Interpreting other-sex scores on the Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory.

To promote understanding of other-sex scores on the new Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory, correlations between occupational scales common to both forms of the old Strong Vocational Interest Blank (SVIB) with "masculinity" of interests were studied in a sample of 116 female counseling clients. Differences in mean scores for scales appearing on both SVIB forms were highly related to the masculinity of interests of the people in those occupations, compared to others of the same sex. Recommendations are included for using Masculinity-Femininity scores to guide clients with high scores on occupational scales normed on the other sex. (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)     

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)     

SVIB as a predictor of job satisfaction.

A study was made of 185 graduates of professional curricula to test the hypothesis that job satisfaction in a certain occupation is related to congruent or appropriate interests in that occupation. Occupations represented were medicine, law, dentistry, mechanical engineering, accounting, and journalism. Ss were contacted by mail and asked to fill out 3 job satisfaction blanks and the SVIB. 12th grade SVIB scores were also available for each S. Only 1 of 56 relationships between interests and job satisfaction scores was significantly different from 0. The lack of relationships was true for both earlier and current testing of interests and for all 3 job satisfaction blanks. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expressed and inventoried interests revisited: Perspicacity in the person.

Studied the relative validities of expressed choice vs inventoried interests for predicting college major and career choice outcomes. A total of 795 male National Merit Scholars in 16 college major categories and 609 male Scholars in 10 career fields provided data before college and 3 yrs later. The total percentage of accurate expressed choice predictions was over 50% for both outcomes, while the SVIB Men's Form (SVIB-M) was accurate for 30.8% of all college major predictions and 40.2% of all career field forecasts. When expressed choice and the SVIB agreed in prediction of outcome, the hit rate rose to over 70%. However, when expressed choice and SVIB predictions were not the same for a given person, expressed choice was found to be 2–3 times more accurate than the SVIB-M. These results highlight the importance of expressed interests in predicting vocational behavior and suggest ways in which expressed and inventoried interests might best be used in counseling. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ten-year follow-up of vocational interest scores of 1950 medical college seniors.

Using the Strong Vocational lnterest Blank (SVIB) and the Medical Specialists Preference Blank, interest scales for surgeon, internists, pathologists, and psychiatrists were administered to 783 seniors in 15 medical schools in 1950. 87% of this group returned questionnaires regarding then professional activities in 1960. 75% of the group were in specialized practice compared to less than 25% of all physicians in 1950. The specialist interest scales did not predict the specialty entered. A scale based on all the specialists did differentiate specialists from general practitioners. The SVIB Physician Scale did not differentiate among specialties or type of practice. Younger physicians appear to resemble psychiatrists in their interests. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interest patterns of psychologists in nine Western nations.

Administered the SVIB (male form) to a total of 153 psychologists from 5 English-speaking countries: Australia, Canada, Great Britain, New Zealand, and the Union of South Africa. Scores were compared with corresponding earlier data from 256 Austrian, German and Swiss psychologists who took the translated SVIB, and with anchoring data from 1,045 United States psychologists tested in 1947. 1-way analyses of variance for English-speaking countries on 81 SVIB scales resulted in only 8 significant differences. At the item level, few items differentiated English-speaking Ss. Profile similarities between all 9 countries were strikingly high, suggesting that Western psychologists have esentially the same measured interests, with only minor cultural variations. Cautions concerning the cross-cultural use of the SVIB are emphasized. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship between stated and measured interests of two groups of United States Air Force officers.

Strong VIB scores and interests recorded on personal history forms were compared for Air Force officers in the personnel and accountant-comptroller areas. 3 judges interpreted the SVIB's and 3 classified the stated interests into occupational groups on the SVIB. There was good agreement among the judges on both tasks. Air Force officers tended to select civilian occupations (stated interests) similar to their military occupations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Strong Vocational Interest Blank versus expressed vocational interests: A review.

Reviewed studies toward determining the relative merits of the SVIB vs. an expression of vocational interest. Topics included are (1) terminology, (2) correspondence between the SVIB and expressed interests, (3) reliability, (4) validity, (5) problems of experimental design, (6) conclusions, and (7) implications for counseling. (44 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dimensionality of a test battery for nonprofessional mental health workers.

Developed and factor analyzed a comprehensive test battery, including the SVIB and the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability scale, for nonprofessional mental health personnel. Basic dimensions measured by the battery were cultural interests, attitudes toward attributes of the job, extraversion, helping-person qualities, social class, and interests in science. A scoring system based on factor structure was developed and used to compare 105 female nonprofessional child aides with 34 demographically comparable controls. Aides had stronger cultural interests than controls, more positive attitudes toward job-associated concepts, and higher scores on the helping-person dimension. (18 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The vocational interests of American Psychological Association presidents.

