Measuring women's interests: how useful?

Vocational interest inventories such as the SVIB are inherently appealing to women who seek career counseling. How useful they are to the counselor is another question. The author reviews studies employing the SVIB-W conducted during the past decade in order to answer such questions as: How reliable is the SVIB-W? How well does it differentiate interests? Can it effectively distinguish career commitments? Is it a good predictor? The author's conclusion is that information gained from this inventory is of minimal-use in counseling women about careers.     

Convergent and Discriminant Validity of Five Interest Inventories

This study investigated whether interest inventories that purport to measure the same constructs actually yield scores that correspond. The study examined the empirical relation of scores for similarly and same-named scales on five widely used interest inventories: the Campbell Interest and Skills Survey, the Kuder Occupational Interest Survey-Form DD, the Self-Directed Search, the Strong Interest Inventory-Skills Confidence Edition, and the Revised Unisex Edition of the ACT Interest Inventory. Comparisons were made among scores for (a) vocational interests measured by homogeneous, rationally based scales; (b) occupational interests measured by heterogeneous, criterion-based scales; and (c) self-efficacy for RIASEC tasks. The participants consisted of 80 women and 38 men employed as career counseling practitioners and professors. Results from analyses of multitrait-multimethod matrices indicated that similarly and same-named scales correlated moderately and that, with few exceptions, these matched scales demonstrated convergent and discriminant validity. These conclusions were interpreted by distinguishing between the linguistic explication and operational definition of constructs in theories of vocational and occupational interests. The implications of these interpretations were considered for both the science of vocational psychology and the practice of career counseling. Future research should investigate both the profile validity and the interpretive validity of interest inventories that yield scale scores derived from different scaling strategies.     

Sex-role socialization and employment realities: Implications for vocational interest measures

Methods for reporting vocational interests which do and do not reflect sex-role stereotypes are examined. Interest inventory validation procedures based on the prediction of occupational preference and group membership are shown to favor inventories providing scores that reflect past sex-role stereotypes and current employment inequities. Reporting and validation procedures minimizing these shortcomings are suggested. These procedures, which are supported by past practice and recent research, result in similar interest score distributions for men and women. Finally, career counseling problems arising from the confounding of reports of human interests with current employment realities are discussed.     

Predictive validity of the medical specialty preference inventory

Medical schools can assist students by providing them with quality career counseling to help them choose a medical specialty. Many schools use interest inventories to help identify students’ specialty interests. This study examined the predictive validity of one such inventory, the Medical Specialty Preference Inventory (MSPI). In a longitudinal design, we used discriminant function analysis to examine how well students’ scores on the MSPI fit their chosen medical specialty one year later. The MSPI correctly predicted students’ future medical specialty choice 58.1% of the time. These results can help career advisors interpret MSPI scores, and identify students’ most likely medical specialty choice, as well as their second most likely choice.     

Dimensions underlying Holland's hexagon: Missing link between interests and occupations?

Holland uses a hexagon to model relationships among his six types of vocational interests. This paper provides empirical evidence regarding the nature of the interest dimensions underlying the hexagon. Two studies are reported. Study 1 examines the extent to which two theory-based dimensions—data/ideas and things/people—fit 27 sets of intercorrelations for Holland's types. Three of the data sets involve the mean scores of career groups (total of 228 groups and 35,060 individuals); 24 involve the scores for individuals (total of 11,275). Study 2 explores the heuristic value of the data/ideas and things/people dimensions by determining whether they contribute to the understanding of why interest inventories work. Two data sets covering a total of 563 occupations are used to calculate correlations between the vocational interests of persons and the tasks which characterize the persons' occupations. Each occupation's principal work tasks are determined from job analysis data obtained from the U.S. Department of Labor. Study 1 results provide substantial support for the theory-based dimensions. Study 2 results suggest that interest inventories “work” primarily because they tap activity preferences which parallel work tasks. Counseling and research applications of the data/ideas and things/people dimensions are suggested and implications for interest assessment are noted.     

