Effects of Strong Interest Inventory Feedback on Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy and Social Cognitive Career Beliefs

Undergraduates (64 women and 35 men) enrolled in a university orientation course completed measures of career decision-making self-efficacy and career beliefs. Participants were then randomly assigned to one of three experimental groups: the Strong Interest Inventory (SII) with feedback group, the SII completion-only group, or the control group. Students who completed the SII and participated in a social cognitive-based group feedback and interpretation session exhibited higher levels of posttest career decision-making self-efficacy and differential career beliefs relative to students in the other experimental groups. Theoretical and practical implications of the results are presented, and ideas for additional research in this domain are discussed.

Evidence of Concurrent Validity of SII Scores for Asian American College Students

The validity of scores on the Strong Interest Inventory (SII) for Asian American college students has not been thoroughly investigated. This study examined the evidence of validity of the SII Occupational Scale scores for predicting college major choices of Asian American women and men and White women and men. The sample included 186 female and 133 male college students. Forty-six percent of the sample was Asian American and 54% was White. Acculturation also was tested for its moderating effect on predictive accuracy of the SII scores for Asian American participants. In aggregate the results support the use of the SII with Asian American college students.

Use of the COPSystem in Career Assessment

The COPSystem, one of the most widely used assessment systems for career exploration in the high-school setting (Lombard, 1994), has been developed to provide maximum interpretive usefulness. The development and use of this comprehensive assessment program of interests, abilities, and values is presented along with a demonstration of its interpretive appropriateness. The COPSystem structure of career clusters, based on the pioneering work of Roe (1956), is reviewed and results presented, which establish it as being a valid and useful tool in both career assessment and career counseling. Research regarding long-term predictive validity studies and the circularity of structure of the career clusters are reviewed. A brief summary of the 1995 revision of the COPS and COPES is presented.

Career Choice Readiness Moderates the Effects of Interest Inventory Interpretation

Career development theory postulates that a client's career choice readiness influences the experience of an interest inventory. This study examined career choice readiness as it related to satisfaction with, retention of, and use of a videotaped interpretation of the Strong Interest Inventory (SII; Hansen & Campbell, 1985). Students (N = 186) from two urban midwestern universities participated in this study. Results indicated that two attitudinal factors of career choice readiness, namely attitudes toward career planning and attitudes toward career exploration, predicted how much and how well clients used their interest inventories. Career choice readiness did not predict immediate satisfaction with the inventory interpretation nor cognitive retention of the inventory results. The discussion of these findings emphasizes differential use of interest inventory results based on the client's degree of career choice readiness.

Internship and Initial Job Placements in Counseling Psychology

A 26-year retrospective study was conducted on internship and initial job placements of counseling psychologists. The results indicated that university counseling centers consistently supported the highest percentage of the field’s predoctoral interns followed by Veteran Administration Medical Centers, other hospital settings, and community mental health centers. Initial job placements indicated relative parity among placements in academic, community mental health, counseling center, and private practice settings with Veterans Administration Medical Centers and other hospital settings accounting for significant percentages of the field’s initial job placements. In addition, changes in internship and job placements across time indicated that various contexts have waxed or waned in their contribution to the training and placement of counseling psychologists. Results are discussed in relation to the evolving identity of counseling psychology as a specialty and the contexts that support and challenge that development.

The Practice of Vocational Assessment by Counseling Psychologists

One thousand American Psychological Association members who identified counseling as their psychology specialty were surveyed about their vocational assessment practices; 637 or 64% returned usable questionnaires. Some of the primary findings were as follows: (a) 56% of the respondents were engaged in providing vocational assessment services and spent about 8% of their professional time doing so; (b) vocational assessment services were provided by a moderate to relatively frequent number of practitioners across most considered work settings; (c) respondents most frequently recommended that graduate students in counseling psychology be trained in the Strong Interest Inventory (SI!); and (d) regardless of work setting, respondents most frequently used the SII, Self-Directed Search, and Kuder Occupational Interest Survey in their vocational assessment practice. The implications of the findings are briefly discussed, with particular mention being made about (a) the continued relevance of vocational assessment for counseling psychology practice, and (b) the continuing preeminence of the SII in contemporary vocational assessment.