Holland Occupational Research Articles

Exploring paramedicine student preferences using Holland's vocational theory: A cross-sectional study.

Holland's RIASEC typology is a classification of vocational personality types and work environments. Having a predisposition for their vocation, in terms of a personality that is congruent to their work environment, may be protective for paramedics with regards to both their mental and physical health. The purpose of this study was to identify paramedicine students' vocational preference according to Holland's RIASEC model. Bachelor of Paramedicine degree students in the three different year levels completed the 48-item Brief RIASEC Marker Scales to determine their order of the six RIASEC personality types. In this study, the paramedicine students' three most dominant personality types were Social-Investigative-Artistic, differing from the defined Holland Occupational Code for paramedics of Realistic-Social-Investigative. Male students scored significantly higher on the Reality personality type, whereas female students scored significantly higher on the Social personality type. Overall, this study found many students to possess two of the three dominant personality traits that form the desired Holland code for paramedics. This suggests that many students may be better able to cope with the demands of the paramedicine profession upon employment.

Occupational gender segregation and gendered language in a language without gender: trends, variations, implications for social development in China

This paper proposes a textual analytics approach to the discovery of trends and variations in social development. Specifically, we have designed a linguistic index that measures the marked usage of gendered modifiers in the Chinese language; this predicts the degree of occupational gender segregation by identifying the unbalanced distribution of males and females across occupations. The effectiveness of the linguistic index in modelling occupational gender segregation was confirmed through survey responses from 244 participants, covering 63 occupations listed in the Holland Occupational Codes. The index was then applied to explore the trends and variations of gender equality in occupation, drawing on an extensive digital collection of materials published by the largest newspaper group in China for both longitudinal (from 1946 to 2018) and synchronic (from 31 provincial-level administrative divisions) data. This quantitative study shows that (1) the use of gendered language has weakened over time, indicating a decline in occupational gender stereotyping; (2) conservative genres have shown higher degrees of gendered language use; (3) culturally conservative, demographically stable, or geographically remote regions have higher degrees of gendered language use. These findings are discussed with consideration of historical, cultural, social, psychological, and geographical factors. While the existing literature on gendered language has been an important and useful tool for reading a text in the context of digital humanities, an innovative textual analytics approach, as shown in this paper, can prove to be a crucial indicator of historical trends and variations in social development.

Impact of Sense of Values on Career Maturity of College Students Majoring in Beauty by the Holland Occupational Personality Type

Impact of Sense of Values on Career Maturity of College Students Majoring in Beauty by the Holland Occupational Personality Type

Assessing Vocational Development in Prospective School Librarians

Objective – To explore the motivations for choosing school librarianship as a career.
 
 Design – Narrative research, qualitative interviews.
 
 Setting – The School Media program specialization in a Master of Library Science program at a large research university.
 
 Subjects – Five graduate school students seeking initial certification as school library media specialists.
 
 Methods – The researcher employed narrative research, based on career construction theory and the Life Story Interview, (McAdams, 1995). This methodology is a set of loosely-structured, open-ended questions designed to encourage detailed, in-depth responses from the participant teller, combined with a more structured Career Style Interview (Savickas, 2005) designed to elicit self-defining stories. 
 
 Data was collected through qualitative interviews, using personal narrative interviews that focused on the entire life of each person from birth to present (Life Story Interviews) and additional questions in an interview format (Career Style Interview.)
 
 Data was collected and analyzed in two stages. The analysis first examined participants as individuals then tried to identify commonalties among the stories. Each life story was examined to determine a career style on the basis of vocational personality, career adaptability and life theme. The interview data was then analyzed for thematic connections and occupational choice. 
 
 Main Results – The final analysis identified the following themes as relevant to the study, and to the career choices of graduate students planning to be school librarians: parental expectations; career changers; librarian mentors; prior library work experiences; reading; library experiences; altruism-service; desire to work with children; financial stability and security; flexibility of work schedule; emotional distance; and vocational personality.
 
 In general, the participants appear to value safe, traditional career choices that allow them to put family first and maintain a flexible work schedule, while also providing financial stability and security. Those who are already teachers noted interest in a job that provides relief and emotional distance from the everyday social problems of students. All five noted the “love of reading” as a motivation for choosing this career path. 
 
