Gender, self-efficacy, and vocational interests among high school students using the Strong Interest Inventory and Skills Confidence Inventory
Abstract
This research extended the empirical literature on social cognitive career theory and added to the limited research on the 2005 version of the combined Strong Interest Inventory and the Skills Confidence Inventory, using high school age students as participants. One hundred twenty 11th- and 12th-grade students, ranging in age from 16 to 18, from a small, rural Midwestern town's high school participated in the study. The pattern of results in this study followed the pattern of results of previous studies, as self-efficacy was related positively to vocational interests for each of the six Holland interest themes. In addition, it was found that males had higher Realistic vocational interests than females, while females had higher Artistic and Social vocational interests than males. It was concluded that males had higher Realistic vocational self-efficacy than females, while females had higher Social vocational self-efficacy than males. Although it was predicted that males would have higher Investigative, Enterprising, and Conventional vocational self-efficacy than females, none of these hypotheses concerning higher confidence for males was supported by this research. Interpretations for the unexpected findings were proposed. Recommendations for future research and implications for counseling psychology were also discussed.
Subject Area
School counseling|Vocational education
Recommended Citation
Snyder, Andrea Jill, "Gender, self-efficacy, and vocational interests among high school students using the Strong Interest Inventory and Skills Confidence Inventory" (2009). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI3361365.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI3361365
