Are SVIB interests correlated with differential academic achievement?

Segel's (1934) finding that SVIB scores correlated more highly with differential academic achievement than with absolute academic achievement has been often quoted, but little studied. The relationship between SVIB scores and ACT test scores for 1875 university freshman males was compared with the relationship between SVIB scores and the differences between pairs of ACT tests. The SVIB scale scores were more highly correlated with differential achievement than with absolute achievement when scholastic aptitude scores were held constant; however, the relationship was slight. When only hypothesized relationships were considered, no difference was found. The interpretation of SVIB scores as reflecting variations in either absolute academic achievement or differential academic achievement should be highly guarded. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Locus of control, consistency of vocational interest patterns, and academic achievement.

Administered the SVIB, the W. James I-E Scale, and the American College Testing Program Examination (ACT) to 356 male university freshmen. Ss were classified as internals or externals on locus of control and as consistents or inconsistents on vocational patterns based on J. Holland's classification schema for scales on the SVIB. ACT scores were used to control for ability. Internals had a significantly higher GPA than externals; consistents had a higher GPA than inconsistents, but no significant interaction effects between vocational interest patterns and locus of control were found. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Early recollections related to anxiety and introversion-extroversion.

The relationship between personality characteristics and early recollections (ERs) was investigated. The hypotheses were that a consistent relationship would be established (a) between Taylor Manifest Anxiety (MA) Scale scores and the anxiety content of ERs, and (b) between R scale scores of the Inventory of Factors STDCR and the introversion-extroversion (I-E) content of ERs. The significant findings indicate that ERs have some utility in evaluating personality characteristics. The nonsignificant judges' I-E ratings and the less reliable judges' I-E ratings indicate that I-E features of ERs are more difficult to evaluate than anxiety features. The agreement between Ss' I-E ratings and their R scale scores suggests that they may have approached both tasks in a similar manner. Adler's position, that ERs reflect Ss' style of life, receives some support from the study. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Female college students' scores on the men's and women's Strong Vocational Interest Blanks.

Administered the men's and women's forms of the SVIB and a career orientation questionnaire to a sample of 90 undergraduate women. Significant differences were found between mean scores on Occupational scales common to both forms and on mean number of B+ and A ratings on the men's and women's forms. Occupational scale scores and number of B+ and A interest ratings were examined in relationship to career vs. homemaker orientation. Ss differentiated on the basis of career orientation obtained significantly different mean numbers of B+ and A interest ratings on the women's SVIB. Implications for vocational counseling are discussed, and use of both forms of the SVIB is recommended in vocational counseling with college women. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Validity studies of the Strong vocational interest inventories.

The concurrent validity of the Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory (SCII) and the predictive validity of the SVIB were studied in an 18-yr follow-up of a university counseling center group of male college graduates. Results were compared with a previous 12-yr follow-up of the same Ss using C. McArthur's method (1954). The SCII had concurrent validity greater than the SVIB (T399) even after correction was made for a higher percentage of high standard scores on occupational scales. Predictive validity for 18 yrs was not quite as good as for 12 yrs. Although group data were similar for the predictive validity studies, classifications of individuals between studies varied substantially. A 6-yr predictive validity study for the SVIB (T399) had validity comparable to predictive studies using an earlier edition of the SVIB. Job satisfaction and satisfaction with type of work were statistically different, but resulted in no practical difference when used as a correlate with standard occupational scale score. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Proposed scoring changes for the Strong Vocational Interest Blank.

A study of the effect of replacing with new items 102 items in the current SVIB on the validity and reliability of the SVIB. 8 occupational groups were used. The results showed that the validity and reliability remained essentially the same after dropping the items. Also, the weighting system of the SVIB was compared with scales using unit weights. The results indicated that the unit weights keys were virtually identical to the weighted keys on 3 criteria: validity, reliability, and scale intercorrelations. Thus, the SVIB when revised should be scored using unit weight scales. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of internal and external control upon changes in smoking behavior.