 The vocational personality of each subject was determined through interpreting their answers on the Career Interest Surveys, using Holland Occupational Theme RIASEC codes: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional. The vocational personality of all five students did not match the predominant code for school librarians. None exhibited a resemblance to the “enterprising” type, the most prominent personality for successful school librarians. All five did exhibit “artistic” vocational personality, and the researcher notes that this may be an explanation for the choice of librarianship as a second career, as artistic types take longer to find a compatible career match. The researcher also notes that the final code is a “best estimate” for each subject. 
 
 Conclusion – Examining the vocational development of the five graduate students through vocational personality, career adaption and life theme afforded a broader viewpoint than traditional survey studies. The determining of vocational personality type may be helpful to recruitment efforts to the profession, and help make the career choice more visible.

Utilizing occupational complexity levels in vocational interest assessments: Assessing interests for STEM areas

With an aim to improve vocational interest assessments geared toward the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) areas, we developed a new assessment by incorporating occupational complexity levels. Occupations which correspond to Holland's realistic and investigative themes were identified together with their complexity levels using the information in the Dictionary of Holland Occupational Codes. How the required skills, abilities, and work activities differ in occupations with different complexity levels was identified using the Occupational Information Network. Two studies (N=691 total) were conducted to assess reliability and validity of a measure of STEM Interest Complexity assessing the level of interests for STEM, which was developed based on the information obtained from these occupation databases. Construct validity was demonstrated with factor analyses and based on associations with traditional interest assessments, cognitive abilities, and theoretically-related constructs. Concurrent criterion-related validity was demonstrated based on associations with attachment to STEM, intentions to persist in and further pursue a STEM field, intentions to choose a complex occupation, college major satisfaction, and STEM-related GPA. Dominance analyses indicated that the relative contribution of the STEM Interest Complexity measure exceeded that of traditional interest assessments in the prediction of criteria. The usefulness of integrating a dimension of level and consulting occupation information databases in developing vocational interest assessments are discussed.

The Vocational Personality of School Psychologists in the United States

This study represents the first empirical test of the vocational personality of US school psychologists. Specifically, we investigated the personality of school psychologists using Holland's (1997) well-researched theory of vocational personalities and work environments. The sample consisted of 241 randomly selected members of the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP). The Self-Directed Search (Holland, 1994) was used to identify personality types. Results offered general support for the three-letter vocational personality code for school psychologists that is listed in the Dictionary of Holland Occupational Codes (Gottfredson and Holland, 1996).

Examining Conformity to Masculinity Norms as a Function of RIASEC Vocational Interests

The authors examined how college men’s conformity to an array of masculinity norms varied as a function of their vocational interests to better understand the gendered context of men’s vocational development. Three hundred ten mostly Caucasian and heterosexual college men completed the Conformity to Masculine Norms Inventory, and their answer to the question “What is your ideal job/career after college?” was classified into one of six high point codes reflecting Holland’s RIASEC interests using the Dictionary of Holland Occupational Titles (1996). Multivariate analysis of variance indicated that college men’s conformity to masculinity norms varied as a function of their vocational interests, and univariate analyses indicated that this was true for 9 of the 11 masculinity norms examined. The discussion addresses the implications of a multidimensional conceptualization of masculinity in understanding men’s vocational development.

Convergent Validity of O*NET Holland Code Classifications

The interpretive ease and intuitive appeal of the Holland RIASEC typology have made it nearly ubiquitous in vocational guidance settings. Its incorporation into the Occupational Information Network (O*NET) has moved it another step closer to reification. This research investigated the rates of agreement between Holland code classifications from three major sources. The Holland code classifications from the O*NET were compared with those from the Strong Interest Inventory and the Dictionary of Holland Occupational Types using six different methods. The mean pairwise rate of agreement for the first Holland code letter was 70.6%, with a three-way rate of agreement of 60.21%. The mean pairwise rate of agreement for the first and second Holland code letters was 32.33%, with a three-way rate of agreement of 15.71%. The mean pairwise rate of agreement for the first, second, and third Holland code letters was 12.56%, with a three-way rate of agreement of 2.62%. The implications of these findings for research and counseling practice are discussed.

