SELF -CONCEPT OF VOCATIONAL ABILITY
ITS RELATION TO SELECTED FACTORS IN
CAREER DEVELOPMENT

Thesis for the Degree of Ph. D.
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
CARROLL H. WAMHOFF
1969

 

 

Michigan State

IIIIIIIILIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

This is to certify that the

thesis entitled

SELF-CONCEPT OF VOCATIONAL ABILITY

ITS RELATION TO SELECTED FACTORS IN CAREER DEVELOPMENT

presented by

Carroll H. Wamhoff

has been accepted towards fulfillment
of the requirements for

Ph D degree mm

 

Date_ .

0-169

 

 

 

ABSTRACT

SELF-CONCEPT OF VOCATIONAL ABILITY
ITS RELATION TO SELECTED FACTORS
IN CAREER DEVELOPMENT

By
Carroll H. Wamhoff

The major problem of this study centered upon two
concerns. One was an identification and assessment of the
construct "self—concept of vocational ability" (SCVA), the
second was concerned with the relationship of this construct
to other factors said to influence the career development
of individuals.

The problem of this thesis evolved through a cri-
tical review of literature pertaining to the empirical re-
lationships between the self-concept and vocational chOice/
development. Extensive research concerning the self-con-
cept of academic ability (SCAA) and its relationship to
academic achievement had been conducted at Michigan State
University. Since the focus of those investigations was
upon academic self-concepts rather than vocational self-con-
cepts, they did not directly approach the specific interest
of this study. However, they did provide a pattern for the

identification and measurement of a self-concept.

Carroll H. Wamhoff

The sample for this investigation consisted of 361
indiViduals, 139 males and 222 females. All were Caucasian,
complete school data was available for each of them from
grade eight through high school and two years post high
school. They were residents (or had been during their high
school years) of a midwestern city of apprOXimately 120,000
population.

An orientation based upon the symbolic interaction-
ist theory to human behavior was developed. Nine general
hypotheses were obtained and tested from that theoretical
orientation. Two scales were developed to measure the SCVA.
Questionnaire items were created to identify the Self Eval-
uation of occupational level ability, the perceptions of
others of occupational level ability and, the analysis of
significant other categories within this operational frame
of referencec The association of the SCVA to the SCAA was
described among such groupings as vocational and non-voca—
tional students and, college four year, college two year or
less, and non-college individuals. The relationship of the
SCVA was further analyzed in terms of its relationship to
other variables related to vocational development. These
variables included vocational interests, aspirations and

expectations, and socio-economic status levels.

Summary of Finding:

A substantial relationship was found to exist be—

tween the Self Evaluation variables and the perceptions of

Carroll H. Wamhoff

others of the evaluation and expectation of occupational
level ability for both males and females. On the other
hand there was little relationship between data from the
SCVA scales and the perceived evaluations of others of oc-
cupational level ability.

Parents are the most frequently listed category of
significant others in terms of academic endeavors and voca—
tional careers. The proportion of males and females who
list parents first as academic significant others is great-
er than the proportion of males and females who list parents
first as vocational significant others.

The SCVA was highly correlated with the SCAA for
college males only. Bes1des this group, however, the
strength of relationship between the two self-concept vari—
ables diminished.

The SCVA of individuals who were classified as vo-
cational students was equal to those calssified as non-vo—
cational students. Conversely, the SCAA of individuals who
were classified as vocational students is not equal to the
SCAA of indiViduals who were claSSified as non-vocational
students.

The SCVA was found to be unrelated to several fact-
ors often utilized by others in the study of vocational de-
velopment. For example, no significant relationship was
found between the SCVA and socio-economic status (SES) of

vocational significant others or the SES of parents. These

Carroll H. Wamhoff

findings support the contention that the SCVA may operate
irrespective of the SES of various occupations or the SES

of Significant others.

SELF-CONCEPT OF VOCATIONAL ABILITY
ITS RELATION TO SELECTED FACTORS
IN CAREER DEVELOPMENT

BY

T3I/
Carroll HZ Wamhoff

A THESIS

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
College of Education

1969

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks are in order for the many individuals who
helped make this study possible. In particular, I am in—
debted to Dr. Wilbur B. Brookover for his guidance and con-
tinued support as director of the dissertation and a member
of my guidance committee. In addition, I wish to express
my thanks to Dr. Lawrence Borosage, chairman of my guidance
committee for his encouragement and suggestions throughout
my entire doctoral study program.

Others to whom accolades must be given include Dr.
Andrew Porter, for his statistical and analytical assist—
ance, Glen Foster, untiring computer consultant and Marilyn

Zeigler, friend and thorn.

I am grateful to my three fine sons, Fred, Jeff and

'Brian who were patient and loving while the preparation of

this manuscript took priority over normal family life.
Above all I am grateful to Marlene, my wife. It

was for her and because of her that it all was pOSSible.

ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS (I O O C I O O O I O O O O C '3 C O 9

LIST OF TABLES 9 O 9 O 0 e O O O I I O O O O f‘ 1 5

LIST OF APPENDICES O 0 f O O H O 9 O O O O I i I 5

Chapter

I.

II.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM . . . e . . . . .

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . .
Statement of the Problem . . . . . . . .
Objectives of the Study . . . . . . .
General Theoretical Framework of

the StUdY 0 O O O O 0 0 I O 8 o 0
Importance of the Study . . . . . . .
Definition of Terms . . . . . . . . . .
Scope of the Study . . . . . . . . . . .
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

RELATED LITERATURE . . . . . . . . . . . . .
IntrOduCtlon O O 9 e H O O C I ‘1‘ O 3 o O
Theories in Career Development . . . . .

Studies of Career Development . . . . .
Psychological Studies of Voca-
tional Development . . . . . . . .
Sociological Approaches to Voca-
tional Development . . . . . . . .
Self Concept and Vocational Development
Psychological Studies of the

Vocational Self Concept . . . . .
Sociological Studies of the

Vocational Self-Concept . . . . .

Theoretical Framework of This Study . .

iii

Page
ii
vi

viii

boat-4

ll
13
15
16

l7
17
18
21
21

25
33

34

41
43

Page

Chapter
III. METHODS AND PROCEDURE . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Contents of this Chapter . . . . . . . . 51
The Group Studied . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Research Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Measurement . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Self- -Concept of Academic

Ability . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Significant Others . . . . . . . 56

Perceptions of Evaluation of
Others . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Socio-Economic Status . . . . . . 60
Occupational Interests . . . . . 61

Occupational ASpirations and
Expectations . . . . . . . . . 6l
Hypotheses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Methods and Statistics Employed to Test
the Hypotheses . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Summary 0 I O O O 0 O O O l 0 I O O 0 O O 73

IV. RESULTS AND INTERPRETATION . . . . . . . . . 74

Contents of this Chapter . . . . . . . . 74

Section I: Measurement of the SCVA . . . 74
Section II: The Self- -Concept Measures
Compared . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

The Relationship of the SCVA

Scale to the Self Evaluations

of Occupational Level Ability

and Perception of Others of

Occupational Level Ability . . . . 83
Relationship of the SCVA to the

SCAA and to Perceived Evaluation

of Others of Academic Ability . . . 90
Section III: Vocational and Academic
Significant Others . . . . . . . . . . 97
Proportions of those Names as
Significant Others . . . . . . . 97
Proportions of those Named First
as Significant Others . . . . . . . 102

Section IV: The SCVA in Relation to

Factors Affecting Vocational

Deve10pment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

iv

Chapter

V. SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

APPENDICES

Summary
Summary of Findings
Conclusions
Practical Implications .
Limitations and Suggestions for
Further Research

A

 

0

Page
126
126
134
140
143
144
147

154

Table

LIST OF TABLES

Page

Coefficients of reproducibility, Pearson
product moment correlation coefficients of
scale scores with total scores and, Hoyt‘s
analysis of variance reliability coeffi—
cients for self-concept of vocational
ability scales, post high school data . . . - 78

Pearson product moment correlations between
SCVA-I, SCVA-G, SAO, SAOO, SEO, SEOO, and
perceptions of the evaluations and expec-
tations of occupational level ability by
parents, friends, and spouses . . . . . . . . 84

Pearson product moment correlations between
SCVA—I, SCVA-G, SAO, SAOO, SEO, SEOO, and
perceptions of the evaluations and expec~
tations of occupational level ability by
parents, friends, and spouses . . . . . . . . 85

Pearson product moment correlation matrix
between self—concept of vocational ability.
self-concept of academic ability, perceived
parental and friend evaluation of academic
ability-—post high school . . . . . . . - . . 92

Percentage of post high school individuals
who named at least one person from each
of the follOWlng categories of Significant
others as being concerned with academic
achievement and vocational choice
N = 138 Males; 220 Females . . . . . . . . . 98

Categories of academic and vocational signif—
icant others ranked in order of percentage
of times named by post high school
individuals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . c . . 99

Percentage of males and females listing par—

ents as academic significant others in grade
twelve and two years post high school . . . . lOl

Vi

Table

8.

10.

11.

12.

13.

Page

Number and proportion of significant
others first named by post high school in-
diViduals as being concerned With aca-
demic achievement and vocational chOice . . . 104

Number and proportion of males and females
naming parents first as vocational and
academic significant others . . . . . . . . . 106

Pearson product moment correlation co-
efficients between the self—concept of
vocational ability and socio-economic
level of occupational interest for post
high school individuals for 222 females
and 133 males . .'. . . . . . . . . . . . . . lll

Pearson product moment correlations be-
tween self—concept of vocational ability,
occupational aspirations and occupational
expectations for 139 males and 222 females
two years post high school . . . . . . . . . 118

Means and standard deviations of self-con-
cept of vocational ability scores for
49 males and 72 females classified in
high and low occupational aspiration
consistency groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Means and standard deviations of self—con—
cept of vocational and academic ability
scores for males and females for two
years post high school dichotomized into
vocational and non-vocational groupings . . . 123

VII

LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendix Page

A. Self—Concept of Academic Ability Scale -
General, Post High School . . . . . . . . . 154

B. Questions to Identify Significant Others . . 158
C. Perceived Evaluations of Others of

Academic Ability Scales . . . . . . . . . . 159
D. Vocational Career Courses Offered in

ngh SChOOl O O O O O O O I O I O O O O O O 163

F. Self-Concept of Vocational Ability--
Post High School . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

G. Chi-Square Tables for Eighth, Ninth,

Tenth, Eleventh, Twelfth Grades and
Post High School . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

viii

CHAPTER I

DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM

Introduction

 

The self-concept, particularly self concept of
vocational ability, and its relationship to various factors
which contribute to an individuals' vocational development
is the major thrust of this research. This study will seek
a more definitive understanding of the origin, development
and dynamics of self concept theory.

Much of the investigation conducted by behavioral
scientists has been focused upon the individual, his inferred
innate abilities and aptitudes. And while the career aspi—
rations and decisions of youth has been one of the most
frequently studied dimensions in the brief history of the
social sciences, most research efforts have failed to study
careers as consequences of an individual's relationships
with others. Most research has been within the tradition
of trait psychology wherein career decisions are viewed as
a function of personal attributes such as aspiration level,
motivation, aptitudes, affective self concepts, and so
forth. Other studies, more sociological, have emphasized
social status, race, religion, labor market, education and
other career norms. Economic considerations have

1

also received special attention. Rarely, however,

have investigators of career development patterns given
major attention to the social-psychological processes of
interaction between an individual and others in his social
environment.