Cognitive complexity and interest crystallization

The relationship between cognitive differentiation and vocational interest crystallization was investigated. Ninety-six career counselees filled in the RAMAK vocational interest inventory. Then, each subject's occupational constructs were elicited by comparing triads of occupations. Finally each subject rated 24 occupations on his/her elicited constructs. Interest crystallization was defined on the basis of the salient scales in the interest inventory, taking into account the structure of interests. Cognitive differentiation was measured by between- and within-constructs differentiation, ordination, intensity, and conflict and by the difference between the perception of an ideal and a rejected occupation. The relationships between the various measures of cognitive differentiation were generally low, suggesting that they capture different aspects of cognitive complexity. The results indicate that interest crystallization is related to the between-construct differentiation, but not to the other measures of cognitive complexity. The implications for research and counseling are discussed.     

The relationship between vocational interests and the location of an ideal occupation in the individual's perceived occupational structure

The relationship between vocational interests and the location of an ideal occupation in the perceived occupational structure of career counselees was investigated. Ninety-six career counselees completed the RAMAK vocational interest inventory. Then, the occupational constructs of each subject were elicited by the career grid procedure. Finally, each subject rated 24 occupations and his/her ideal and rejected occupations on his/her own elicited constructs. The intrasubject analyses indicated that the preferences for occupational fields as measured by the interest inventory reflect the fields' proximity to an ideal occupation in the individual's perceived occupational structure. The implications for career development are discussed.     

Using Interest Inventories as Interventions in Women's Career Development

Des changements importants se présentent dans la mesure des motivations professionnelles comme le résultat du mouvement féminin et des pressions pour minimiser le biais sexuel. Cet article démontre que la catégorisation des motivations peut servir soit comme moyen de maintenir le statu quo dans la distribution des professions féminines, soit comme agent catalytique pour ouvrir un champ plus large de choix de carrières traditionnelles ou non, aux hommes comme aux femmes. Une polémique à propos des changements psychométriques et l'efficacité de la catégorisation professionnelle est proposée, avec des recommandations pour l'utilisation des catégorisations comme des occasions d'augmenter les expériences exploratoires sur les professions et ainsi propulser le développement des carrières.
Marked changes have taken place in career interest measurement as a result of the women's movement and the pressures to minimise sex bias. This paper argues that interest inventories can serve either as devices to help maintain the status quo in the occupational distribution of women or as catalytic agents that can open up a wider spectrum of career options, traditional and non-traditional, to both women and men. Controversy regarding psychometric changes and the effectiveness of interest inventories is still an issue, but recommendations are offered for using interest inventories as interventions to increase exploratory occupational experiences and thus enhance career development.     

Career counseling: beyond “test and tell”

Behavior-oriented inventories need not be used in a static manner. This article presents a way of using John Holland's Self-Directed Search (SDS) as an illustration of how such an inventory can be employed dynamically within a developmental career counseling framework. Use of the SDS is discussed in terms of environmental exploration, self-exploration, and integration of information. The breadth of individual behavior styles and the flexibility of work environments are the key concepts in the approach to career counseling described here.     

Enriching the Genetic Counseling Recruitment Pipeline: A National Cross-Sectional Study of Public High School Counselors

Early awareness of careers is helpful in recruiting students into a career pipeline. School counselors are among the top resources that students turn to when seeking advice about choosing their career. Studies show that high school is the ideal time to generate interest in the genetic counseling career, especially for minorities. This novel study of 291 high school counselors working in ethnically diverse public school districts in the United States examined to what extent members of this important group discuss genetic counseling as a career option with their students. The findings indicate that the majority of school counselors in this study (83%) did not discuss genetic counseling with their students, citing a lack of resources and lack of student interest as the major barriers. Suggestions of ways to increase high school counselors’ awareness of the genetic counseling career in order to enhance the goal of enriching recruitment of ethnic minorities into the genetic counseling pipeline are presented.     

