Abstract
This paper documents Scottish adolescents' vocational interest types. Our research is based on the responses of 1,306 pupils from 18 secondary schools to an empirically verified online interest inventory test. Our results are threefold. First, the structural validity of the test with the Scottish sample is confirmed by evaluating the underlying circumplex structure of Holland's RIASEC vocational interests. Second, gender distribution along the six primary vocational interest dimensions is consistent with the research literature: young men scoring higher on the Realistic vocational interest and young women scoring higher on the Social dimension. Finally, we observe that across dimensions, vocational interests of young women are less diverse than those of young men. We discuss how these dissimilarities could lead to differences in education choice and career decision-making.
Highlights
Personal vocational interests predict educational choice [1] and career pathways [2]
As the χ2 test is significant for all three models but oversensitive to minor deviations of a good model fit, we report a set of common fit indices to further evaluate circular model fit
We suggest that the CFA and RTOR analyses combined provide reasonable evidence that the a priori theoretical circular RIASEC model has a sufficient fit with the data
Summary
Personal vocational interests predict educational choice [1] and career pathways [2]. Adolescents will benefit from exploring these interests when deciding their subject choices, or whether to enrol in higher education or immediately move into employment. This exploration should lead them to find educational or work environments which match their interests, allowing them to flourish [3]. Vocational interests have multiple characteristics, including that of being relatively stable from early adolescence to middle adulthood ([4,5]) This stability can explain why guidance teachers at secondary schools or career-counselling services at colleges and universities often make use of them to provide information, assistance and advice to pupils and students in terms of selection of academic subjects, career opportunities and/or access to professions. The same students in Investigative or Conventional environments represent moderate fits. If they were in a Social environment, the level of fit would be low
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