One of the important features of the present study
is that sequential data (grade 8 through two years post high
school) on social psychological variables is used in testing
relevant hypotheses. This approach circumvents one of the
main methodological limitations of many other career studies.
For example, most researchers in career development have
either conducted post hoc studies where subjects are asked
to report factors important in choices already made, or
they have studied factors assumed to be important but not
validated by observation or fluctuations of progress to-
wards the career development of the subjects.

Theoretical perspectives most pertinent to this
study appear in the literature under the rubrics of refer-
ence group theory and symbolic interactionism. The research
studies conducted by Brookover and associates1 which focused
upon self concept of academic ability and school achieve-

ment and were based upon-the interactional theory of

1Wilbur B. Brookover, Edsel L. Erickson, and Lee M.
Joiner, Self Concept of Abilityland School Achievement, III
Report of Cooperative Research Project No. 2831, U. S. Office
of Education, "Relationship of Self Concept to Achievement
in High School" (East Lansing: Educational Publication
iggvices, College of Education, Michigan State University,
7).

George Herbert Mead provide the main framework for further
analysis in the present study. Additional references are
drawn from representative studies of career development,
particularly those derived from the vocational development

theories posited by Super.2

Statement of the Problem

 

The major problem of this study centers upon two
major concerns; first, the identification and assessment
of the construct - "self-concept of vocational ability"
based upon a social-psychological frame of reference, and
secondly, to investigate the relationship of this construct
with other factors said to influence career development of
individuals. This study presents an alternative to the
non-theoretical approaches and inconsistency of measure-
ment in the research of a vocational self-concept while
utilizing the resources of sequential data bearing upon
vocational development.

The investigation of self, ideal self, general self—
concept and other self-concept constructs are voluminous
and diverse (see Chapter II). As a result a variety of
procedures are utilized in the definition and measurement

of them. The research on self-concept of academic ability

2Donald Super, et al., Vocational Development:
§_Framework of Research (New York: Bureau of Publications,

Teachers College, Columbia University, 1957), Chapters III
and IV.

 

conducted by Brookover and associates3 which provides the
background and the longitudinal aspect to this present study
is an example of a more consistant and theoretically oriented
approach to the study of the self-concept. The present

study adopts this same procedure and extends it to the

construct "self-concept of vocational ability."

Objectives of the Study

 

A major objective of this research was to identify
the construct self-concept of vocational ability, from a
phenomenological, straight forward, self report approach.
The self-concept as defined here, cannot exist without the
individual himself being aware ot it; it involves awareness
by definition. Therefore, the assessment of self-concept
of vocational ability was made through the use of a newly
deve10ped self report instrument.

According to past research,self—concept of academic
ability results from an individual's perception of the
evaluation significant others hold of their ability. The
second objective of this study was to find if this propo-
sition was also applicable with regard to an individual's
self-concept of vocational ability. In connection with
this objective the question is asked, What relationship,

if any, does the socio-economic status of significant

 

3Brookover, loc. cit.

 

others have upon the individuals' self-concept of
vocational ability?

A third objective addressed itself to the investi—
gation of occupational interests in their association with
the self concept of vocational ability. Is the individual's
self-concept of vocational ability related to the level of
vocational interests?

A fourth objective drawing from the theoretical
framework of Brookover and associates was the investigation
of the association which exists between an indiVidual's
self concept of vocational ability and his self concept of
academic ability.

Aspirations and expectations/plans have been studied
by several researchers in their role in career choice and
development. The fifth objective of this study was to
investigate the difference between career aspirations,
expectations/plans and self—concept of vocational ability
and to learn of the inner relationships of these three
factors.

Vocational courses at the high school level purport
to teach occupational skills and to expand occupational
outlook horizons. The sixth objective of this study was
to compare self-concept of vocational ability levels among
students formerly enrolled in vocational career courses with

those who did not enroll in such courses.

General Theoretical Framework of the Study

The theoretical framework of this study is derived
from the symbolic interactionist theory of George Herbert
Mead.4 Essentially this theory holds that man's mind and
self are a reflection of the society in which he lives.

An individual acquires his self—consciousness and his basic
ideas and values in the process of interacting with signifi-
cant people in his life who either explicityly or implicitly
encourage certain kinds of behavior and discourage other
kinds.

Much of social psychology typifies the interpersonal
approach to understanding the self i.e.--the focus is not
upon individuals, but upon interaction between individuals
or groups. Thus, the consequence of being human is that
an individual becomes an object to himself because of his
social nature.

While all attitudes are rooted in social experience,
self attitudes are thought to be a product of interaction
in a special sense. First, theories of self development
emphasize the individual's perception of how other persons

see him. Second, they focus attention on the process by
which he compares his ideas about himself with the expec-

tation he believes others have concerning what he should

#—

4George Herbert Mead, Mind, Self and Society
(Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1934).

 

be like. These features were stressed in one of the earliest
treatments of the "self" by Cooley, who likened our percep—
tions of how others see us to the reflection of a looking
glass which he called the "looking glass self."5
This process of identification is of particular

importance in understanding the development of the self.
The "others" with whom an individual interacts in a signifi-
cant manner provide the basis for which one views himself.
The individual not only models his overt behavior after them,
but also takes on his perception of their cognitions and
feelings - in sum, takes on the attitude of the other. To
the extent that he is the object of their attitude, they
form a constellation that represents his self concept. Mead
has said,

The individual's self is constituted simply by an

organization of the particular attitude of other

individuals toward himself and one toward another

in the speCific social arts in which he participates

w1th them. But, in the full development of the

individuals' self, that self is constituted not only

by an organization of their particular individual

attitudes, but also by an organization of the social

attitudes of the generalized other or the social

group as a whole to which he belongs.

From this theory of interaction it is apparent that

self-conceptions will be dynamic with resulting behavioral

correlates. This does not mean that there will be a one-

5C. H. Cooley, Human Nature and The Social Order
(New York: Charles Scribnerrs Sons, 1902. Reprinted by
the Free Press of Glencoe, New York, 1956).

6Mead, loc. cit., p. 159.

 

to-one relationship between self concept and behavior but
rather there will be important commonalties between the two.

It might readily be construed that we cannot behave
in some manner unless someone specifically expects that we
will behave in that way. Such a point of view would ignore
the exploratory behavior of children since much of such
behavior certainly is not encouraged by parents. Such
behavior, nevertheless, gradually diminishes as the child
develops which gives evidence of the influence of social regu-
lations upon the growing child. Further, and looking at
behavior from another standpoint, it should be noted that
we do not do everything that we feel we are capable of doing.
A self-conception that one would be a good teacher is not
reason enough for him to engage in that occupation. Rather,
because of differing interests, other more enticing personal
plans, or an attempt to maintain desirable relationships
with others, he may decide not to teach even though he feels
perfectly capable of doing so.

A major theoretical assumption of the Michigan State
University research studies by Brookover and associates on
self-concept7 and continued in the present study is that
self-concept of ability is a functionally limiting factor.
That is, a positive or high self-concept is necessary but

not sufficient for a corresponding behavioral ability level.

7Brookover, loc. cit.

One might possess a measured high self-concept of academic
ability but do rather poorly in school. It is further
posited to be unlikely for an individual to have a low self—
concept of ability and do very well in school. The same
assumption is held by this researcher in terms of the self-
concept of vocational ability. An individual's conception
of his own ability to carry out what he thinks are the re-
quirements of a given career will guide him in his decisions
to enter or not enter that career. That is, a person's self—
concept of vocational ability may function to give direction
to which careers he will attempt to enter.

The studies of self-concept which were completed by
Brookover and his associates related somewhat to vocational
career development but not in the direct manner as approached
in this study. Other investigations which have been addressed
to this topic are principally expansions of Super's original
research efforts in vocational development during the
1950s.8 Super completed extensive research in the area of
vocational developmental tasks and a significant correlate
of his research efforts includes definitive discussions of
a vocational self-concept. He defines vocational self-
concept as "the constellation of self attributes considered

by the individual to be vocationally relevant, whether

*

8Super, loc. cit.

10

or not they have been translated into a vocational
preference."9

The contribution of Super and others to self—
concept studies in terms of vocational development will be
treated in greater detail in the following chapter. It
should be noted here that although Super depends upon
environmental and social elements for much of the background
of his self-concept theory, relatively nothing is identified
in terms of how the interaction processes within the social
environment of an individual affects his vocational self-
concept.

The orientation of symbolic interactionist theories
stresses the influence of others in role decisions. It is
the contention of this study that an individual's perception
or definition of his relationship with others function as
determinates of behavior. Young people, from this point of
view, would be guided in career choice and vocational develop-
ment by their perceived expectations and approval of others.

It is assumed that self-conceptions are phenomenologicaL
not in the sense of an underlying mental structure such as a

phenomenological self as defined by the theorist MaslowlO

9Donald Super, "Career Development and Self—Concept
Theory" Teachers College (Columbia University, College
Entrance Examination Board, New York, 1963), p. 20.

10A. H. Maslow, "Self-Actualizing People: A Study
of Psychological Health" Personality, Symposium No. 1
(1950), pp. 11-34.

 

11

and implied by Super, but rather that it is simply kngwn_to
the individual. As such, one can report his self to others
if he wishes. Observation of self-concept of ability in this
study is therefore to be based upon those public statements

a person makes about his ability. Inferences about self-
concept behavior based upon some other behavior such as
responses to projective tests, or questions about how an
individual likes or dislikes certain chores are not implied

in this research.

Importance of the Study

 

Our society values the freedom of individual choice.
This ideal holds true also in terms of occupations. The
common notion is that each individual should have the
Opportunity to use his talents and abilities in a way that
will maximize benefits to himself and to his society.
Individuals concerned with assisting young people and adults
to become contributing social participants must possess an
understanding of vocational development and the social-
psychological processes whereby individuals may be influenced
by others.

Educators, alert to the importance of the self—concept,
its genesis, and effect upon one's life would influence the
vocational education process. This is critical at a time

when educators are attempting to broaden the extent and

12

scope of vocational education programs. Technological
changes cause skills to become obsolete rapidly. Thus,
emphasis of skill training through programs of the past may
be less apprOpriate.

A knowledge of the role of self-concept of vocational
ability to vocational career development factors can provide
substantial assistance to the field of guidance. Effective
education for occupational choice depends upon more than
provisions for the accumulation of skills and other abilities
after a vocation has been chosen. The process of choosing
occupational career direction includes self evaluation,
evaluation of the world of work as it is known to the indi-
vidual and the arrangement of these knowledges into the
juxtaposition which provides the insight leading to career
choice. The importance of an occupation as a source of
income, social status, and personal self satisfaction is
extremely relevant to youth about to embark upon a career or
the preparation for one. Yet, whether it be ranked as high
or low status, an occupation allows an individual to form
some stable conception of himself and his position in the

community.11

 

Grant Venn, Man Education and Work (Washington
D. C., American Council on Education), January 1966.

 

13

Definition of Terms

 

There are several terms, words and concepts used in
this report which have specific meanings. For clarity they
are defined here.

1) Self Concept of Vocational Ability—~the evalu-

 

ating definition which an individual holds of himself with
respect to his ability to achieve in occupational tasks of
his interest.

2) Self Concept of Academic Ability--the evaluating

 

definition which an individual holds of himself in respect
to his ability to achieve in academic tasks in general as
compared with others his age.

