Out-of-School Activities in Gifted Adolescents as a Predictor of Vocational Choice and Work Accomplishment in Young Adults

Abstract

The long-term predictive validity of out-of-school activities in adolescence as predictors of later vocational choice and accomplishment was investigated in 91 young adults who had been identified as intellectually gifted as adolescents. The baseline measure tapped leisure activities and accomplishments in eight specific activity domains (science/mathematics, social, dance, music, art, creative writing, drama, and sports). It was administered when research participants were in the senior year of high school. The criterion measure was administered approximately 13 years later and provided a classification of current occupation according to the Roe vocational fields and a measure of adult work accomplishment. We found a significant relationship between the domain of out-of-school activity in adolescence and the domain of vocational activity in adulthood. Moreover, subjects whose adolescent out-of-school activities matched adult occupation had a higher level of work accomplishment than subjects for whom such a match was absent.