Interpreting Ellenore Flood's Self‐Directed Search

Armed with Ellenore Flood's Profile (see Appendix A) from her SelfDirected Search (SDS; Holland, 1995) and the summary of her initial counseling interview, I would prepare for my first session with Ellenore (as I would for any other SDS interpretation) by asking myself the following questions (which were originally posed by Johnston and Rakes, 1992). The answers to these questions would shape my interpretation of her SDS profile and the directions taken in that session. WHAT ARE THE CLIENT'S EXPRESSED CAREER CHOICES/ASPIRATIONS (OCCUPATIONAL DAYDREAMS)? Ellenore has listed nine Occupational Daydreams on page 3 of her SDS Assessment booklet. Because clients are asked to provide a history of their Occupational Daydreams listing their most recent choice on line one and working backward to earlier jobs they have considered, I like to calculate the Summary Occupational Daydream Code by using the weighting strategy I describe in the following section. Next to each occupation listed, print the three-letter code (see the Figure 1 Note for an explanation of the letter codes) from the Occupations Finder (Holland, 1994), or Dictionary of Holland Occupational Codes (Gottfredson & Holland, 1996). Then for each letter in the first position, enter a 3 under that letter in the tally columns. Add 2 for each letter in the second position, and add 1 for each letter in the third position. Finally, add down the tally columns to obtain a summary code. See Figure 1 for Ellenore's first six Occupational Daydreams From this analysis it is clear that Ellenore's predominant personality characteristics, as captured by her expressed career choices and aspirations, are Enterprising and Social. This portion of her SDS presents a well-differentiated and consistent profile suggesting an individual who has a rather focused sense of career direction and purpose. IS THERE ANYTHING ABOUT THE CLIENT'S CURRENT SITUATION OR BACKGROUND THAT WOULD HELP IN UNDERSTANDING OR INTERPRETING THE SDS SCORES? Ellenore's presenting problem isHelp me sort out all of the things Pve got going right now job possibilities, making decisions, focusing Ellenore feels that she must decide among four options: renewing her teaching contract for next year (SAE), applying for a teaching position at an American School in Italy (SAE), beginning a doctoral program (SAE), or taking a marketing job in the European office of her old employer (ESA). These four options might seem widely disparate. In fact, based on what we know of Ellenore and her SDS profile, these options seem consistent and fairly focused. Although in some ways it seems helpful that Ellenore has focused on these four options, (I would give her reinforcement for having done so), she may also wish to consider options that go well beyond these. Combinations of these choices implemented over several years may be more in her long-term interest than looking at one of the four as being correct and the other three as being wrong. Ellenore shared a lot of information about her background in the initial interview that has had a bearing on her current career situation. Her initial college majors of international relations and communications are consistent with her current Holland Code of SEA. During her college years, her part-time work as a bartender (ESI) and waitress (ESA/C) probably furthered her interest and skill in Enterprising and Social occupations. Her later work experience in the advertising industry may have reinforced her Entrepreneurial instincts and skills, and her subsequent work as an advertising copy writer (ASI) probably heightened her Artistic talents. I would want to explore these life experiences with Ellenore in greater depth. Because Ellenore's father (a firefighter-RES) died when she was only 5 years old, his influence on her career goals and aspirations was probably insignificant. Her mother (a nurse-SER), probably exerted a major influence both in terms of her Social influence and in terms of the Enterprising influence made manifest by the necessity to support the family after Ellenore's father died. …

Congruence Revisited: Do 11 Indices Differentially Predict Job Satisfaction and Is the Relation Moderated by Person and Situation Variables?

We examined the relations of scores from 11 congruence indices to each other and to scores from 2 measures of job satisfaction for a large (N= 483) and representative (172 occupations) sample of employed adults. None of the 22 correlations between the congruence indices and the job satisfaction measures was significant. Correlations between the 11 indices indicated a high degree of redundancy (medianr= .73). The congruence–satisfaction relation varied as a function of Holland personality type, with the greatest relation found for Investigative persons (meanr= .21 between 11 congruence indices and 2 satisfaction measures); it was not affected substantially as a function of Holland Occupational Code. Sex, age, income, and years of education were unrelated to congruence. The results of this study are discussed in terms of previous research, implications for Holland's theory, and future research possibilities.

Four Methods to Determine RIASEC Codes for College Majors and a Comparison of Hit Rates

This study compared RIASEC college major codes derived from surveying students enrolled in 28 majors, the judgments of subject matter and counseling experts, and workers employed in jobs related to the majors. Of the four methodologies used to obtain college codes, the highest degree of agreement was the 96% between student Career Decision‐Making (CDM) codes having reasonably close matches or better with codes in the Dictionary of Holland Occupational Codes. The article discusses that students must be aware that some common major names are not very communicative or descriptive of the predominant code types studying the subject.

