Used 2 (gender) x 2 (favorable versus unfavorable occupations) x 3 (positive versus negative versus mixed valence information) between-subjects factorial design to explore disliked occupations, negative occupational information, and vocational differentiation. Found negative information linked to higher vocational differentiation when subjects…

Clinical findings indicated that relatively low Academic Achievement scale scores generally predicted changes of occupational planning toward business and other applied directions, whereas higher Academic Achievement scale scores were associated with changes toward more academic and scientific orientations. These regularities were modified for…

Conducted study which supports and extends findings suggesting the differential impact of occupational information on use of personal, as opposed to standardized, vocational constructs. Decrement in vocational differentiation occurred only when participants (n=85) were asked to evaluate occupational alternatives along standard set of vocational…

Monitored and utilized dialogues of 384 users of computerized information and guidance system to examine strategies used in exploration of occupational information. Analysis revealed patterns of exploring occupational information which were interpreted as reflecting different strategies-search within alternatives across attributes, or search…

The processes by which Roe (1956) and Holland (1966) developed their structural representations of occupations are compared. Roe, using almost exclusively nonempirical means, formulated an eight-group circumplex, virtually identical to Holland's six-group hexagonal configuration that resulted from empirical research spanning 11 years. The…

Freshman males from private and public school backgrounds took the Strong Vocational Interest Blank (SVIB) during freshman orientation. Subjects were retested one week later using the SVIB, and examined for posttest congruence. Results suggest that private boarding school subjects were less congruent than private day or public school graduates.…

Assessed impact of gender and construct type in study extending research on cognitive differentiation and appropriate career choice and on vocational information and cognitive differentiation. Findings from 161 college students showed no relation between vocational structure and selection of appropriate academic major. Occupational information…

Study on vocational differentiation conducted with 387 college students revealed that higher levels of vocational differentiation were found in men than in women and were related to use of personal constructs when subjects judged highly irrelevant career alternatives. Effects were qualified by interaction between construct type (personal and…

This article describes an experiment designed to evaluate the effect of occupational information giving on subjects' cognitive complexity level. Results of the experiment indicate that information giving reduced subjects' cognitive differentiation of occupational/vocational constructs compared to control subjects. Theoretical, research, and…

Explored the relationships among Type A personality, perception of job characteristics, and job tension in 161 midlife working women who completed the Women's Work Questionnaire. A significant relationship was found, supporting a person-environment fit approach to the study, perception, and remediation of job stress. (JAC)

Subjects, who were Occupational Work Experience students, were randomly assigned to individual guidance from either a computerized occupational information system, to a counselor-based information system or to a control group. Results demonstrate a hierarchical learning effect: The computer group learned more than the counseled group, which…

The present investigation superimposed a group discussion process over a typical vocational counseling process in which the primary focus was on test information and over two atypical vocational counseling processes. The atypical groups learned significantly more and retained longer than did both the typical groups and the control groups. (Author)

Examined predictors of college students' school-to-work transition difficulty, level of occupational knowledge, and crystallization of vocational self-concept. Occupational knowledge predicted whether students received at least one job offer before graduation and the total number of offers. Self-concept crystallization predicted at least one…

Examined three facets of career preferences so as to identify possible sources of the observed differences in the career choices of women and men. Analysis of the career-related preferences of 2,000 young adults revealed only small gender differences in the relative importance of the aspects. Other findings are also considered. (RJM)

This study compares effects on high school students (N=959) of the Self Directed Search (SDS), the Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI), and no treatment. Students taking the SDS or the VPI evaluated the instruments, felt more satisfied with current occupational choices, and considered more occupational alternatives. Differences between the…