The Relation of Self-Reported Abilities to Aptitude Test Scores: A Replication and Extension

Scales from the Self-Directed Search (SDS) were correlated with those of the Ball Aptitude Battery (BAB) for a sample of 198 high school students. The present study found larger canonical correlations between the SDS and aptitude measures than those reported by Kelso, Holland, and Gottfredson (1977). However, the variance across the data sets associated with these canonical correlations was minimal, and much of the shared variance associated with the BAB canonical variates was due tog, with specific abilities contributing only minor portions of the observed shared variance.     

The relation of self-reported competencies to aptitude test scores

The scales of the Self-Directed Search were correlated with the scales of the Armed Forces Vocational Aptitude Battery for a sample of 192 high school girls. The two devices have small to moderate correlations that indicate that self-reported abilities and competencies have some concurrent validity.     

Meta-analyses of Big Six Interests and Big Five Personality Factors

This article presents a series of meta-analyses examining the 24 samples to date that have revealed the overlap of the three most widely used measures of Holland's Big Six domains of vocational interest, namely the Self-Directed Search (Holland, 1985a), the Strong Interest Inventory (Hansen & Campbell, 1985; Harmon, Hansen, Borgen, & Hammer, 1994), and the Vocational Preference Inventory (Holland, 1985b), with the most widely accepted measure of the Big Five personality factors, namely the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (Costa & McCrae, 1992). The meta-analyses showed the mean effect sizes for each of the 30 correlations between the six interest dimensions and the five personality dimensions. Of the 30 correlations, 5 appeared to be substantial for both women and men and across the interest measures. They are Artistic-Openness (r=.48), Enterprising-Extraversion (r=.41), Social-Extraversion (r=.31), Investigative-Openness (r=.28), and Social-Agreeableness (r=.19).     

The moderating effect of private self-consciousness on the stability of vocational interests

This study investigated the potential moderating effect of private self-consciousness on the stability of vocational interest inventory scores and profiles. We hypothesized that participants higher in private self-consciousness would have more stable interest scores and profiles on the Self-Directed Search (SDS; Holland, Fritzsche, & Powell, 1994) across a 12-week time interval than would participants lower in private self-consciousness. Results revealed that private self-consciousness did moderate the stability of SDS Enterprising interest scores. Contrary to our hypothesis, private self-consciousness did not moderate the stability of the other five SDS interest scores or SDS interest profile stability.     

HOLLAND式中国职业兴趣量表的建构

研究宗旨是建构适合我国国情的Ｈｏｌｌａｎｄ式的中国职业兴趣量表。检验结果显示该量表因素结构清晰,具备Ｈｏｌｌａｎｄ六种职业兴趣类型的理论构想,量表的信效度检验结果良好。     

Personality and interests as predictors of educational streaming and achievement

In this study Holland's RIASEC Model of vocational personalities and the Five-Factor Model of personality are used (i) to assess individual differences among study majors and (ii) to predict educational achievement. A sample of 934 last-year students who enrolled in different academic majors filled out Dutch/Flemish adaptations of the NEO-PI-R (Costa and McCrae, 1992) and the Self-Directed Search (Holland, 1977; 1979). The results show that both models are useful to describe differences among different majors. Conscientiousness proves to be a general predictor of grades and study career. For the other Big Five dimensions, except for Agreeableness, major and/or gender specific relationships with educational outcomes are observed. Holland's interest dimensions are not related to educational achievement, except for some moderate gender or major specific correlations with the Investigative and the Artistic scales. Suggestions for future research regarding educational streaming and counselling are discussed.     

The reliability and validity of the Greek version of the task-specific occupational self-efficacy scale

The present study examined the reliability and validity of the Greek version of the Task-Specific Occupational Self-Efficacy Scale in a sample of 170 high school students. Drawing on current social cognitive career theory, the validity of the TSOSS is supported by the expected gender differences on the TSOSS factors, and their high correlations with Self-Directed Search summary scores, and vocational choice goals. Additionally, there seems to be some evidence that self-efficacy beliefs, as measured by the TSOSS, may affect choice goals both directly and indirectly. The empirical structure of the instrument examined by a cluster analysis algorithm was perfectly confirmed, and its stability is supported by adequate test-retest correlations and high internal consistency coefficients. On the basis of these findings a preliminary evaluation of the TSOSS is made when used with a Greek sample. Implications for research and career guidance are discussed.     