3) Significant Others--those persons on whom one is

 

dependent for emotional gratification. In the process of

interacting with these "significant others" an individual
takes on what he perceives are the beliefs and evaluation
of those others and uses them as a frame of reference for
evaluating his own behavior.

4) Vocational Development-—the processes of growth

 

and learning which subsumes all instances of vocational
behavior. The progressive increase and modification of a
person's capacities and diSpositions for particular kinds
of vocational behavior and of his repertoire of vocational

behavior. In this sense, vocational development encompassess

14

all aspects of development which can be identified as related

to work."12

5) Occupational Aspirations and Expectations--aspi-

 

rations may be defined as the level of occupation or cluster
of occupations an individual would likg_to attain. Occupa-
tional expectation refers to the level of occupation or
cluster of occupations an individual actually believes he
will attain.

6) Perceived Other (Parent, Friend, Teacher) Eval-

 

uation--scored results on a scale designed to measure the
individual's perception of the evaluation held by significant
others (parents, friends, teachers, and spouses) of his abil-
ity in relation to other individuals his age.

7) Social-Economic Status--refers to the ranking of
a particular occupation with all other occupations on the
Socio—Economic Index of Occupations as compiled by Duncan.13

8) Vocational and Non-Vocational Students——Voca-
tional students are defined as those individuals who en—
rolled in two or more vocational career courses while at-
tending high school. Conversely, those students who en—

rolled in no more than one vocational career course while in

high school are classified as non-vocational. This definition

12Super, Vocational Development: A Framework for
Research, Op, Cit., pp. I3I5132.

13O. D. Duncan, "A Socio—Economic Index for all Oc-
cupations" In Occupations and Social Status, A. J. Reiss, ed.
(Glencoe, Illinois: The Free Press 1961T; pp. 109-161.

15

is made for analySis purposes, only. Unfortunately, it may
have excluded some individuals who were vocationally orient-
ed, but not enrolled in the specifically listed vocational

courses 0

Scope of the Study

This study provides a logical extension of the re-
search on self-concept carried out previously by Brookover
and associates. It is part of a total follow-up of the pop-
ulation of students included in the original longitudinal
study on self-concept of academic ability and school achieve-
ment. Now, and more directly concerned with this study,
direct information concerning career development and occu-
pational choice has been obtained. Data for analysis was
drawn from both the current questionnaire data and that
gathered earlier in the longitudinal study.

The pOpulation investigated were two years out of
high school. It includes those students who were included
in the longitudinal self-concept studies by Brookover and
associates when they were 7-12 graders. All of these stud-
ents were in the regular school programs of the Lansing School
system and had been regularly promoted. The data for this
study was drawn from a specific population which may limit
its value in terms of the generalizability across other pop-
ulations. Nevertheless, because it is longitudinal, through
the continual accumulation of data over time, its concomitant

results become increasingly meaningful.

16

Summary

This chapter is devoted to an overview of the entire
study. This research effort might be described as a form of
theory testing in that the symbolic interactionist theories
upon which the study is founded are used as a bases for de-
velopment and testing of a self-concept construct. Self-
concept of vocational ability, as measured by a modified
version of the Brookover and associates self-concept of
academic ability scale, is analyzed against the several fac-
tors posited to be influential in the vocational development
process. This study draws information from and contributes
to the longitudinal study of self-concept of ability com-
pleted to date.

The following chapter provides a review of literature
relevant to this study. Its purpose is to bring into focus
the most pertinent data having implications for the present

study.

CHAPTER II

RELATED LITERATURE

Introduction

 

The literature which has direct relevance to the
present study might be considered both limited and expan-
sive. It is limited with respect to the number of stud-
ies dealing with self—concept/vocational development when
self-concept is derived from the symbolic interactionist
frame of reference. Some research literature is avail-
able which speaks to the topic of self-concept of voca-
tional development. Most of this however, is not based
upon the interactionist derivation of a self-concept.

The research of factors revolving around and contributing
to the general nature of career development processes are
numerous.

Four sections will be included in this review.
The first will present a brief review and discussion of
career development theories. The second will present
several representative studies of career development.
The third area deals primarily with literature-in the

area of self-concept/vocational development. The fourth

l7

18

presents a more specific discussion of the theoretical

bases of this study.

Theories in Career Development

 

A review of literature reveals at least ten
general theories or approaches to occupational choice and
development. Although the history of career development.
theories is short, beginning in the early 19505, the lit-
erature is quite extensive concerning them.

Most theories of vocational development assume
that long term vocational behavior occurs within an or-
dered sequence of life stages in which there is a progres—
sion of necessary learning experiences and a mastery of
coping techniques. The notion of developmental tasks and
of relating such tasks to vocational life stages has pro-
vided the framework for considerable research in career
development.

1 and Super,2 predominate in

Two theorists, Ginzberg
the discussion of career development. Ginzberg, often con-
sidered as the founder of vocational development theory,
first presented his position in 1951. According to him,

occupational choice is a deveIOpmental process which

 

lEli Ginzberg, et al., Occupational Choice: An
Approach to a General Theory (New York: CoIfimbia Univer-
sity Press, 195IT.

2Donald Super, "A Theory of Vocational Development,"
The American Psycholpgist, VIII (May, 1953).

l9

involves a series of decisions made over a period of time.
Each step in the process has a meaningful relation to
those which precede or follow. Each decision is a link in
a chain of decisions which leads to a final choice of an
occupation. Ginzberg divides this process into three main
stages. They are (1) fantasy (age 6 to 11), (2) tentative
(age 11 to 17), and (3) realistic (age 17 and up).

Super's first approach to a theory of vocational
development came about as a result of constructive criti—
cisms leveled at the work of Ginzberg. Basically, his crit-
icism centered around the inadequacy of Ginzberg's position
in terms of distinctiveness of life stages and a need for
further clarification of concepts.‘ Super includes three
basic assumptions about vocational development and a chron—
ological ordering of stages in the development process.
The assumptions are that vocational development is: (1)
an on going, sequential generally irreversible process,

(2) a regular patterned process, and (3) a dynamic process.
The chronology of the process is summed in the following

series of vocational life stages3

(1) Growth including:
fantasy (4-10), interest (ll-12), and capacity (13-14):
(2) Exploration which includes: tentative (IS-17), tran—

sition (18-21), trial (22-24); (3) Establishment.which

 

3Donald Super, et al., Vocational Devglopment: A
Framework for Research (New YorE} Bureau of Publications,
Teachers College, Columbia University, 1957). PP. 40-43.

20

includes: trial (25—30), stabilization (31-44); (4) Maia:
tenance (45-64); (5) Decline which includes: deceleration
(65-70), and retirement (70-on).

Super began testing the relevancy of his models

4 Many of his ear-

for vocational development immediately.
1y formulations integrating aspects of his theory with ele-
ments of vocational behavior were summarized later in one
work.5 A stream of research has been generated since
Super's original work and those who followed.I Other theo-.
ries of vocational choice behavior have also been posited;

7

Holland,6 Roe, Hoppock8 to name just a few who have con-

tributed extensively to the theories of career development.

 

4Donald Super, and Phoebe Overstreet, The Voca—
tional Maturity of Ninth Grade prs (New York: TeacEers
College, Columbia University, Bureau of Publications,
1960).

5Donald Super, "Vocational Development in Adoles-
cence and Early Adulthood: Tasks and Behaviors" Career
Development: Self-Concept Theory (New York: College En—
trance Examination Board, 1963).

6John Holland, "A Theory of Vocational Choice“
gpurnal of Counselinngsypholpgy, VI (September, 1959),
pp- 35-44.

7Anne Roe, The Psychology of Occppations (New
York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1965T7 PP. 318-321.

 

8Robert Hoppock, Occupational Information (New
York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc. 1957), pp. 74-85.

21

Studies of Career Development

 

Psychological Studies of
Vocational Development

 

 

There are numerous studies which have been directed
toward examining processes, sources of influence and traits
that affect individual vocational development. Some typi-
cal independent variables used in this area of research
are: Social Status of Parents, Student's High School
Achievement, Student's College Achievement, Aptitude Pat-
terns, Ecological Background, Opportunity Structure, Par-
ent's Educational and Occupational Level, Status In and
Characteristics Of The Student's Peer Group, The Student's
Racial Identity, Value Orientation, Intelligence and Sex.
Several of these studies are examples of much of the re-
search which gives emphasis to a psychological nature of
career deveIOpment.

Kunert's9

research deals with the psychological con-
comitants and determinates of vocational choice. Three
hundred, 75 from each of four different professional schools
provided the subjects for his study. Briefly, he found that
there was indeed a relationship between personality and re-

sultant vocational choice. This study then lends support to

Holland's theory of the importance of personality in

 

. 9Kenneth Michael Kunert, “The Psychological Con-
comitants and Determinants of Vocational Choice“ (unpublished

foctoral dissertation, University of California, Berkeley,
965).

22

vocational development. Atty10 using a population of 585
high school graduates over a four year period, studied the
correlation between the results of the Kuder Preference
tests and academic achievement. Although relationships

were found, they varied by sex and were insufficient to
justify any predictive value. (This study looks at students
interests and their subsequent school work, a reverse way

of looking at this topic.)

Kiltredge11 investigated the differences in occupa—
tional preferences, stereotypic thinking and psychological
needs among eighty-six undergraduate women students in four
selected curriculum areas: Home Economics, Medical Tech-
nology, Journalism-Advertising, and Mathematics-Chemistry
(listed in order of most to least traditional). This study,
based upon Super's proposition that vocational development
is one aspect of personal development, found that students
who selected traditional type courses were more stereotyped
in their beliefs and most traditional in their occupational

preferences.

——

10James C. Atty, "A Study of the Scatter of Kuder
Preference Scores and Their Relationship to Academic
Achievement and Mental Ability" (University of Pittsburgh,
unpublished doctoral dissertation, 1965).

11Robert E. Kiltredge, "Investigation of Differences
in Occupational Preferences, Stereotypic Thinking, and
Psychological Needs Among Undergraduate Women Students in
Selected Curricular Areas" (Unpublished doctoral disserta-
tion, East Lansing: Michigan State University, 1960).

23

Sevransky12 looking at still another approach to
vocational development, investigated the effects of extra-
version and neuroticism as determinants of vocational level
of aspiration. Sampling a total of 475 senior boys in two
New York City Schools, his findings indicated that intro-
verts tended to aspire to occupations above their intellec—
tual level. Extraverts tended to aSpire to occupations be-
low their intellectual level.

Where psychological dimensions of vocational stereo-
types have been studied, results are often conflicting.
Bohnl3 investigated the relationship between psychological
needs and measured vocational interests, interpreting the
findings as supporting current vocational stereotypes.
Gonyeal4 on the other hand, permitted subjects greater free-
dom in choosing relevant dimensions and found a heterogene—
ity of vocational perceptions not indicated by previous re-
search.

Psychological characteristics and personal orienta-

tions tending to produce the experience of success in

12Paul Sevransky, "Extraversion and Neuroticism
as Determinants of Vocational Level of Aspiration" Disser—_
tation Abstracts, (Columbia University), Vol. XXVI, p.
4817, I966.

13Martin J. Bohn Jr., "Psychological Needs Related
to Vocational Personality Types" Journal of Counseling
Psycholggy 13 (Fall 1966): PP. 306-309.

14George G. Gonyea, “Job Perceptions in Relation to
Vocational Preference" Journal of Counseling ngchology
10 (Spring 1963). pp. 20-26.