Occupational Wellness: The Integration of Career Identity and Personal Identity

Historically, career and vocational counseling have served as cornerstones to the counseling profession. Still, there are several survey studies that indicate that interest in career counseling among counseling professionals has eroded. Conversely, there has been an overwhelming response from counselors to the idea of wellness. The intent of this article is to encourage practicing counselors and researchers to consider career development as a key ingredient in the conceptualization of wellness. Furthermore, it is imperative that we begin to assist clients in achieving this aspect of occupational wellness through the integration of career identity and personal identity.     

Where are the Males? Gender Differences in Undergraduates’ Interest in and Perceptions of the Genetic Counseling Profession

Genetic counseling is a female-dominated field, with women comprising about 95% of the profession (Smith et al. 2009). Greater patient choice and satisfaction may be achieved by increasing the number of male counselors, but empirical evidence about the reasons for this gender imbalance is limited. In this study 190 undergraduates (110 females, 79 males, 1 unknown) in upper division bioscience courses completed a survey assessing their knowledge and perceptions of and interest in genetic counseling as a career. There were only two significant gender differences. Females indicated significantly greater interest than males in pursuing a genetic counseling career, and they rated interpersonal skills as more integral to genetic counseling than males. Multiple regression analyses of knowledge and perceptions as possible predictors of male and female interest in pursuing a genetic counseling career yielded no significant predictors of male interest. For females, there were four significant predictors: estimated salary, career characteristics, perceptions of genetic counseling as interpersonally focused, and whether they had already chosen a career. Implications for recruiting males to the profession, and research recommendations are presented.     

Have Hexagon Will Travel: An Interview With John Holland

John Holland is one of the major theorists, living or dead, in the area of career development/choice. He is the author of two books, more than 150 articles, and two inventories, one the popular Self-Directed Search. During the interview he seemed torn between his desire to be frank, honest, and outspoken, and his fear that should he be, the sex bias controversy that consumed so much of his time several years ago would be stirred up again. When he was first approached with the request for an interview, he declined because he felt that other individuals have made greater contributions than he. In this interview, Holland shares his views on how the SDS was developed, on the strengths and weaknesses of his theory, on how to provide vocational counseling efficiently, and outlines his hopes for the future.     

People--things and data--ideas: bipolar dimensions?

We examined a longstanding assumption in vocational psychology that people-things and data-ideas are bipolar dimensions. Two minimal criteria for bipolarity were proposed and examined across 3 studies: (a) The correlation between opposite interest types should be negative; (b) after correcting for systematic responding, the correlation should be greater than -.40. In Study 1, a meta-analysis using 26 interest inventories with a sample size of 1,008,253 participants showed that meta-analytic correlations between opposite RIASEC (realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, conventional) types ranged from -.03 to .18 (corrected meta-analytic correlations ranged from -.23 to -.06). In Study 2, structural equation models (SEMs) were fit to the Interest Finder (IF; Wall, Wise, & Baker, 1996) and the Interest Profiler (IP; Rounds, Smith, Hubert, Lewis, & Rivkin, 1999) with sample sizes of 13,939 and 1,061, respectively. The correlations of opposite RIASEC types were positive, ranging from .17 to .53. No corrected correlation met the criterion of -.40 except for investigative-enterprising (r = -.67). Nevertheless, a direct estimate of the correlation between data-ideas end poles using targeted factor rotation did not reveal bipolarity. Furthermore, bipolar SEMs fit substantially worse than a multiple-factor representation of vocational interests. In Study 3, a two-way clustering solution on IF and IP respondents and items revealed a substantial number of individuals with interests in both people and things. We discuss key theoretical, methodological, and practical implications such as the structure of vocational interests, interpretation and scoring of interest measures for career counseling, and expert RIASEC ratings of occupations.     

