The structure of children's interests and competence perceptions.

Abstract

Two studies were conducted with samples of elementary school, middle school, and college students, who were given the Inventory of Children's Activities, which was designed to assess J. L. Holland's (1973, 1985a) RIASEC (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional) types on interests and competence perceptions. The structure was examined at the scale and item levels using the randomization test of hypothesized order relations and principal-components analysis. Results indicated that (a) there were few differences in structure between interests and competence perceptions, (b) the structure of interests and competence perceptions varied across age, (c) the fit of the circular model was positively related to age, (d) elementary and middle school students evaluated their interests and competencies using different dimensions than did college students, and (e) there were scale score mean differences across gender and age. The prevailing model used in most interest inventories is the one posited by John Holland (1973, 1985a) of six types (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional, hereafter referred to as RIASEC) arranged in a hexagon (or circle). In a meta-analytic examination of the RIASEC structure across 104 different samples, Tracey and Rounds (1993) found support for the circular structure of interests from the age of 14 through adulthood. Also, they found that the structure held equally across gender and the different instruments used. However, it is unknown if this circular structure of RIASEC interest types is valid for children, because age groups younger than 14 have not been examined. The primary purpose of this study was to ascertain the structure of interests in children. Can the interests of children be represented using the six RIASEC types? If so, does the circular arrangement of these types also accurately represent children's data?