24

occupationally related areas of behavior have been found to
be associated with levels of aspiration. Gribbons and
Lohnes15 reporting findings of longitudinal research over a
five year period, disclosed that adolescents with intelli-
gence slightly above average tended to lower the level of
their aSpirations, whereas over half the youngsters classi-
fied as having 105 below 105 persisted in their preferences
for the professions. Perronel6 found that students whose
aspirations led them to enroll in two-year post-high school
programs were intellectually, socio—economically, and educa-
tionally between those who terminated their education at
high school or before and those who attended four-year col—
leges or universities. Motivational elements common to aca-
demic achievement were found by Farquhar and Paynel7 to
function similarly in occupational aspirations. The effects
of fear of failure in organization of occupational as—

18

pirations were studied by Burnstein. As fear of

 

15Warren D. Gribbons and Paul R. Lohnes, "Occupa—
tional Preferences and Measured Intelligence" Vocational
Guidance Quarterly 14 (Spring 1966), pp. 211-214.

 

 

16Philip A. Perrone, "Technicians: Somewhere In-Be—
tween" Vocational Guidance Quarterly, 13 (Winter 1964-65),
pp. 137-141.

17William W. Farquhar and David A. Payne, "Factors
in the Academic-Occupational Motivations of Eleventh Grade
Under- and Over—Achievers," Personnel and Guidance Journal
42 (November 1963), pp. 245-251.

l8Eugene Burnstein, "Fear of Failure, Achievement
Motivation, and Aspiring to Prestigeful Occupations" Journal
of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 67 (August 1963), pp.

25

failure increased, prestige of occupations aspired to de-

creased.

Sociological Approaches to
Vocational Development

 

 

Sociological theorists View the vocational deve10p-
ment process more as a function of the social system. That
is, career choices are not formulated internally by some
mysterious personal or subconscious process, but rather
that external values are developed within the social system
and these values in turn affect a vocational choice.19
This position approaches the sociological framework of this
present study. However, a major difference should be noted.

The theoretical position of this study is that such external

determinates exert their influence indirectly, not directly

 

as implied in the above position. A process of interaction
occurs in which communication among members in a social sys—
tem define the Opportunities, aspirations and appropriate
career patterns for others. Following, are representative
studies which have taken a more sociological approach to
career deveIOpment research.

20

Lazarsfield attempting to relate decision making

to the social situation, contended that occupational choices

19Theodore Caplow, The Sociology of Work (Minne-
apolis: The University of MInnesota Press, 1954).

20Paul F. Lazarsfield, Jegend Und Beruf. (Jena:
C. Fischer, 1931).

26

are not previously determined by individual decisions, but
rather external influences. External influences meant, to
him, such factors as the proportion of jobs in vocation X
in community Y. The size of community also allegedly has
some effect upon the career development processes. Rogoff21
reports that suburban schools produce greater numbers of
better equipped students who eventually complete college
training in their quest for higher status occupations.
Smaller towns and outlying districts send a greater propor-
tion of their students off to college for advanced training,
but the proportion who complete such training is much less.

Sewell and Orenstein22

also tested the relationship
between size of community residence and occupational choice
of youth. Controlled factors of intelligence and socio-
economic status failed to account for the lower aSpirations
of male youth from rural and smaller communities. Among
rural male graduates of 70 high schools in Minnesota who
were followed up six years later, less than one third sought

formal post high school training and less than 50 percent

of those in the upper half of their graduating classes

21Natalie Rogoff, "Local Social Structure and Edu-
cational Selection" in A. H. Halsey, Jean Gould and C.
Arnold Anderson (Eds.) Education, Economy, and Society,
(New York: The Free Press of Glencoe, 1962), pp. 24I:251.

 

22William H. Sewell and Alan M. Orenstein, "Com-
munity of Residence and Occupational Choice" American Jour-
nal of SOCiology 70 (March 1965), pp. 551-563.

 

27

continued in school.23

The impact of social and cultural restrictions on
the occupational socialization process was the focus of

several other studies. For example, Clark24

compared
children in grades three through six from the inner city
with a representative group from suburbia. He reported that
middle-class boys and lower-class girls express a signifi-
cantly greater preference for white collar and professional
occupations. In their perceptions of occupations, both
lower-class boys and girls were significantly less able to
supply appropriate job titles to stimulus figures, suggest-
ing that some job models lack relevance for young people who
are economically deprived.

In an earlier study.Phillips25

stated that a posi-
tive relationship also seems to exist between social class
and occupational choice-vocational interests congruency.

It was demonstrated that high school boys from middle-class

families have higher congruency scores than boys from lower-

class families. It was suggested that this is the result of

 

23Theodore M. Nelson and Keith N. McFarland, "Occu—
pational Patterns of Rural Youth" Vocational Guidance Quar-
terly 10 (Spring 1962), pp. 165-166.

24Edward T. Clark, "Influence of Sex and Social
Class on Occupational Preference and Perception" Personnel
and Guidance Journal 45 (January 1967), pp. 440-444.

 

25Leonard W. Phillips,"A.Study of the Relations Be-
tween Tentative Occupational Choice-Vocational Interests
Congruency and Selected Variables." (Unpublished doctoral
dissertation, Michigan State University, 1965).

28

youths' differential socialization within the matrices of
different social class sub-cultures coupled with youths'
internalization of the social mobility value which is part
of the American ethos.

These studies suggest that the level of one's as-
pirations and interests is contingent to a degree upon the
opportunities and experiences available within one's general
frame of social reference.

It is interesting to note the discrepancy of find-
ings relative to vocational and educational aspirations/
preferences and their relationship to the socio-economic

status of parents. Mulligan26, and Lowe27

, for example
found in general a positive correlation between the level of
aspirations and socio-economic status of parents. Other
studies such as those completed by Weiner and Grave528, and

Smith29 indicated no relationships existed between these

 

26Raymond A. Mulligan, "Socioeconomic Background
and College Enrollment" American Sociological Review, 16
(April, 1951), pp. 188-196.

 

27J. L. Lowe, "Educational and Occupational Aspi-
rations of High School Seniors" Unpublished Ph.D. Disserta-
tion, University of Missouri, 1962. (Abstracted in Disser-
Egtion Abstracts, Vol. XXIII, No. 3, 1962, p. 2614).

28Max Weiner, and Marion Graves, "A Study of the
Educational and Vocational Aspirations of Junior High School
Pupils from Two Socio-Economic Levels" (White Plains, New
York Board of Education, 1961).

29M. B. Smith, "Interpersonal Influence on the Oc-
cupational and Educational Aspirations and Expectations of
Sixth Grade Students" (Unpublished doctoral dissertation,
Michigan State University, 1961).

29

same two factors.

h30, sampling high

In another report, Sewell and Sha
school seniors in Wisconsin, state that parental encourage—
ment is a powerful intervening variable between socio-eco—
nomic class background, intelligence of an individual and
his aspirational level. They add, "Parental encouragement
does not explain SOCial class differences in aspiration
though it contributes to the explanation of these differ-

ences."

Occupational career expectations has been found to

 

be only slightly related to parental socio-economic level.

h3l, men who will

According to studies conducted by Spaet
eventually graduate from college begin their college educa-
tion with occupational career expectations that have no
close relationship to their fathers educational level, or
financial status.

32 in a study of the effects of col-

Thistlethwaite
lege upon Student aspirations, contends that about 25% of

the variance in plans for degrees, profeSSional schools,

 

30William H. Sewell, and Vimal P. Shah, Social
Class, Parental Encouragement and Educational Aspirations.
American Journal of Sociology Vol. 73, No. 5, (March 1968).

 

31Joe L. Spaeth, Occupational Prestige Especta-
tions Among Male College Graduates. American Journal of
Sociology, Vol. 73, No. 5 (March 1968), pp. 548-558.

 

 

32Donald L. Thistlethwaite, "Effects of College
Upon Student Aspirations" U.S. Office of Education, Coop-
erative Research Project No. D-098. (Nashville: Vander-
bilt University, 1965).

30

etc. can be explained by pre-college variables. Included as
pre-college variables are sex, aspiration level, father's
educational level, mother's educational level, number of
freshman scholarship applications, family financial resourc-
es, and possible major field of study. He adds that there
may be other relevant pre-college predictors which may be
related to going to graduate school and also correlated with
the kinds of teachers and peer groups one will seek in
college.

Davis33 studied 33,982 college graduates representa-
tive of the class of 1961. The main concern was to find out
how four years of college experience led to the career and
post-graduate training plans they envisioned at graduation.
These reports were personal interpretations of the subject's
past history in which the distortion of memory may also play
a part. Also, Davis did not develop a theory from which his
research emerges. Neither was he interested in the 40% who
did not reach senior status in college. His subjects report-
ed, however, that college faculty have only slightly less im-
portance than parents in helping the student make a career
choice. A theoretically appropriate question here is whether
or not those who indicated teachers as important in their

career decisions were those students who perceived teachers

 

'33James A. Davis, "Great Aspirations: Volume I
Career Decisions and Educational Plans During College," U.S.
Office of Education, Cooperative Research Project No. 1194,
(Chicago: National Opinion Research Center, 1963f?—

31

as important early in their public school careers. Perhaps
those who did not perceive teachers as important earlier did
not attend college or dropped out prior to graduation.

Davis also states that academic achievement in course
work during the four years of college is the single most im-
portant variable in the analysis of career plans. He thinks
that there is some reason to believe that the "freshman brings
with him a tentative career choice which has been affected by
his previous environment, sex role, intellectual ability, and
occupational values," and that colleges "affect chOices between
(vocational) alternatives which are not terribly different.

Berdie and Hood34 compared post—high school plans of
high school seniors in 1961 to plans of seniors in 1960. They
found that 84% of the students who, in the senior year of high
school, planned to enter college did so. Family socio-econom-
ic status was unrelated to the execution of these plans. An
obtained multiple correlation of .70 with family education,
socio-economic status, school attended, and personality vari-
ables led them to state that beyond these factors, the deci—
sions of high school graduates are influenced by chance.

Patterns of vocational development over time are of

particular interest to those concerned with vocational edu—

cation. Super35 employed a variety of scales and judgment-

__*

34Ralph F. Berdie and Albert B. Hood, "Trends in
Post-High School Plans over an ll-year Period," U.S. Office
of Education Cooperative Research Project No. 915. (Minne-
apolis: University of Minnesota, 1963).

35Donald E. Super and Others. Floundering and Trial
After High School. Career Pattern Study: Monograph IV.

32

making procedures to assess the vocational progress of young
men from ages 18 to 25. Throughout these post-high school
years, approx1mately one—third of the subjects engaged in
behavior adjudged to be floundering. At age 25, one—fifth of
the men still had not developed stabilizing vocational coping
behavior. Of secondary interest, less than two-fifths of the
subjects actually entered one of the occupations specified
while in high school, a finding in line with the results of
other research.

36

PrOJect Talent ,,an extensive research effort, was

initiated in l962 in an effort to determine factors in career
develOpment. Phrased in the tradition of trait-and-factor

theory, PrOJect Talent was designed to delineate a system of

personality measures from follow-ups with a large, represen-
tative sample of high school students, over a period of 20

years. The findings from the first follow—up studies under—

taken when each grade was one year out of high school were

reported recently by Flanagan and Cooley.37 The objectives

of this research includes the development of normative data,

identification of student interests, background factors,

—h

Cooperative Research Project No. 1393. (New York: Teachers
College, Columbia UniverSity, 19673, p. 334.

