Predicting Long Term Job Satisfaction and Persistence Among Rehabilitation Counselors

Abstract

Rehabilitation counselors who completed the Strong Vocational Interest Blank (SVIB) and Holland's Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI) in 1970 while in graduate school, were followed up in 1975. Of the 164 for whom correct addresses could be obtained, 58 percent responded to questions about their satisfaction and persistence in the job of rehabilitation counselor. Although the SVIB and VPI scales usually associated with social service occupations were not related to subsequent job satisfaction, multiple correlation of several other scales predicted 18 percent of the job satisfaction score variance. For women counselors the best predictor of later job satisfaction was the academic achievement key of the SVIB; scores of this key were inversely related to later satisfaction as rehabilitation counselors. Multiple correlations also yielded small but significant relationships between SVIB and VPI scores and persistence in rehabilitation counselor work.