A Model Program for Counseling and Placement of Offenders

This article describes the Maryland Comprehensive Offender Model Program (COMIP), designed to deliver manpower services to offenders while they are incarcerated and until they are placed in training or employment. Counseling was based on the Reality Therapy model with a high structured format for group sessions. The GATB and NATB were used for vocational planning; Holland's Self-Directed Search was the most effective interest instrument. Supportive services were minimal and consisted mainly of arranging housing and temporary public assistance grants. Over half of the placements stemmed from individual job development and this resulted in a placement rate higher than that usually achieved with applicants who do not have multiple barriers to employment.     

A COMPARISON OF VALIDATION CRITERIA: OBJECTIVE VERSUS SUBJECTIVE PERFORMANCE MEASURES AND SELF- VERSUS SUPERVISOR RATINGS

This study compared four criteria–two objective (production quantity and production quality) and two subjective (supervisor and self-ratings)–for their predictability in a criterion-related validity study. Results from this sample of 212 maintenance, mechanic, and field service workers replicated previous meta-analytic results with clerical workers (Nathan & Alexander, 1988); supervisor ratings and objective productivity indices provided similar and significant validity coefficients with a unit-weighted composite of five cognitive ability tests. The objective quality index and employee self-ratings resulted in near zero correlations with the same predictor battery. Additional productivity and quality objective criterion data were available for 2 years since the original validation study; no change in validity was found.     

Self-perception and the career aspirations of mathematically talented female adolescents

The role of self-perceptions of career-relevant abilities in understanding the career aspirations of mathematically talented adolescent females is studied. Female high school sophomores rated themselves on the 12 self-estimates of ability in Holland's Self-Directed Search. Based on her ideal career aspiration, each student was assigned to one of six career-aspiration groups. The results of the multiple discriminant function analysis indicated that nontraditional math career aspirants could be discriminated from the remaining five career-aspiration groups on the basis of seven self-estimates of ability. Further discriminations were less distinct although classification accuracy for all six career groups surpassed that expected by chance alone.     

Determinants and validity of self-estimates of abilities and self-concept measures

How accurate are self-estimates of cognitive abilities? An investigation of self-estimates of verbal, math, and spatial abilities is reported with a battery of parallel objective tests of abilities. Self-estimates were obtained prior to and after objective ability testing (without test feedback) in order to examine whether self-estimates change after direct objective testing experience. Self-estimates showed small to large effect-size correlations with objective tests--larger for math and smaller for verbal. The construct space of self-estimates of abilities was explored in the context of self-concept, self-esteem, self-efficacy, personality, interests, motivational traits, and trait complexes. Self-efficacy and self-esteem variables showed the highest correlations with self-estimates of abilities. In general, trait complexes showed the highest correlations with verbal ability self-estimates and the lowest correlations with math ability self-estimates. Results are discussed in relation to the principle of aggregation, the influences of self-evaluative judgments, and uses for self-estimates of abilities measures.     

A theory-ridden,computerless, impersonal vocational guidance system

The Self-Directed Search for Educational and Vocational Planning (SDS) is a self-administered, self-scored, and self-interpreted vocational counseling tool. It is inexpensive, practical, and has a high degree of scientific validity and client effectiveness.     

A Comparison of Two Approaches to Counselor-Free Career Exploration

This study was conducted to advance previous research in the use of computer-based, counselor-free career guidance systems instead of conventional counselor-free systems. The participants, Undergraduate college students (20 men and 20 women), were asked to rate their reactions to using the DISCOVER II microcomputer career guidance system and the Self-Directed Search. The majority of the participants preferred the DISCOVER II as a vocational exploration program.     

Career-Related Interests and Values,Perceived Control,and Acculturation of Asian-American and Caucasian-American College Students1

The present study compares the career-related interests and values of Asian-American and Caucasian-American college students and explores the relationships among career interests, perceived control, and acculturation. Career-related interests were defined by Holland's (1959, 1985a) model of vocational personality types and work environments, and career-related values were defined by Schein's (1987) career anchors. The Career Anchor Inventory (Nordvik, 1991), the Self-Directed Search (Holland, 1991), and the Spheres of Control Scale (Paulhus & Van Selst, 1990), were completed by 184 Asian-American and 130 Caucasian-American undergraduate students. The Asian-Americans also completed the Suinn-Lew Asian Self-Identity Acculturation Scale (Suinn, Rickard-Figueroa, Lew & Vigil, 1987). In comparison to Caucasian-American students, Asian-American students showed higher interest in the Investigative and Conventional vocational categories, but lower interest in the Social category. Asian-American subjects were lower in perceived control in the Personal and Interpersonal spheres. Among the Asian-Americans, acculturation was positively correlated with perceived control in the Personal and Interpersonal spheres and with the Enterprising vocational category. Acculturation was negatively correlated with Investigative and Conventional interests.     