 

36John C. Flanagan and Others. "Project Talent! A
Survey and Follow Up Study of Educational Plans and Decisions
in Relation to Aptitude Patterns: Studies of the American
High School" U.S. Office of Education, COOperative Research
P_roject No. 226. (Pittsburg: University of PittsburgY, 1962.

37John C. Flanagan and William W° Cooley, Project
Talent, l-Year Follow-Up Studies. (Pittsburgh, Pa.: Uni-
versity of Pittsburgh, 1966).

33

ascertaining the effectiveness of various educational experi-
ences and identifying factors related to vocational choice.
HypotheSis testing relevant to a central theory is not a
stated purpose of this research, however, analysis being pri-

marily an after—the-fact examination of results.

Self Concept and Vocational Development

 

Several studies involving vocational development
factors are reported in the research literature. It is in-
tereSting to note, that although much has been written on
the self and self concept theory, and many studies focus on
various theoretical aspects which contribute to an individ—
ual's vocational choice, few have been concerned with the
self—concept as it specifically relates to ones vocational
career development.

38

Wrenn‘s review of literature on the self concept in

counseling neither mentions the topic of vocational choice,

nor Cites any literature on self concept in vocational devel-

39

Opment. Strong and Feder‘s reView of the measurement of

the self concept does not mention its relation to vocational
chOice or development. Much of the research concerned with

vocational self concept appears to be conducted by individuals

_‘

38ca Q, Wrenn. "The Self Concept in Counseling"
gournal of Counseling Psychology_(l958): PP- 104-109-

 

39D. Jc Strong and D. D. Feder, "Measurement of the
Self Concept" Journal of Counseling Psychology_(196l), pp.
170-178.

34

involved in counseling psychology. Very little is reported
which concerns the development of the self concept of voca—
tional ability from a social interactionist point of view.

Psychological Studies of the
Vocational Self Concept

 

 

The study of self concept and its effect upon voca-
tional development has received its greatest boost from the
work of Donald Super. He began his work in the early 1950's.
His writings and theoretical constructs are elements of study
reported in several of the Other research studies reported
further in this reView. Super states that the elements of a
self—concept theory of vocational development may be identi—
fied as a process. This process includes that of formation,
translation, and implementation of the self concept. He fur—
ther postulates that in choosing an occupation one is, in
effect, chOOSing a means of implementing a self concept.40
In other words, one actualizes or illustrates by his overt
career chOice action his vocational self concept. Thus, an
indiVidual's vocational self concept can be identified by
looking at the job he takes. His occupation represents a
translation of his self concept into vocational terms.

A considerable production of research on the voca-
tional manifestation of the self-concept has occured since

Super's original work. Most of such studies have used a

 

40Super, op. cit., p. ll.

 

i l' I lllllllll lllu‘l‘i‘ll

35

variety of instruments and procedures for the measuring of
the self-concept. Many have investigated the relationship of
traits and factors commonly ascribed to vocational deve10p-
ment to the vocational self-concept, while others have inves—
tigated the congruence of measured self—concept to perceived
role concept or requirements.

Discrepancy between self-concept and occupational

role concept was studied by Englander41

whose subjects were
126 undergraduate women students in education and other
fields. She hypothesized that congruency of self—concept
and concept of the role of elementary school teacher would be
greater in students preparing to work in that field than it
would be for other students not in that field. A high de-
gree of congruence was reported between (1) Verbalized self
image and deSired occupation and (2) perceived teacher role
and desirable personality characteristics of teachers. Ac-
cording to her, planning and preparation for teaching was
apparently a vehicle for self image translations.

Two studies of nurses provide additional data on

this subject. Morrison42 uSing a Q sort method of obtaining

the self—concept found greater correspondence between self

 

41Meryl E. Englander, "A Psychological Analysis of
Vocational Choice: Teaching" Journal of Counseling Psych-
ology. 7, (1960), pp. 257—264.

' 42Richard L. Morrison, "Self—Concept Implementation
in Occupational Choices" Journal of Counseling Psychology.
9, (1962), pp. 255-260.

 

36

perceptions of the incumbent occupation than was the case for
the unchosen occupational roles. Support for hypothesized
self-concept involvement in occupational choice was demon-
strated. Nurses working in a New York hOSpital were asked by
Brophy43 to complete an adjective checklist to describe them—
selves, their ideal selves and kind of person their job re-
quired them to be. They also completed a job satisfaction
questionnaire. His findings indicated that similarity of the
self-concept and of the perceived occupational role require-
ments is correlated Wlth job satisfaction.

Oppenheimer44

investigated the theory posited by
Super that occupational preferences represent a translation
of one's self-concept into vocational terms. His findings
were supportive of the theory that people prefer occupations
perceived as congruent With their self-concepts.

Blocker and Schutz45 reported measurement of: self,
ideal self, occupational stereotypes and occupational inter—
ests supplied by 135 twelfth grade boys in suburban high

schools. They hypotheSized that the Similarity of self and

occupational concepts of adolescent boys is greater for

 

43A. L. Brophy. "Self, Role and Satisfaction" 59
Egpetlc Psychological Monograph (1959), pp. 263—308.

44Ernest A. Oppenheimer, "The Relationship Between
Certain Self Constructs and Occupational Preferences," Jour-
nal of Counseling Psychology 13 (1966). pp, 191—197.

 

45D. H. Blocker and R. A. Schutz, "Relationships
Among Self-Descriptions, Occupational Stereotypes, and Voca—
tional Preferences," Journal of Counseling Psychology 8
(1961), pp— 314—417.

37

occupations in which they express interest than for those in
which they have little interest. Both self and ideal self
descriptions tended to resemble stereotypes attributed to
higher interest occupations.

Chaffee46 suggested that, while for some individuals
ChOOSlng a vocation may be implementing a self-concept as
Super had posited, for others it may represent an effort to
become or to appear to become "like" those involved in an oc-
cupational field through identification with them. They
thereby hOpe to take on the characteristics attributed to
these individuals in the public mind. An experimental sample
was chosen from among undergraduate engineering students at
Michigan State University. High agreement vs low agreement
sub—groups were selected on the basis of test scores on an
adjective checklist for self-concept, how he would like
others to think of him, and occupational stereotype.‘ Results
showed that the low agreement group held significantly more
negative self-concepts than the high agreement group.

Based upon the theoretical position that an individ-
ual desires to use his vocational choice as a means of self

enhancement or self actualization, Wheeler47 studied the

46Glenn Alber Chaffee, "A Study of the Self Concepts,
Occupational Personas, and Occupational Stereotypes of En-
gineering Students." (Unpublished doctoral-dissertation,
Michigan State University, 1967).-

47Charles Lawrence Wheeler, Jr.‘ "Relationships
Among Self-Concepts Ideal Self Concepts and Stereotypes of

38

results of a checklist designed to measure self concept,

ideal self-concept, typical person in their probable occu-
pational choice. Self—concept questions were based upon per-
sonality characteristics. Subjects participating in the study
were freshmen college students taking an introductory psych-
ology class. The stated results indicated that the individ—
ual sees his probable and ideal occupational choices as being
more congruent with his ideal self-concept than his self—con
cept.

48 studied the topic of vocation-

Sister Mary C. Davis
a1 choice as a result of a person finding his or her self
identity. Her subjects included 100 each of sisters who had
made temporary vows, registered nurses, and secretaries. She
found that persons with high ego identity are more ready to
make a vocational choice of long term commitment and to rec—
oncile what they expect from themselves with what others ex-
pect of them than those With low ego identity. Thus accord-
ing to her, vocational choice is a function of a congruous
ego identity.

The self-concept of male college students in three

stages of vocational preparation were studied by Armstrong.49

 

Probable and Ideal Occupational Choices." (University of
Southern California, unpublished doctoral dissertation, 1967).

48Sister Mary C. Davis, "Vocational Choice and Self-
Others' Expectations Congruence as a Function of Ego Identi—
ty," (Dissertation Abstracts, XXVI, 2(1965), P. 1168.

49Jack Lynn Armstrong, "The Interrelationships Among
Self and Occupational Concepts of Male College Students in

39

Sophomores, juniors, and seniors were tested to determine
their general self-concept, an ideal self-concept and a voca-
tional self-perception. He found that on the average, a per—
son Viewed himself in his vocational role as being more like
the person he would like to be than he is at present.

Anderson,SO

another researcher, studied the rela-
tionship between the congruence of self and ideal self and
the ability to make realistic choices of occupational goals.
His subjects were categorized as potential four year, and
potential two year college students based upon their apti—
tude level. An individual's occupational choice was judged
unrealistic if he chose an occupation either below or above
his aptitude level. The results were inconcluSive. This
study which utilized groupings based upon aptitude test
scores might cause some question by some researchers of the
validity of such groupings for testing differences in self-
concept.

TucciSl investigated one of Super's propositions

that self—concept clarity is necessary for vocational choice.

 

Three Stages of Vocational Preparation" (unpublished doctoral
dissertation, UniverSity of MinneSOta, 1964).

50Thomas B. Anderson, “A Determination of the Rela-
tionship Between the Congruence of Self and Ideal Self and
Occupational Choices Made by Potential Four Year College
Students and Potential Junior College Terminal Students"
(Washington State UniverSity, Ed.D., 1963).

51Michael A. Tucci, "Self-Concept Clarity and Voca
tional Choice in First Year College Males" (unpublished doc-
toral dissertation, East LanSing: Michigan State University,
1965).

40

His sample included 163 incoming male freshmen who were
classified into three sub—groups; definitely decided, ten-
tatively decided, and undecided in terms of vocational
choice. The data produced both rejection and non-rejec-
tion of his hypothesis depending upon the criterion used
for determining clarity of self-concept. The direction of
the data however, indicated that the self-concept clarity
of the tentatively decided student was superior to the un—
decided student and the undecided students clarity was su-
perior to that of the definitely decided students.
O'Hare,52 like Tucci, investigated the theory that
self-concepts clarify over time. His subjects, high school
students from a Catholic College Prep school, were drawn
from grades 9 and 12. They were tested to find to what de-
gree self—concepts are related to vocational developmental
tasks. The develOpmental tasks which he identified might
be questioned for their justifiable pOSltlon or criterion
for measurement of vocational tasks. He states, "the chief
developmental task of adolescents is to achieve to the
level of one's ability in high school." Thus, he claims
vocational self-concepts are indeed related to vocational

developmental tasks; in this case high school achievement.

 

52RobertP. O'Hara, "Vocational Self Concepts and
High School Achievement." The Vocational Guidance Quar—
terly, December 1966, p. 107.

41

Sociological Studies of the
VocatiOnal Self—Concepg

 

 

The literature of self—concept and vocational de-
velopment processes reported thus far have approached a
myriad of aspects relating to the vocational development
of individuals. Few, however, have attempted to define or
even discuss the theoretical origin or formulation of the
vocational self-concept. Several have measured the dif-
ferences among or between self evaluated attributes or
general self—concepts in terms of careers. None were
found who had given attention to the social-psychological
processes of interaction in the formation of the vocation—
al self—concept.