The Strong Vocational Interest Blank (SVIB) is one of the most widely used psychological instruments. The SVIB was developed by comparing the interests of men in specific occupations with a group of Men-in-General: To accomplish this it was, of course, necessary to collect completed SVIBs from men in a variety of occupations. For this purpose, between about 1925 and 1955, E. K. Strong, Jr., collected about 10,000 SVIBs from men scattered over roughly 50 occupations. Strong's materials constitute an immensely valuable treasure of data, useful for scientific purposes. For example, by using some inventories completed many years ago, it has been possible to study the stability of interests within an occupation over 30 years. As Strong was concerned with men who were successful and satisfied in their occupations, he inevitably collected SVIBs from prominent leaders in many fields. As time moves on, the characteristics of these men assume some historical significance. It is perhaps the first time that systematic psychometric data have been available on the outstanding leaders of earlier eras. This article discusses the representation of the psychology profession in the Strong files, and presents a detailed table reflecting the completed SVIB inventories for 50 of the past 70 APA presidents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

New approach to the prediction of medical specialization: Student-based Strong Vocational Interest Blank scales.

Studied longitudinal data from 1583 undergraduates in an attempt to devise means of predicting eventual specialization for medical students. Specialty membership was determined in a follow-up study 11 yr. after the SVIB was administered. SVIB scales for surgeons, obstetricians, pediatricians, and psychiatrists were developed, using the items which differentiated the specialist groups as freshmen. Senior-based scales were also tested, but predicted no better than those using freshman responses. The resulting student-based scales were reliable on retest, but on measures of distributional overlap, they did not perform as well as standard SVIB occupational scales. However, their predictive validity was superior to that of previously developed SVIB scales for medical specialists. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of vocationally relevant information on the expressed and measured interests of freshman males.

46 undergraduate males from private and public school backgrounds who took the SVIB were classified as congruent or incongruent using a discrepancy method and administered a treatment consisting either of the Self-Directed Search (SDS) and relevant vocational information (treatment) or an irrelevant task (control). All Ss were retested 1 wk later using the SVIB, and examined for level of posttest congruence. Results suggest that private boarding school Ss were less congruent than private day or public school graduates. A secondary analysis revealed that Ss initially classified as low congruent significantly and nonartifactually increased in congruence from pretest to posttest. It was further found that increases in congruence could be attributed to changes in measured interests rather than to changes in expressed choice. Counseling implications are discussed. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A dimensional approach to the interests measured by the SVIB.

Attempted to identify the 1st-order dimensions of interest measured by the SVIB and the more inclusive dimensions that account for correlations among the 1st-order factor scores. A further aim was to construct a set of content scales potentially useful in typological analysis and other research. Factor analyses of item correlation for 2 samples of 488 men-in-general indicated the presence of 14 dimensions of interest. An analysis of the correlations among the factor scores revealed 4 higher level factors: people-related, mechanical and symbol manipulation, personal expression and the arts, and outdoor activities. The 14 content scales developed (based on 198 SVIB items) were used to derive tentative interest profiles for 8 occupational groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Internal-external control of reinforcement and the Strong Vocational Interest Blank: A comparison study.

Studied the relationship between the Strong Vocational Interest Blank (SVIB), Form T399, and Rotter's Internal-External Control Scale (I-E scale). A previous study by D. G. Zytowski (see record 1967-07353-001) suggested a relationship between locus of control and occupational interest. To verify this, he correlated the SVIB with the I-E scale and concluded that such a relation did exist. Because the SVIB has been revised since Zytowski's study, a comparable study using the newer SVIB form was completed. Using a college freshman sample of 736, Pearson correlation coefficients were computed between the I-E scale and the SVIB; several correlations were significant at the .10 level; however, the largest correlation was -.16. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

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)     

A note on the measured interests of Canadian psychologists.

In 1969-70 we conducted a small project which aimed to compare the measured interests of psychologists in five countries (Australia, Canada, Great Britain, New Zealand, and South Africa). The well-known Strong Vocational Interest Blank (SVIB) was mailed to random samples of 75 psychologists in each country. In this article, we wish to summarize the findings for readers of this Journal and to refer them to lengthier reports given in the references section. The results suggest this: The commonality of the measured interests of Western psychologists is so great that we may infer that the multiple occupational interest criteria used in the United States to aid students in making occupational and educational decisions may be appropriate for use in other Western countries. But the nature of the criteria used in this empirical method of measuring interests may be so culture-bound that a truly cautious approach should be used when extending the method and its supporting modes of interpretation to other countries. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship between measured interest patterns and satisfactory vocational adjustment for Air Force officers in the comptroller and personnel fields.

Comparison of personnel data sheet responses and Strong VIB scores for 243 comptroller officers and 1155 personnel officers led to the conclusion that the SVIB reflects the degree of satisfactory adjustment for Air Force officers in each field. For both groups, a significantly larger proportion of those Ss with SVIB patterns most similar to the SVIB patterns of their civilian counterparts express a preference for the Air Force specialty in which they are and a preference to engage in the activity in civilian life. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Recent APA Presidents score higher.

Comments on David Campbell's (American Psychologist, 1965, Vol 20, 636-644) report on the vocational interests of past APA presidents. When Campbell's data are analyzed chronologically, it becomes obvious that recent APA presidents score substantially higher on the Psychologist scale of the SVIB. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)