The Use of API Career Factors as Holland Occupational Types

As a modern version of the 16PF, the Adult Personality Inventory (API) was designed to report scale scores that provided more information and were more useful to psychologists than the underlying 16 factors. This was accomplished by generating a set of 21 scales that are linear combinations of the original 16 factors. Six of the API scales have been labeled the Career Factors and may correspond to Holland's occupational types. The purpose of the present study was to help determine the extent to which the API Career Factors could indeed be employed as Holland occupational types. To make this determination, mean API profiles for various occupational groups were matched with occupational groups from an index of occupational codes provided by Holland and tested for profile congruency. The results indicated that there exists a good degree of congruence between the Holland occupational codes and the API Career Factors. It was concluded that, in general, the API Career Factors can be conceptualized as Holland occupational types and used accordingly.

Female Aspirants to the Roman Catholic Priesthood

Parish priests (n=85), nonparish priests (n=55), and women who aspire to, but who are barred from, ordination in the Roman Catholic Church (n=235) participated in an investigation of Holland vocational‐personality types, job satisfaction, and psychological dysfunction. Of the three groups, the women's Holland‐type code, as determined by the means of the Holland‐type scales of the Vocational Preference Inventory, was the most similar to the Holland‐type code of clergy member as assigned by the Dictionary of Holland Occupational Codes. Women who were barred from the priesthood reported less job satisfaction than the priests. Significant differences on three clinical scales of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory were in the direction of greater psychological dysfunction on the part of the priests.

What Sex is Your Parachute?

This article explores the “gender model” of job research instruments that are based on the Holland Occupational Classification scheme. The six Holland “environments” constitute a ubiquitous base for tests and measures in career counseling and research. Analysis of the 1973 Quality of Employment Survey provides evidence that the Holland Classification scheme replicates the segmentation of women into certain occupations that generate low pay, even after controlling for worker education, job tenure, and age. Comparable data for male wage earners show a significant segregation away from low-income, predominantly female occupations. Thus the Holland occupational scheme and the instruments based upon it are likely to contribute to the replication of sex-segregated labor markets. The findings suggest that current models of “work” and job counseling tests and techniques may reinforce, rather than eliminate, the economic disadvantages for women.

Re: Views

Book reviewed in this article:Salaries‐1982: The Only Guide to Salary Ranges for Over 700 Job Titles In As Many As 29 U.S. Cities James Udell and Bruce BernsteinSexual Dilemmas for the Helping Professional Jerry Edelwich and Archie BrodskySunday Came Early This Week Luleen S. AndersonDictionary of Holland Occupational Codes: A Comprehensive Cross‐Index of Holland's RIASEC Codes with 12,000 DOT Occupations Gary D. Gottfredson, John L. Holland, and Deborah Kimiko Ogawa

Vocational maturity and its relationship to Holland's theory of vocational choice

The major purpose of this study was to determine the relationship of vocational maturity with Holland's theory of vocational choice. Specifically, Holland's constructs of consistency, differentiation, and congruency, along with demographic factors of sex and age were examined in relation to vocational maturity. Subjects were students enrolled in high- and midconsistency level programs in two post-secondary institutions. Holland's Occupational Finder, Canadian Classification and Dictionary of Occupations, and Dictionary of Occupational Titles were used to determine program selection, and the Vocational Preference Inventory and the Career Maturity Inventory Attitude Scale were used to identify personality type and vocational maturity. Congruency and age related significantly to vocational maturity. Significant differences also occurred within both personality and program typologies.

The extension of Holland's Occupational Classification to all occupations in the Dictionary of Occupational Titles

Two methods are presented for extending Holland's occupational classification to include all occupations in the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT). Holland's classification is based on a theory of personality types; occupations in the classification are organized into six major categories (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional) and subcategories using the same concepts. The methods given in this article enable translation from any DOT occupational code (a six-digit number) into the corresponding Holland occupational code. The first method is essentially an application of Bayesian statistics using 399 occupations in Holland's Occupational Classification. The second method was developed by using the definitions of each DOT group (first three DOT digits) and assigning the Holland code which seems theoretically consistent with the DOT definition. The conversion methods are tested and compared on four occupational samples. An evaluation of the usefulness of the methods is given.