The vocational self—concept theory posited by
Super has prOVided the most complete work to date.53 His
theoretical framework has provided the basis for several
subsequent studies. Super's vocational self-concept,
though speCific in title and intent, is rather global in
nature. He defines the Vocational self-concept as "one's

"54 He

concept of one‘s self as a member of an occupation.
later more precisely describes the vocational self-concept
as the constellation of self attributes considered by the
individual to be vocationally relevant, whether or not

they have been translated into a vocational preference.55

 

53Super, 2p. cit., 1963.

54Ibid. 551bid., p. 10.

42

Super draws heavily upon the social environment
for support of the framework for the formation and de-
velopment of the self-concept. In the presentation of
self-concept evolution, he discusses such factors as
physical exploration, self differentiation between one's
self and others, identification as a boy, girl, white or
black. He suggests that role playing whether largely
imaginative or overtly participatory gives one the oppor-
tunity to try the role on for size. He speaks of reality
testing-—of one actually trying out and testing his
skills, abilities and interests in some role through vi-
carious identification or chance experience in the role.
Super posits that ultimately, one implements or actualizes
his vocational self—concept; that in fact one's vocation
illustrates overtly his self-concept.

Super's contribution to the study of self-concept
is important and extensive. However, he like others, has
given relatively no attention whatever to the social-psy-
choloqical processes of interaction in the formation of
the self—concept.

By further postulating that in choosing an occu—
pation one is implementing his self-concept and is in ef-
fect becoming "self actualized," Super extends the basis

Of self—concept beyond that which this present study

43

subscribes. Maslow56 discusses self actualization which
is defined as: an acceptance and expression of the inner
core or self; or latent capacities. Maslow further postu—
lates that each individual has an essential inner nature,
which is intrinsic, given, natural and usually resistant
to change. Mead's theory, and that of this study holds
that self-concept is a dynamic process. It is flexible
and changes through the perceptual interaction of the in-

dividual with his social environment.
Theoretical Framework of This Study

The general theoretical framework for this re-
search has already been identified in Chapter I as deriv-

ing from the symbolic interaction theory of George Her-

57

bert Mead and Charles Cooley. A rather complete summary

of this theory has been made by Rose58 and Kinch.59 A

more recent extensive review and discussion of symbolic

56A. H. Maslow, "Self-Actualizing People: A Study
of Psychological Health" Personality, Symposium No. l,
(1950)! pp. 11-340

 

57Charles H. Cooley, Social Organization (New
York: Charles Scribners Sons, 1909); George H. Mead,
Mind, Self and Society (Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1934).

 

. 58Arnold M. Rose, "A Systematic Summary of Sym-
bolic Interaction Theory," in Rose (ed.) Human Behavior
Egg Social Processes. (Boston: Houghton-Mifflin,’l962),
pp. 3-19.

 

59John w. Kinch, “A Formalized Theory of the Self
Concept" The American Journal of Sociology, 68, (1963),
pp. 481-486.

 

44

60 The specific

interaction theory may be found in Manis.
application of this theoretical framework to classroom
learning was investigated extensively by Brookover and
associates.61

The Self-Concept of Academic Ability and School
Achievement Studies indicated above were supported by
grants from the U.S. Office of Education. Three project
reports have been published, #844, #1636, and #2831. The
design of these studies was focused upon (1) determining
the possibility of tapping the self-concept of academic
ability construct with a self-report instrument, (2) to
examine the relationship and effect of significant others
upon the self—concept constructs, (3) to examine the
feasibility of enhacing the self-concepts of ability and
(4) to explore the relationship of these factors to intel-
ligence, sex, socio-economic status, and achievement.

The basic proposition of these studies assert that

a student's self-concept of academic ability results from

his perceptions of the evaluations significant others hold

 

6OJerome G. Manis and Bernard N. Meltzer eds.
§ymbolic Interaction: a reader in social psychology, (Bos-
ton: Allyn and Bacon, 1967i.

61Wilbur B. Brookover, et al., Self Concept of
Agility and School Achievement, Reports I, II, and III.
Cooperative Research Project No. 844, 1636, and 2831. U.
8. Office of Education. (East Lansing: Educational Pub-
lication Services, College of Education, Michigan State
University, 1962, 1965, and 1967).

 

45

of his ability. The student's self—concept of academic
ability in turn functions to limit the level of academic
achievement attempted. Self-concept of academic ability
is therefore hypothesized as an intervening variable be-
tween the expectations and evaluations of significant
others and school achievement. The relationship of per—
ceived evaluations of significant others is conceptualized
as a necessary and sufficient condition, i.e., a change in
the perceived evaluations of others will be reflected in
a change in self—concept. The relationship of self-con-
cept of academic ability to academic achievement, on the
other hand, is hypothesized as a necessary but not a suffi-
cient condition for the occurrence of a particular level
of academic performance.62

The body of research from these studies constitute
the only known empirical research employing the construct
"self-concept of ability." A few studies do however, show
correlations between various measures of global self-con—
cept as indicated previously. Ruth Wylie's63 survey of
self-concept research reviews over 400 empirical studies.
Yet when considering Mead's theory on the relationship of

self-concept to social interaction, she can only conclude

 

62Brookover, Ibid. Report III, p. 140.

63Ruth Wylie, The Self-Concept: A Critical Survey
gprertinent Research Literature. (Lincoln, Nebraska:
University of Nebraska Press, 1961).

46

that this theoretically crucial class of relationships has
been inadequately explored.

Of the several dissertation studies of Brookover
and his associates conducted during the original major re—
search project only a few related slightly to vocational
factors. "A Comparative Study of Male High School Students
Who Stay in School and Those Who Drop Out: conducted by

Harding,64

showed that dropouts had significantly lower
academic ability and lower self—concepts of academic abil—
ity as well as lower mean I.Q.s, socio-economic status and
grade point average. His conclusions indicated that the
students' self—concept of academic ability and their ex-
pressed educational plan are variables which would assist
in identifying potential dropouts.

Sandeen65 found that self—concept of academic abil-
ity was highly related to a student's aspiration for col-
lege. He also found that a student's perceptions of his
parent's evaluation of his ability was highly related to

aspiration for college. His conclusions stated that if a

student's achievement in school and aspirations for future

 

64Kenneth A. Harding, "A Comparative Study of Male
High School Students Who Stay In School and Those Who DrOp
Out" In Brookover, Erickson and Joiner, Self Concept of
Ability and School Achievement, III, pp. 247-263.

65Carl A. Sandeen, "Aspiration for College Among
Male Secondary School Students From Seventh to Tenth Grade,"
In Brookover, Erickson and Joiner, Self Concept of Ability
apd School Achievement, III, pp. 265-274.

47

education and employment are not merely functions of his
"innate ability" but are closely related to his self-con-
cept of academic ability, then the teacher or counselor
might have significant influence in his develOpment.

The importance of the perceptions of others to
one's self-concept formation was indicated by an earlier
study which investigated the effects of social interaction.

66 obtained questionnaire data from medical stud-

Huntington
ents at different year levels, in order to throw light on
these issues. She found that medical students' self images
vary with awareness of the expectations of others, with
the year-level attained in training, and with the status
of the persons with whom they happen to be interacting.
They may see themselves as students when with physicians
and as physicians when with patients. The vocational self-
concept is thus a function of perception of the perceptions
of others.

Brookover and Gottlieb67 in discussing recruitment
and choice of career, suggest that several factors are in-

volved. These factors may be classified into three cate-

gories: (l) self—identifications (capacities, interests,

 

66Mary-Jean Huntington, "The Development of a Pro-
fessional Self—Image," in R. K. Merton et al. (eds.) The
Student Physician (Cambridge: Harvard University Press,
1959).

67Wilbur Brookover and David Gottlieb, A Sociolo
gf-Education. (New York: American Book Company, I964),
p. 301.

48

and preferences); (2) definitions of reality (which deals
with the individual's perception of others, opportunities,
and choice of occupation); and (3) reciprocal relations
with significant persons (the obligations and rights of
reciprocal relationships with others such as parents,
teachers or friends).

Based upon these factors, and drawing upon previ-
ous research in this area, it is appropriate to suggest
that one of the more important types of self-identity
which guides a person in his decision to enter a given
career is his conception of his own ability to carry out
what he thinks are the requirements of that career. That
is, a person's self-concept of occupational ability may
function to limit the careers he will attempt to enter.

If certain academic learnings are viewed as an occupational
requirement which he is incapable of mastering, he will
neither attempt to achieve in such schooling nor enter in-
to the occupation. In a society which assumes and empha-
sizes a relationship between educational achievement level
and occupational achievement, self-concept of vocational
ability may also effect the occupational achievement of
many individuals.

Another type of self-identity which influences a
person's career decision is the occupational plan of action

he assigns to his social position in relation to others.

49

In the words of Mead68 people attach a career "plan of
action" to themselves. They expect certain career acts to
be undertaken and their lives become organized according
to these expectations of self. It would appear that so-
cial role defines, in part, the appropriateness or inap-
propriateness of career "plans of action."

An individual may also learn which career decisions
are appropriate and required of him if he is to maintain
or develop desired relationships with others. Each indiv-
idual learns that some career decisions may jeoparidze or
enhance his relationships with others. A desire to avoid
violation of friendship obligations may cause a teacher's
career advice to go unheeded if the advice contradicts the
career expectations of friends. The individual's defini-
tion of the career expectations held for him by his family
and friends, while not necessarily the actual expectation
of him, may be major factors in the formulation of a deci—
sion to enter, remain in, or leave a career role.

Thus, persons acquire their self—concepts of occu-
pational ability and their View of the apprOpriateness of
careers from others in a social interaction context. This
theory of occupational choice emphasizes the interaction
of the subject with others. It does not contradict psycho—

logical theories or constructs, such as motivation,

 

68Mead, 9p. cit:

50

reinforcement or the sociological constructs, such as so-
cial class, cultural conflict, and norms. The theoretical
orientation employed here merely shifts the emphasis to
the social interaction context in which stimulus, rein-

forcement, motivation and normative prescriptions occur.

CHAPTER III

METHODS AND PROCEDURE

Contents of this Chapter

 

This chapter consists of four main parts. The first
part gives a brief description of the population used in the
investigation; the second part sets forth the Operational
definitions of concepts along with a description of the in—
strumentation used to measure them; the third part of the
chapter presents the main research hypotheses of the inves—
tigation, and finally, the fourth part of the chapter is
devoted to a description of the methods and designation of
the statistical analysis employed to test the statistical
hypotheses. The chapter concludes with a summary and brief

introduction of the following chapter.

The Group Studied

 

The population investigated were two years out of
high school. They were residents (or had been during their
high school years) of a midwestern city of approximately
120,000 population. They also were the same students who
were included in the longitudinal self concept studies by

Brookover and associates. Questionnaires, along with a

51

52

prepaid return envelope, were mailed to this original group
of 562 subjects (307 females and 225 males) during the summer
of 1968. The questionnaires were completed and returned by
361 subjects--222 females and 139 males. All those included
in the study met the following criteria:

(1) They were Caucasian.

(2) Complete school data from the eighth through
twelfth grade was available (intelligence test scores,
academic achievement information including grade point
average).

(3) Complete questionnaire data was available
from the eighth grade through twelfth grade and two years
post high school.

(4) All subjects were promoted regularly from
grades four through twelve. Individuals who repeated
grades or who withdrew and re-entered were excluded.

(5) All were participants in the regular school
program. Those who were in special education programs
(such as those for mentally retarded) and all who were in
experiments designed to enhance self-concept of academic
ability during the ninth grade were excluded.