Current evidence indicates that a personality measure which involves the extent to which a person perceives reinforcements as either internally or externally controlled (Internal-External scale, I-E) is significantly related to verbal as well as other behavioral measures of attitudes. The recent Surgeon General's report on smoking afforded an opportunity to study the relationship of the I-E variable to both attitudinal and behavior changes associated with smoking. The study was conducted 1 week after the release of the government report on smoking. Results indicate that (a) both male and female smokers are significantly more externally controlled than are nonsmokers; (b) smokers who were convinced by the evidence in the report had lower external control scores than those who were not convinced; and (c) among males, those who stopped smoking following the report were more internally oriented than those who continued smoking. It was concluded that the I-E dimension (which is independent of extroversion-introversion) may be an important personality variable in relation to smoking behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Vocational interests of women: A longitudinal study of the Strong Vocational Interest Blank.

Conducted a longitudinal study of the SVIB using 316 female university graduates representing 7 fields: art, elementary education, home economics education, and occupational therapy; the MD degree; and the master's degree in library science and social work. The average test-retest interval was 8.4 yr. for undergraduate majors and 10.6 yr. for graduate majors. Test-retest correlation coefficients for the total group over all scales ranged from .39-.65 with a median r of .58. On the precollege SVIB, majors were significantly different from nonmajors in the expected direction on the home economics teacher, occupational therapist, and physician scales. At retest, majors were significantly different from nonmajors in the expected direction for all comparisons. (18 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prediction of medical school attendance from college freshman SVIBs.

This study compared the SVIB profiles of 2 groups of college freshmen, 1 group which eventually applied to medical school and another which did not, but all of whom scored an A on the Physican scale. Significant differences were found between the 2 groups on 8 occupational scales, the largest of which were on the Artist and Architecture scales which were highly negatively related to subsequent application to medical school. The results give further evidence of a lack of a common interest factor in Group I of the SVIB. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of organization size on validity of Masculinity-Femininity score.

Apopulation of 195 pre-1944 male Stanford Graduate School of Business MBAs was analyzed for association between executive success criteria and scores on the Strong Vocational Interest Blank Masculinity-Femininity (SVIB MF) scale, controlling for size of employing organization (large N = 47, medium N = 105, and tiny N = 43). No significant correlations were found between the SVIB MF scores and pay, job interest, or career progress satisfaction. Correlations were significant (p     

An 11-year follow-up of measured interest and vocational choice.

408 university graduates were followed up 11 yrs after they had taken the SVIB, the American College Testing Programs Examination, and the Opinion, Attitude, and Interest Survey as freshmen. Expressed choice predicted future occupation more accurately than measured interest, and the accuracy of both was greatest when they were congruent. Congruence of either measured interest or expressed choice with future occupation was unrelated to occupational satisfaction. The predictive accuracy of the single highest occupational scale on the SVIB was greater than that obtained from a grouping of SVIB scales. The SVIB was as efficient a predictor for a group of undecided freshmen as it was for a group of decided students. The method used to predict future occupation from the SVIB profiles of freshmen yielded lower "hit rates" than the retrospective method used in most validity studies. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Inventoried vocational interests of cartographers.

Studied the interests of 466 male cartographers to develop a cartographer scale for the Strong Vocational Interest Blank (SVIB). Results show that (a) cartographers liked science, mathematics, and religious activities; (b) they were masculine and diverse and tended to dislike activities involving other people; and (c) their interests were most similar to those of computer programers, public administrators, Air Force officers, and physical therapists though none of those SVIB keys adequately portrayed the interests of the cartographers. The cartographer key developed was cross-validated on 2 cartographer samples drawn from other populations (n = 89) and was found to discriminate adequately between cartographers and men in general. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Vocational interests of college freshmen and their social origins.

The relationship between interests as measured on the SVIB and socioeconomic status of college students was explored. 9 groups of entering college freshmen were selected on the basis of father's occupation and educational level of both parents. Differences among distributions of the 9 groups on each of 48 SVIB scales were tested for significance using the analysis of variance test. Conclusions are: measured vocational interests of college students were not independent of social origin, college students of lesser cultural background tended to identify with occupations requiring quantitative and technical training, extent of overlap between social groups on SVIB scales was high. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predicting success in business.

