Compromise of Non-traditional: The Relationship between Expressed and Measured Interests

Abstract

Where students participate in guidance programs of which interest measurement is a component, careers counsellors often tend to base their initial intervention approach on the inventory results, Some students do not respond positively to this approach. It is suggested that this may occur particularly when students’ direct statements of occupational preference and their inventoried interests are at odds. Whether particular groups of students may be predisposed by virtue of their interest orientation to this condition is investigated. The extent to which a sample of Year 10 students express preference for occupations which are not congruent with their measured interests is analysed within the context of Holland personality/interest groups. Results imply that students who display interest in non-traditional areas are more likely to express incongruent occupational aspirations.