Integrating motivational interviewing in career counseling: A case study

Motivational interviewing (MI) is receiving increasing attention in the field of career counseling. However, none of the previous studies have concretely presented how this method could and why it should be integrated in career counseling. Through the use of a single case study design, this paper illustrates how a brief MI (BMI) intervention can be integrated into career counseling interventions to help resolve career dilemmas. An analysis of the interactions between the client and his counselor using the Motivational Interviewing Skills Code 2.1 illustrates why this method can be useful for career counseling. Immediate and long-term effects of the global career counseling intervention on the client's career decision-making difficulties, as well as the specific impacts of the BMI intervention, are assessed. This case study shows that the BMI approach can be integrated in a career counseling intervention to help career counseling clients overcome career dilemmas and increase their readiness to make career choices.     

Edward Kellog Strong,Jr.: First Author of the Strong Interest Inventory

Edward K. Strong, Jr. (1884–1963) was the first author of the Strong Interest Inventory and the first psychologist to devote a career to the measurement and study of vocational interests. Strong's wisdom about interests and career decision making still is obvious and his 1943 volume, Vocational Interests of Men and Women, continues to provide inspiration for the field of interest measurement.     

Developmental Career Assessment and Counseling: The C-DAC Model

The C-DAC model seeks to implement current development theory and to use innovative assessment measures together with improved counseling methods to improve vocational and life career counseling. At this stage, the project pays more attention to assessment, partly because if one is to counsel with career maturity in mind, one must understand the developmental status of the counselee. In career counseling, facts as well as feelings are important. Therefore, in this article the authors deal with the assessment of career development in detail, treating interests (measured by the Strong) and expressed preferences as basic status data to be viewed in the light of career maturity, the salience of life roles, and the values sought in life as moderator variables. The instruments are described and their use shown in a sample profile for assessment and checking by the reader in another readily available published source.     

Unconscious determinants of career choice and burnout: theoretical model and counseling strategy

A psychodynamic‐existential perspective is proposed as a theoretical model that explains career burnout and serves as a basis for a counseling strategy. According to existential theory, the root of career burnout lies in people's need to find existential significance in their life and their sense that their work does not provide it. The reason that people choose a particular career is explained by psychoanalytic theory, which attributes it to significant childhood experiences, family dynamics, and familial vocational choices. Two detailed and 4 brief cases are presented to demonstrate the application of the psychoanalytic‐existential approach to career counseling that is sought as a result of burnout.     

Vocational interests of career and homemaker oriented women

Women who had completed the SVIB-W as freshmen in college were contacted 13 to 21 years later and were classified as career (N = 236) or homemaker (N = 527) oriented on the basis of their actual work experiences. Significant differences between the groups were found on 25 of the 44 occupational scales, one of the three nonoccupational scales, and four of the 19 basic interest scales. The interests of the homemaker oriented women were more similar to the interests of women in business, nonprofessional, and home economics occupations while the interests of the career oriented women were more similar to the interests of women in the verbal-linguistic, verbal scientific, and scientific occupations. The results are discussed in terms of previous research and Holland's Occupational Classification system.     

Consideration of Genetic Counseling as a Career: Implications for Diversifying the Genetic Counseling Field

Under-representation of racial/ethnic minority counselors has been an ongoing issue in the genetic counseling field. A better understanding of genetic counseling awareness and career consideration may help to increase the number of applicants to genetic counseling training programs from racial/ethnic minorities. This study sampled high school and college students (n = 233) to examine their awareness and perceptions of genetic counseling. Ethnicity, gender, parental level of education, and interest in biology were significant predictors of a subjects genetic counseling awareness; previous awareness of genetic counseling, interest in psychology, and level of education were significant predictors of whether a subject would consider genetic counseling as a career. The findings suggest that knowledge of genetic counseling is lower among racial/ethnic minorities, but that racial/ethnic minorities are just as likely to consider genetic counseling as a career. Awareness of genetic counseling prior to university education may increase racial/ethnic minority representation among potential applicants to genetic counseling training programs.