Correlations were computed between earnings and each of 15 variables for 196 businessmen who had received the Master of Business Administration degree 15 years earlier. 4 correlations were significant at the 5% level. The highest, .24, was for offices held as an undergraduate. The other 3 were grades in elective graduate courses, Masculinity of the SVIB, and undergraduate professors' ratings. The group was reduced by omitting owner-operators. The remaining group constituted 116 employees. The only variable which correlated significantly with an Administrative-Level criterion was the SVIB scale for Personnel Director. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effectiveness of SVIB academic interest scales in predicting college achievement.

Determined the effectiveness of various SVIB academic interest scales in predicting 1st semester grades for 388 freshman males. Both the R. M. Rust and F. J. Ryan (see 29:4) and the D. P. Campbell and C. B. Johansson (see 41:3) scales contributed to a multiple correlation coefficient consisting of high school rank and Scholastic Aptitude Test scores in predicting academic performance. A single-item, self-evaluation rating scale failed to predict GPA significantly. Although the degree of relationship between the interest scales and grades tended to be somewhat greater for "marginal" students, the r's were not significantly different from those obtained with more able students. The use of modified, "placement" instructions did not greatly affect the mean scores or the magnitude of the correlations. (26 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Concurrent prediction from the Strong Vocational Interest Blank.

Compared the concurrent predictive accuracy of the Strong Vocational Interest Blank for Men (SVIB), Form T-399, for the same Ss (N = 163) on 3 sets of scales developed for the SVIB to reflect J. L. Holland's occupational-personality types: the SVIB-Holland scales, the Basic Interest scales, and the Occupational scales. Data are reported to provide comparison between the SVIB-Holland scales and Holland's Self-Directed Search with different Ss, between the Basic Interest scales and Occupational scales for the same Ss, between the criteria of single highest scale and scores above a cutoff, and between the 3 types of scales. When cutoff scores were used, the SVIB-Holland scales and the Basic Interest scales predicted occupation held for some 60% of these Ss; about 1/3 of these accurate predictions were considered to be attributable to chance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A vocational interest scale for biologists.

A Biologist scale for the SVIB (Form M) was developed following procedures outlined by E. K. Strong, Jr. 4 groups were employed: (a) criterion (N = 251) systematically selected from Volume 2 of American Men of Science, (b) cross-validation (N = 89) selected at an American Institute of Biological Science convention, (c) 2 concurrent validation groups (Ns = 121, 306) selected from the Pennsylvania State University student body. Results indicated that the scale differentiated the interests of: (a) the biologists from Strong's men-in-general group (P1), (b) the biologists from the interests measured by 36 other SVIB scales, (c) the concurrent validation groups in the expected direction. Reliabilities of .88 (criterion) and .87 (cross-validation) were obtained. It was concluded that the scale has sufficient validity and reliability to be a useful counseling device. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Multiple correlations between personality factors and SVIB Occupational scales.

Investigated the construct validity of the Occupational scales of the Strong Vocational Interest Blank (SVIB) with 359 male college students as Ss. 5 personality factors derived from the California Psychological Inventory (CPI) were correlated with each of the SVIB Occupational scales. Multiple correlation coefficients ranged from .24 to .64. The median coefficient of determination (corrected for shrinkage) was .18. The CPI Extraversion, Emotional Sensitivity, and Independent Thought factors yielded the highest individual correlations with the scales. The CPI Adjustment and Conventionality factors correlated negligibly with the SVIB Occupational scales. The significant relationships are consistent with J. L. Holland's personality theory of careers. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Internal-external control and social-political activism: A test of the dimensionality of Rotter's internal-external scale.

Reexamined the issue of the usefulness of the internal-external concept in understanding commitment to social-political action and evaluated the empirical intactness of Rotter's Internal-External (I-E) Control Scale. 85 female and 81 male university students, 66 of whom belonged to campus social-political action groups, completed several personality inventories including the I-E measure and Kerpelman's Political Activity scale. 3 scores were derived from the I-E instrument, 1 based on responses to all 23 items. The other 2 scores were based, respectively, on responses to the political or world events stems and to the nonpolitical stems identified by H. Mirels as forming independent item domains. The 2 item clusters from the I-E scale were uncorrelated. Political commitment was predicted by scores on the political I-E items (p