Occupational daydreams as predictors of vocational plans of college women

Abstract

Increase in predictability of vocational plans was sought by using variables from Holland's Self-Directed Search (SDS). College women ( N = 152) took the SDS at matriculation and indicated their current major and their two most likely vocational plans 3 years later via a brief questionnaire. The most recent daydream and a summary of daydream codes were the best single predictors of academic major; and the most recent daydream was the best single predictor of vocational plans. The SDS summary code combined with daydream codes was also found to increase predictions of all criteria. Results imply that occupational daydreams can be used effectively to predict occupational choices of college women, and that these predictions are strengthened by the additional data provided by the SDS.