Although there were data available on most individ-
uals from the entire student population, some were not in-
cluded in this study. Most eliminations were made for two
reasons; racial identification and incomplete or inadequate

data. Approximately 100 Negro students were not included

53

in the analysis because evidence exists which indicates
that race would be a strong factor influencing self-con-

1 Some individuals

cepts and several related variables.
for whom complete school record data were available did
not complete the post high school questionnaire and thus

were eliminated.

Research Design

 

Measurement

The objectives of this study and a general des-
cription of constructs investigated were briefly defined
in Chapter I. The operational definition and/or major
research instruments in the investigation are presented

below.

Self-Concept of Academic Ability

 

Self-concept of academic ability refers to the
evaluating definition which an individual holds of himself
in respect to his ability to achieve in academic tasks in
general as compared with others his age. This is in con-
formance with the definition of self-concept by Mead that

self involves awareness and articulation of an internalized

1Richard J. Morse, "Self-Concept of Ability, Sig-
nificant Others and School Ahcievement of Eighth Grade
Students: A Comparative Investigation of Negro and Cau-
casian Students," (unpublished M.A. Thesis, Michigan State
University, 1963). '

54

social process.2 Two general self-concept of academic abil—
ity scales were used in this study.

The general self-concept of academic ability, high
school is operationally defined as the sum of scored re-
sponses of a student to the Michigan State General Self-

Concept of Ability Scale administered to subjects during

 

their school years grades eight through twelfth, hereafter
referred to as SCAArHS. This scale of eight multiple choice
items was developed under the USOE COOperative Research Pro-

ject No. 8453

(see Appendix A). Each item which asks the
individual to compare himself with others in his social sys—
tem on the dimension of academic competency is scored from

5 to 1 with higher self-concept alternatives receiving the
higher values. The reliability coefficients range from .822
to .880.4 The instrument is designed and used for the study
of groups and not for the drawing of individual comparisons.

The general self-concept of academic ability, post

high school, based upon the identical theoretical foundation

 

2G. H. Mead, Mind, Self, and Society (Chicago: Uni—
veristy of Chicago Press, 1938?:

 

3Wilbur B. Brookover, Ann Paterson, and Shailer
Thomas, Self-Concept of Ability and School Achievement, U.S.
Office of Education, CooperatIve Research Project #845,
(East Lansing: Michigan State University, 1962).

 

4Ann Paterson, An Evaluation of an Instrument De-
signed to Measure the Construct "Self—Concept of (Academic)
Ability" (unpublished doctoral dissertation, Michigan State
University, 1966).

55

as the SCAA-HS Scale is operationally defined as the sum of
scored responses of an individual to an eight item multiple
scale, hereafter referred to as the SCAA-PH (see Appendix

A). This scale, scored like its counterpart has items pat-
terned after those included in the SCAA-HS scale. The pri-
mary difference between the two scales is found in the word-
ing of items designed to make them more age and life-stage

relevant. For example, item one in the SCAA-HS scale reads:

How do you rate yourself in school ability compared
with your close friends?

This item was redesigned for the SCAA-PH scale to read:

How do you rate yourself in scholastic ability com-
pared with other students your age in college?

The post high school scale formed a Guttman scale with co-
efficients of reproducability of .875 and .919 for males and
females respectively. Correlations of scale score to total
score were .953 and .920 for males and females respectively.
The Hoyts Analysis of Variance Reliability Coefficient of
.932 is notably higher than those typically reported for
attitude scales. Scale items were pretested using a sample
population consisting of 60 sophomore college students drawn
from Michigan State University and the Lansing Community

College.

Self Concept of Vocational
Ability
Self-concept of vocational ability refers to the

evaluating definition which an individual holds of himself

56

with respect to his ability to achieve in occupational tasks.
Further, one's evaluating definition of self is derived via
interaction with significant others in the social setting.
This is in agreement with the social-interactionist position
of Mead and Brookover which posits that self-concepts are
derived from an individual's interaction with others.
Measurement of the self-concept of vocational abil-
ity, therefore, represents the major undertaking of this re-
search study. Instruments were needed and descriptive tech-
niques developed in order to quantify this self-concept con-
struct in a manner consistent with the theoretical framework.
The self-concept of vocational ability scales util-
ized in the testing of hypotheses were patterned in form and
style after the self-concept of academic ability scales.
In addition, two questions identified as describing the self
assessment of ability for various occupational levels were
employed. A complete discussion of the development of these

measures and their analysis is presented in Chapter IV.

Significant Others

Significant others may be defined as those persons
on whom one is dependent for emotional gratification. In
the process of interacting with these "significant others"
an individual takes upon himself their ideas, beliefs and
evaluations using these as a frame of reference for evalu-

ating his own behavior.

57

A list of academically significant others and voca-

tionally significant others was obtained by asking two open
ended questions:

"There are many people whose judgments we value. In
the space below list the names of people whose
judgments you value concerning your ability to do
well in school. Please list in order (most valued
first) and indicate who each person is."

"There are many persons whose judgments about our
careers we value.
of persons
choice you
first) and
dix B).

In the space below list the names
whose judgments about your occupational
value.

Please list in order (most valued
indicate who each person is"

(see Appen-

Responses were coded according to the following cate-
gories:

1. Frequency of references to Spouse or fiance
2. Frequency of references to friends

3.

4

Frequency of references to parents

Frequency of references to high school teacher
or other high school personnel
5.

Frequency of references to college teacher or
professor
6. Frequency of references to other relatives
7. Frequency of references to employer or supervisor
8. Frequency of references to co-worker
9. Frequency of references to
0.

Frequency of references

other local adults
to
. response

unclassifieds, or no

It should be noted that the responses to the questions
not only identify the “others" who are concerned about their
academic and career plans, but asks also for a ranking of

those individuals with respect to relative concern.

In addi-
tion, information regarding the occupation of the individual

named first as a vocational significant other was requested.

This was done in order to provide information concerning the

socio-economic status of vocational significant others.

58

Perceptions of Evaluation of
Others

In order to explore the effects of perceived evalu-
ations of academic and occupational ability of others upon
the individual's self—concepts, two scales were used.

Perceptions of the evaluations of others of academic
ability.-—Subjects responding to the post high school survey
were asked to respond to multiple choice scales designed to

measure perceptions of evaluations by parents, and by friends
(see Appendix C). These closely paralleled and were scored
in the same manner as the general self-concept of academic
ability scales. The items of these scales were basically
similar to those used in the longitudinal data grades eight
through twelve with changes of words such as "school" to
college and, “college“ to graduate school. This procedure
was followed in order to maintain continuity in data col-
lection procedures. The Hoyt‘s Analysis of Variance Relia—
bility CoeffiCients for perceived evaluations of academic
ability scales for grades eight through twelve ranged from
.755 to .880. The Hoyt‘s Analysis of Variance Reliability
computed on post high school scales of perceived parental
evaluation and perceived friend evaluation of academic abil-
ity were .874 and .900 respectively. These are adequate for
group comparison and higher than those typically reported

for attitude measures.

Perceptions of the evaluations by others of occupa—

tgpnal level ability,--Subjects responding to the post high

59

school questionnaire were asked to indicate their percep-

tions of their parent's, friend's,

and spouse's evaluation
of occupational level ability.

The following general ques-
tion was asked in each case:

Of the occupations listed below, which one do your
(parents)

(friends) feel is closest to your ability?

(spouse)

1.

judge --------------- physician
2. college professor---engineer
3. accountant ---------- teacher
4. draftsman ----------- insurance agent
5. bank teller --------- manufacturing agent
6. railroad switchman—-construction foreman
7. plumber ------------- retail salesman
8. bus driver ---------- craneman
9, automobile mechanic-barber
l .

janitor ------------- factory laborer

Where choices of occupations listed were not appropriate or

for other reasons not chosen by the respondent, an open

ended alternative question was asked:

Among all occupations, what job (or jobs) do your
(parents)

(friends) feel is closest to your ability?
(spouse)

The choices listed were derived from Duncan. Each category
represented a l0 pOint spread on this scale (i.e. factory
laborer = 0 - 10, judge = 90 - 100). Those answering the

Open ended question were scored by comparing their answers

to the Duncan scale and the list given in order to derive

the most appropriate category.

50. D. Duncan, A Socio-Economic Index for All Occu-
pations. 1n Occupations and Social Status, ed. A. J. Reiss.
\Glencoe, lllinois: The Free Press, 1961); PP. 109-161.

6O

Socio-Economic Status

 

Socio-economic status refers to the level of an oc-
cupation as it ranks socially and economically with all
others. During their school years, the socio-economic
status of subjects was derived by asking them to respond to
the following items:

"What does your father (or whoever supports your fam-
ily) do for a living?" and, "Describe what your
father (or whoever supports your family) does on the
job."

Occupations indicated by the subjects were assinged socio-
economic ratings from the Duncan Socio-Economic Index for

6 Where occupations were not clearly speci-

all Occupations.
fied in response to the first item, the descriptions given
in response to the second item were used to determine the

appropriate occupational title. Occupations not included in

the Duncan Index were assigned ratings on the basis of their

U)

similarity to occupations that were included. An individual
socio—economic status thus became commensurate with the Dun-
can rating of his father's (or family breadwinner's) occu-
pation.

Much of the data from the present questionnaire which
refers to socio-economic status of occupations: occupation

entered, occupational aspirations and expectations, occupa-

interests, and socio-economic status of vocational Signifi—

cant others utilize the Duncan Scale in similar fashion.

 

61bid.

61

The properties and characteristics of the scale were

more completely reported by Duncan.7

Occupational Interests

 

Occupational interests refers to the specific or
cluster of commonly recognized occupations which an individ-
ual indicates he or she prefers above others. It includes
attitudes which an individual has towards the conditions of
a particular occupation or similar type of occupations. Oc—
cupational interests in operationally defined in this study
by the answer to the question:

"Several questions in this questionnaire asked you
about the occupation of your greatest interest.

Please indicate here that occupation which you were

thinking of when answering those questions."

Level of occupational interests were derived from the Duncan

Scale.8

Occupational Aspirations and
Expectations

 

 

Those who have studied levels of aspiration speak
variously of preference levels versus expectation levels,
aspiration levels versus plan levels, ideal versus action
goals, and so on.9 For the purpose of this study, occupa-

tional aspirations were defined as the occupation or cluster

 

7Ibid. 8Ibid.

 

9A. O. Haller and I. W. Miller, The Occupational As-
piration Scale: Theory, Structure and Correlates ZEast
Lansing: Michigan State University, Agricultural Experiment
Station, 1963), p. 8.

 

62

of occupations an individual would like to attain. Occupa-
tional expectation or plans, on the other hand, refers to
the level or cluster of occupations an individual actually
believes he will attain.

Operationally, occupational aspirations were solic-
ited by the following question:

"If you were free to choose any kind of work you
wanted, what would you most like to do?"

Occupational expectations were derived from answers to the

question:

"Sometimes what we would like to do is not the same
as what we expect to do. What kind of work do you
really expect to do?"

Level of occupational aspiration/expectation was scored and
coded using the Duncan Scale for Socio—Economic Index. In ad-
dition, each question was coded according to a nominal scale
corresponding to that used for data collected grades eight
through twelve. This scale is listed as follows:

Professional

Small business and semi—professional
Clerical and sales

Skilled and semi—skilled labor

Service worker, farm laborer, unskilled
Housewife

Glamor job

I don't know

No response

0 O O

ONNAUTOUCDKO
O

Eggational and Non-Vocational
Students

Vocational courses available during the high school

years of the population in this study numbered forty.