Influence of adolescent social crowds on the development of vocational identity

A major gap in Holland's theory of vocational identity has been specification of the developmental antecedents of the six personality types. The present paper extends Geoffrey Kelso's work on the developmental antecedents of Holland's types by examining the relationship between membership in adolescent social crowds and vocational identity in early adulthood. In four samples (total N = 274), membership in five junior high school crowds—Motorheads, Brains, Freaks, Politicos, and Conformists—was found to be associated with higher scores on the Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Enterprising, and Conventional scales, respectively, of Holland's Self-Directed Search and Vocational Preference Inventory in early adulthood. The relative impact of temperament, family, and peer variables on the development of vocational identity is discussed.     

Construct validity and age sensitivity of prospective memory

We administered four prospective memory tasks to 330 adults between 18 and 89 years of age to investigate the relationship among the measures of performance in the four tasks, as well as the relationship of the prospective memory measures to age, other cognitive abilities, and noncognitive factors. The four prospective memory variables were found to exhibit both convergent and discriminant validity, indicating that prospective memory ability appears to represent a distinct dimension of individual differences. The prospective memory construct was significantly related to other cognitive abilities, such as executive functioning, fluid intelligence, episodic memory, and perceptual speed, but it was only weakly related to self-ratings of (primarily retrospective) memory and to personality traits. Although a substantial proportion of the age-related variance on the prospective memory construct was shared with other cognitive abilities, we also found some evidence of unique, statistically independent, age-related influences on prospective memory.     

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HOLLAND'S TYPOLOGY AND COGNITIVE STYLES

This paper combines the results of two studies across different cultures which included an investigation into the relationship between field-dependence-independence and vocational orientations within the framework of Holland's theory of career choice and Witkin's theory of psychological differentiation. The samples included 179 Canadian senior high school students and 376 Pakistani college and university students. Both samples were administered Self-Directed Search and Group Embedded Figures Test. The results indicated a significant relationship between cognitive styles and vocational orientations. It was evident from the findings of these two studies that the theories of Holland and Witkin dove-tail nicely with each other.     

Measures of consistency for Holland-type codes

“Consistency” in Holland's theory refers to the extent to which more closely related scale types are found together in codes of the Self-Directed Search sort. This paper describes two new measures of consistency. One is based on the hexagonal model and is for use with 3-point codes. The other is based on conditional probabilities and is for use with 2-point codes.     

Holland Type as a Moderator of Personality-Performance Predictions

This study explored the value of using Holland's theory of vocational personality types and work environments for improving predictions of personality-performance relations. Upper level undergraduates representing the RIASEC environments completed the Self-Directed Search and a measure of the Five-Factor Model of personality that were used to predict grades. Overall, agreeableness and conscientiousness accounted for approximately 2% to 3% of the variance in performance. However, when the data were analyzed further by RIASEC environment, more than 9% of the variance in performance was accounted for with personality scores. This study supports assertions in the literature that predictions of performance using global traits, such as conscientiousness, can be improved using appropriate moderators. Furthermore, important relations between personality and performance can be masked if job context is ignored.     

Objective measures of executive functioning are highly discrepant with parent-report in fetal alcohol spectrum disorders

The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the relationship between parent-report and objective measures of executive function in children diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). The participants were a clinical sample of 551 children who completed 597 evaluations, including initial and re-evaluations. Participants were 6–16 years old, with a mean age of 10. Pearson correlations were used to determine the relationship between performance-based measures and parent-report measures of executive functioning. Relationships among the same types of measures, that is, performance based or parent report, were also evaluated. The data largely demonstrate low nonsignificant correlations between performance-based measures and parental report of executive function. Parent-report measures were internally consistent as were objective measures. It is possible that a third variable, for example, parental frustration, significantly influences parent reports. It is also likely that objective measures, which are administered in a controlled environment, do not fully capture children’s day-to-day functioning. That is, a child may have the executive function abilities (i.e., good performance on objective measures) but may be unable to deploy the appropriate skills in their daily lives, as evidenced by parental report. Children with FASD who have executive function abilities but not implementation skills likely require different interventions than children who lack abilities and skills.