocational identity than those who did not have tentative choices. Measures of career choice congruence and college major choice congruence were obtained by examining the agreement between the Holland interest code and the tentative career and college major choices of participants. Gender differences were found o;n college major choice congruence, but not on career choice congruence. Vocational identity was related to college major choice congruence, but not to career choice congruence. Implications for counselling gifted students and research were discussed.     

Person-environment fit,job satisfaction and mental health

This study was concerned with the consequences of person-environment (P-E) congruence at work in terms of Holland's model of vocational preference. Whereas there has been some work on P-E fit and job satisfaction, and P-E fit and stress, few studies have looked at the relationship between P-E fit, job satisfaction and mental health. It was predicted that those people with a poor P-E fit would have higher levels of mental distress and lower levels of job satisfaction than those who experienced a good P-E fit. The results substantiated the major hypotheses of this study and are discussed in terms of the measurement and causes of job satisfaction. Criticisms and limitations of this type of approach are also considered.     

The effects of college major and job field congruence on job satisfaction

This study investigated predictors of job satisfaction and builds on previous research on the effects of bachelor’s degree majors and job field congruence on job satisfaction. Data on workers’ job experiences in 2001 were matched to those workers’ college experiences across 30 institutions and background characteristics up to 25 years earlier. With statistical controls for demographic, socioeconomic, and academic characteristics, a final sample of 2515 college graduates was used to test hypotheses centered on the possibility that a causal order relates education and job satisfaction. Specifically, college degree majors, measures of both actual and perceived congruence, as well as income were examined in relation to three dimensions of job satisfaction. Results support hypotheses that income and congruence both mediate the effects of majors on job satisfaction, and identify that two different measures of congruence are causally related to intrinsic dimensions of job satisfaction.     

Relative Contributions of Congruence and Personality Dimensions to Job Satisfaction

Research generally supports Holland's postulated relation between congruence and job satisfaction, but the magnitude of the relation seldom surpasses .30. Sample size and breadth and measurement of congruence and job satisfaction, however, are often limited. This research surveyed the job satisfaction of 395 diversely employed adults to determine whether personality dimensions recognized in the five-factor model of personality contributed to prediction of job satisfaction beyond the contribution of congruence. Personality also was examined as a primary predictor. Congruence, as measured by each of two indices, did not predict job satisfaction, but the block of Big-Five personality dimensions did contribute significantly to the prediction of job satisfaction; extraversion and low neuroticism were unique predictors. Results also failed to support the hypothesis that personality moderates the congruence–satisfaction relation.     

The Vocational Situation and Country of Orientation of International Students

A culturally relevant career‐development needs assessment survey was administered to 227 international college students. Factor analysis indicated that the participants' vocational needs centered on obtaining work experience, overcoming interview barriers, and developing job‐search skills. Overall, the vocational needs of international students were oriented toward the American job market. Implications for cross‐cultural counseling are discussed.     

Congruency,consistency, and differentiation as predictors of job satisfaction within the nursing occupation

Holland's (Making vocational choices: A theory of careers, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1973) congruency, consistency, and differentiation terms were used as independent variables to predict job satisfaction (JS) within the scope of a single occupation, rather than on the comparison between occupations. Based on the responses of 126 registered nurses on the specially designed List of Courses in Nursing (LCN) Inventory the congruence hypothesis was confirmed, while the consistency and differentiation hypotheses were only partially supported. The hypothesis on the additive relationship among congruence, consistency, and differentiation with JS was confirmed. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Exploring the effects of congruence and Holland’s personality codes on job satisfaction: An application of hierarchical linear modeling techniques

This study applied hierarchical linear modeling to investigate the effect of congruence on intrinsic and extrinsic aspects of job satisfaction. Particular focus was given to differences in job satisfaction by gender and by Holland’s first-letter codes. The study sample included nationally represented 1462 female and 1280 male college graduates who held full-time jobs in 2000. Congruence was measured by using actual occupational and academic major codes. After controlling for the differences across three-letter Holland personality codes, results indicate that job satisfaction was largely a function of individual attributes rather than disparities in personality types. Holland’s congruence was most effective in explaining intrinsic dimensions of job satisfaction for females, and less effective for extrinsic job satisfaction for both genders. Social females and males were less satisfied with extrinsic satisfaction, while Conventional and Social females were more satisfied with intrinsic features in their vocational environments.     

Vocational choice: A decision making perspective

We propose a model of vocational choice that can be used for analyzing and guiding the decision processes underlying career and job choices. Our model is based on research in behavioral decision making (BDM), in particular the choice goals framework developed by Bettman, Luce, and Payne (1998). The basic model involves two major processes. First, the selection of a decision strategy according to four choice goals: maximizing decision accuracy, minimizing cognitive effort, minimizing negative emotion, and maximizing justifiability of the decision. Second, the construction of situation-specific preferences, which can reflect irrelevant task and context factors such as the evaluation mode. This basic model is extended to account for social influences and the long decision time typical of most career and job decisions. We review research on vocational choice in light of this model, discuss normative implications for counseling, and outline a research agenda for studying vocational choice from a behavioral decision making perspective.     

