Holland Personality Types among Learning Disabled and Nonlearning Disabled High School Students

Abstract

Many learning disabled adults are not as successful vocationally as nonhandicapped adults. One reason for their lack of success may be that they are working in occupations incongruent with their personalities and interests. While nonhandicapped individuals are considered to have a variety of occupational interests, learning disabled persons are often occupationally stereotyped and trained for and placed into a more limited variety of occupational environments. The study described in this article investigated whether 96 learning disabled high school students had vocational interests and personalities that differed from those of 96 nonlearning disabled high school students. Holland's Self-Directed Search (SDS) was used to measure personality and occupational interests. Subjects were matched on sex, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status (SES). A chi-square test of homogeneity was computed. The groups were not found to be heterogeneous with respect to occupational interests and personalities. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.