Validity of vocational aspirations and interest inventories: Extended, replicated, and reinterpreted.

This study found that classified vocational aspirations—singly or in combination—of Navy recruits (467 men and 250 women) were superior to the Vocational Preference Inventory. Predictions for persons with coherent vocational aspirations (aspirations all in the same occupational category) were very predictive over a short time interval, but the hypothesized links between the coherence of vocational aspirations and the Identity Scale (J. L. Holland et al; see record 1981-26762-001), NEO Personality Inventory scales, and scales of the Vocational Preference Inventory received only partial support. This study replicates much earlier work (e.g., F. H. Borgen and M. J. Seling, 1978). Implications for test development and practitioners are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)