Although personality is viewed as a precursor to self-efficacy and interest development (e.g., Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994), little research concerns linkages between personality and self-efficacy. This article bridges the relation by presenting the pattern of findings across four university samples. Three general and 11 specific personality traits were operationalized using Tellegen’s Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (Tellegen, 1982, 2000; Tellegen & Waller, in press). Vocational self-efficacy across Holland’s hexagon (i.e., Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional domains) was operationalized using the Skills Confidence Inventory (Betz, Borgen, & Harmon, 1996, 2005). Most of the contributions of personality to vocational confidence were with Positive Emotional Temperament and its related primary traits. Moreover, these same personality traits were also related to the elevation of a person’s profile overall (mean confidence level). Finally, Absorption, affiliated with both Positive and Negative Emotional Temperament, contributed to Artistic confidence whereas Harmavoidance (-) partially explained Realistic confidence.
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