Occupational knowledge and career development in adolescence

Harold D. Grotevant, Mary Ellen Durrett

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

27 Scopus citations

Abstract

In an effort to extend our knowledge of career development, two indices of career maturity were investigated in a sample of 6029 high school seniors sampled from 57 Texas public school districts. The study investigated both the degree to which late adolescents choose occupations whose educational requirements match their stated educational goals and the degree to which students' vocational interests are compatible with their occupational choices. The correlations between educational plans and educational requirements of the chosen occupations were .41 or less. Of the subjects who claimed to have at least considerable understanding of their first choice career, only about half planned to achieve the amount of education appropriate to enter that occupation. Subjects' perceptions of how well they understood their occupational choices were also negligibly related to the compatibility of their vocational interests and their career choices. Although educational understanding and interest compatibility both contribute to realism of occupational choices, the correlation between these two indices of career maturity accounted for less than 1% of the variance.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)171-182
Number of pages12
JournalJournal of Vocational Behavior
Volume17
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 1 1980

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