Examination of the structure of Irish students’ vocational interests and competence perceptions

A sample of 307 Irish high school students completed a modified version of the Personal Globe Inventory (PGI, Tracey, 2002). Results of separate principal components analyses demonstrated the presence of three substantive factors: People/Things, Data/Ideas, and Prestige, similar to the structure of the PGI in US samples (Tracey, 2002). The fit of Holland’s six-type RIASEC, the PGI eight-type model, and the PGI spherical structure to the data were examined using the randomized test of hypothesized order relations. The results demonstrated that each model fit the Irish data well. No structural differences were found between gender groups. The results support the structural validity of the modified PGI in an Irish context.