Occupational specialty congruence: New data and future directions

The present research examined the relationship between within-occupational congruence and satisfaction, and attempted to integrate hypotheses and findings of prior studies with the conceptual implications of occupational specialty congruence. Correspondence between vocational interests within occupations and specialty choice has shown higher correlations with satisfaction than with congruence (Assouline & Meir, 1987). Occupational specialty congruence was derived by comparing preferred functions with the actual functions characterizing a given occupational specialty. In the present study, involving 120 computer software professionals, occupational specialty congruence correlated approximately .45 with satisfaction, using core job function dimensions. Specialty change within occupation, rather than occupational change, may help in cases of poor occupational choice, burnout, or a change in health. Further research should explore the generalizability of the function dimensions employed herein. Identifying core dimensions can aid in designing both career tracks and certification exams.     

Congruence of real and ideal job characteristics: A focus on sex,parenthood status,and extrinsic characteristics

Current theory, conceptualized almost exclusively in terms of the work setting, has assumed that intrinsic job characteristics are most relevant for workers' job satisfaction. A recent emphasis, however, on the interrelatedness of the nonwork and work domains suggests a need to reevaluate the importance of extrinsic job characteristics in workers' lives. Intrinsic and extrinsic job characteristics were studied in relation to perceived real-ideal job characteristic congruence for a sample of male and female full-time lawyers. In keeping with a focus on nonwork influences, two types of extrinsic characteristic were delineated: those related solely to the job, and those related to the work/parenting intersection. Results indicate that sex differences exist in perceived real-ideal congruence even when variables known to covary with sex in the work setting are controlled. The relevance to perceived real-ideal congruence of extrinsic job characteristics, and especially those related to the work/parenting intersection, appears clear from the results of this study.     

The National Academy of Certified Clinical Mental Health Counselors: Creating A New Professional Identity

The National Academy of Certified Clinical Mental Health Counselors was developed by the American Mental Health Counselors Association as an effort to firmly establish the role and identity of mental health counselors in the fields of counseling and mental health. This article provides a brief background of and discusses future goals for the Academy.     

LONGITUDINAL ANALYSIS OF ABILITY-JOB COMPLEXITY FIT AND JOB CHANGE

The study examines job mobility as a function of congruence between individuals' abilities and their job's complexity. The gravitational hypothesis (McCormick, DeNisi, & Staw, 1979; McCormick, Jeanneret, & Mecham, 1972), a keystone of this objective, posits that individuals will sort into jobs that are commensurate with their ability level. This study used various analytical techniques to examine the relationship between ability, person-job fit, and occupational mobility. First, the gravitational hypothesis was tested. Second, the direction of mismatch between ability and job complexity was hypothesized to predict direction of change in job complexity over time. Two national, longitudinal databases, the National Longitudinal Study of the Class of 1972 (NLS-72) and the National Longitudinal Survey of Labor Market Experience-Youth Cohort (NLSY), were used to test these relationships. Results were supportive in both the NLS-72 and the NLSY. Additional analyses examined the difference between measures of objective job complexity and subjective job complexity (Gerhart, 1988) for the gravitational process and the difference in employer- and employee-initiated job changes. These results have implications for employers, vocational counselors and job applicants. Suggestions for improving the ability-job complexity match are provided.     

教师心理健康评价量表的编制及现状研究

在理论分析和借鉴前人研究成果的基础上,自行编制了针对我国教师心理健康的评价量表,并对来自北京、河北、江苏、山东、山西、青海、浙江等7个省市的1819名教师进行了测试。结果发现:《教师心理健康评价量表》由自我、社会、工作和生活四个分量表构成。经检验,《教师心理健康评价量表》具有良好的信度和效度,可以在今后相关研究中作为了解教师心理健康状况的测量工具使用;同时研究还发现,幼儿园、小学、初中和大学的教师同时存在发展性问题和适应性问题,而高中教师只有适应性问题,没有发展性问题。     

Effect of positive,negative, and mixed occupational information on cognitive and affective complexity

A series of concentrated research studies over the past 8 years has significantly demonstrated that cognitive complexity in the vocational realm is positively related to congruence or appropriateness of vocational choice. Moreover, research has shown that introducing occupational information significantly reduces, rather than increases, cognitive complexity. The results of the study reported here relate to changes in cognitive complexity as a function of the type of occupational information introduced, namely, information with respect to the advantages of occupations; the disadvantages of occupations, or a combination of positive and negative features of occupations. Our results clearly demonstrated that while positive occupational information alone leads to greater simplicity, negative or mixed information significantly retards the trend toward greater simplicity. Results are discussed from both theoretical and practical perspectives, especially with reference to the typical occupational information provided in routine vocational counseling.