63

Students were able to enroll in one to three years of a
particular "career" course or courses. Some students did
not enroll in any of these courses while others enrolled
for several. Operationally for this study, all students who
enrolled in two or more career coursesxwere referred to as
vocational students. All others were referred to as non-
vocational students.

To solicit the needed information, a list of all
available career courses in the high school was given.
(See Appendix D) Respondents were asked to indicate if, in
which of them, and for how long (one to three years) they

were enrolled in any of those courses.

Hypotheses

 

The basic problem of this thesis was formulated and
investigated in terms of the theoretical orientation dis-
cussed in Chapter II° Stated more precisely here, the major
concern was the identification and assessment of the con-
struct-—"self—concept of vocational ability" within a social
psychological frame of reference.

In general, the theoretical orientation presented
earlier holds that (1) individuals behave in ways that they
consider appropriate to themselves and (2) appropriateness
of behavior is defined by each person through the internal-

ization of the evaluations and expectations which he perceives

64

others whom he considers important hold of him.10 This
suggests that an individual's concept of self in terms of
his ability to perform various vocationally relevant tasks
will be derived Via social interaction. Therefore, the
first general hypothesis of this investigation was:

H1 An individual's perceptions of the evaluations

of his vocational ability by significant others
(parents, friends, spouses) are associated with
his self-concept of vocational ability.

The indiVidual, as suggested by the above hypothesis
and supported by the theoretical framework of the study, de-
velops definitions of appropriate attitudes, beliefs, values,
and behavior through the internalization of his perceptions

of others. He continually refers himself to these others,

takes on their attitudes, and judges himself in View of how

 

he perceives these significant others evaluate him and what

they expect of him.

0

The identification of the others with whom an in-
dividual associates in a Significant manner thus becomes an
important factor in the soc1al psychological analysis of
human behavior. Data which give some evidence on the iden-
tification of Significant others were obtained each year

from the subjects included in the longitudinal population

and reported by Brookover and associates.11

10Wilbur B. Brookover and David Gottlieb, A Sociol-

ng of Education (New York: American Book Comapny, I963},
p. 34.

. llWilbur B. Brookover, et al. Self Concept of Abil-
ity and School Achievement, III. Report of’COOperative

65

Parents, more than any other category of persons
were identified as both "important in their lives" and "con-
cerned" about how well they (the students) did in school.

No support was given to the hypothesis that parents' influ-
ence declines in adolescent years. The proportion who named
friends as significant others increased in later school
years but those who named teachers decreased. It should be
recognized, however, that only the identification of others

who were important or concerned was solicited in the previ-

 

 

ous work.
The present investigation went a step farther by

asking respondents to list in order of importance those who

 

were important in academic concerns and, in addition, to

list in order of importance persons whose judgments about

 

their career they value. Brought to the fore is the ques—
tion, How does the relative proportions of significant other
differ between the two categories: academic and career?
The following hypothesis becomes relevant to the present
study:
H2 The proportion of individuals naming parents
first in importance of judgments concerning
their careers will be less than those naming

parents first in importance of how well they do
in school.

 

Research Project No. 2831, U. S. Office of Education, en-
titled "Relationship of Self Concept to Achievement in High
School" (East Lansing: Educational Publication Services,
College of Education, Michigan State University, 1967).

66

An important contribution of this study is the re-
porting of differences and similarities of proportions of
other categorical "others" and the emergence and relative
importance of the "spouse" category.

Social-psychological investigations of significant
others are necessarily grounded in the social environment
in which interaction between people take place. Other stud—
ies reported previously in the review of literature give
support to the contention that socio-economic status is a
very important factor influencing individual growth and
development. Previous research conducted by Brookover and
associates12 revealed that socio-economic status and measured
intelligence are correlated with self—concept of academic
ability. Based upon this frame of reference the following
two hypotheses were investigated:

H3 There is no relationship between socio-economic
status of significant others concerned with
career development and an individual's level of
self—concept of vocational ability.

H4 An individual‘s self—concept of vocational abil-
ity two years post high school is associated
with the socio-economic status of his parents or
parental environment measured during his high
school years.

Socio-economic status is based to a large degree up-

on the relative ranking of one's occupation in relation to

others. It follows that occupational interests are derived

from attitudes which one has towards his perceptions of

 

lzIbid. -

67

occupational characteristics: availability, accessability,
and status within the cluster of occupations. Theoretically
one's conception of ability to perform the duties of an oc—
cupation is derived via the social interaction process with
significant others. This suggests that socio-economic
status levels of occupational interests may not be related
to self-concept of vocational ability. One might, for in-
stance, be interested in being a carpenter (a rather low socio—
economic Status level occupation) but, exhibit a high self-
concept of vocational ability. Conversely one might be in-
terested in a career in medicine (a high socio-economic
status level occupation) but have a lower measured SCVA.

To provide a statistical analysis of this position the fol—
lowing hypothesis was investigated:

H5 There is no relationship between the self-con-
cept of vocational ability and an individual's
socio-economic level of occupational interest.

Occupational aspirations and expectation/plans are

the focus of attention in many studies concerned with the
vocational development of youth and adults. However, analy—
sis of the relationship of self-concept to aspirations and ex-
pectations is sparse. (See Oppenheimer and Wheeler, Chap. II)

13

Sandeen in his study of aspirations for college

among male secondary school students from grades seven to

 

13Carl Sandeen, "Aspirations For College Among Male
Secondary School Students From Seventh to Tenth Grade"
(unpublished doctoral dissertation, Michigan State Univer-
sity, 1965).

68

ten approached most directly the analysis of aspirations as
related to the construct self-concept of academic ability.
No studies were found, however, which investigated rela-
tionships of occupational aspirations and expectations to
self-concept of vocational ability.

To examine the interrelationships of occupational
aspirations and expectations over time upon the self-con-
cept of vocational ability the following hypotheses were
tested.:

H6 The relationship of occupational aspirations to
expectations (or plans) increases over time at
each grade level through post high school.

H7 The relationship of self—concept of vocational
ability to occupational aspirations is greater
than the relationship of self-concept of voca-
tional ability to occupational expectations/
plans.

Consistency over time in occupational aspirations
is believed to be conducive to positive growth in vocational
development.l4 Therefore an appropriate question could be
asked, "Do those who register consistent occupational as-
pirations have a higher self-concept of vocational ability
than those who don't?" In order to investigate this ques-
tion, occupational aSpiration consistency scores were com-

puted for the entire population. Since no assumption of

normality to the distribution could be assumed a priori, it

 

14David P. Ausubel, and Herbert M. Schiff, "A Level
of Apsiration Approach to the Measurement of Goal Tenacity,"
Journal of General Psychology, LII, (1955): PPo 97‘100-

69

was decided that individuals whose consistency scores ranked
in the tOp 25 percent of the population were designated as

a higher consistency group and those whose consistency
scores ranked in the bottom 25 percent were designated as
the lower consistency group. Based upon these groups the
following hypothesis was tested:

H8 ConSistency of occupational aspirations over
time is associated with higher levels of self-
concept of vocational ability.

Occupational aspirations often reflect the particu-
lar curriculum individuals pursue during their high school
years. Moreover, individuals who enroll in vocational
courses are often regarded by high school officials as lower
ability students. Based upon the contention of this study
that the self-concept of vocational ability is not dependent
upon occupational role, the following hypothesis was pre—
sented for analySis:

H9 The self-concept of vocational ability of in-
diViduals who enrolled in vocational courses
while in high school will be equal to that of
those individuals who pursued a non-vocational
curriculum.

Finally, the theoretical perspectives and population
studied in this research are conterminous with the previous
work completed by Brookover and associates.15 The major
difference occurs in the focus upon self-concept of ability;

vocational rather than academic. Minor differences in in-

strumentation were accorded mainly to accommodate the change

‘

l5Brookover, loc. cit.

70

in focus of the study and change in age and status of the
population.

In view of this fact, one might question what asso-
ciations exist between the two constructs. Stated succinct-
ly, what is the relationship of the self-concept of voca-
tional ability to self—concept of academic ability? The
presentation of data and appropriate statistical analysis
concerning the associations of the two constructs complete
the analysis in this thesis.

Methods and Statistics Employed
to Test the Hypotheses

 

 

The design of this study may be called descriptive
as well as theory testing. This research involved the
measurement and quantification of the construct self-concept
of vocational ability based upon a social psychological
theory of self—concept formation. Subsequent analysis dealt
with the relationship of this self-concept construct to
various factors regarded as important in vocational develop-
ment. The instrumentation was of three types:

(1) instruments developed or standardized by pre—
vious researchers,

(2) instruments which were much like those used and
verified in previous studies of this nature but altered to
make them more life stage relevant, and

(3) instruments developed by the author of this

71

research specifically designed to measure the self-concept
of vocational ability.

The population was divided into several different
groupings in order to more carefully analyze the data appro-
priate to the testing of the research hypotheses. Such
groupings included (a) vocational - non vocational, (b) male
- female, (c) college, four year - college two year or less
- non college, and (d) high vs low occupational aspiration
consistency groups.

This study was primarily concerned with the analysis
of the relationships of various construct measures drawn
from the population. The statistical technique used most
often was computation of the Pearson product moment correla-
tion. Correlation coefficients were utilized in the testing
of hypotheses one, three, four, five and seven. McNamar's
technique for testing the difference between proportions for
correlated data was employed in the analysis of hypothesis
two data. A somewhat similar Z test technique for testing
the differences between proportions for uncorrelated data
was used for a final analysis of hypothesis two.

Chi square analysis was employed as a descriptive
technique for analysis of hypothesis six. Chi squares were
computed in order to investigate the relationships of occu-
pational aspiration to occupational expectation variables
utilizing longitudinal nominal data. The resulting chi

squares were plotted on a frequency polygon in order to

72

visualize these relationships over a period of time from
eighth grade to two years post high school.

The students t test of the difference between means
was incorporated into the study as the analytic technique
used for testing hypothesis eight and nine. Specific sta—
tistical data and levels of significance are presented in
all tables in Chapter IV. The significance level used as a
basis for support or non-support of each research hypothesis
was the .05 level.

Complete data for this study was derived via two
sources. One source was the longitudinal information from
previous research conducted with the same population which
was already coded and punched on IBM cards. The second
source was the data collected via the two—year post high
school questionnaire administered through the mail during
the summer of 1968. All data from this second source were
coded and punched on IBM cards. Subsequently all computer
cards (fourteen of them) for each individual in the study
were merged into a large Single deck. Through a process of
recoding all pertinent data for variables used in the
analysis of this study were punched on a new and smaller
deck called an amalgamated deck. The separation into vari-
ous groupings and the analysis was completed on the Michi—

gan State University C.D.C. 3600 and 6500 computers.

73

Summary

The primary concern of this chapter was the presen—
tation of the methodological procedures employed in the in-
vestigation. Briefly, it consisted of (l) a description of
the sample used in the investigation; (2) the operational
definitions of major concepts and/or description of the
measurement procedures; (3) statements of the hypotheses and
the background developed to show the origin and general re—
lationship of each hypothesis to the entire study; and (4)

a description of the methods, and designation of the statis-
tics, employed to test the hypotheses. In the following

chapter, the results of the investigation are reported.

CHAPTER IV

RESULTS AND INTERPRETATION

Contents of this Chapter

 

In the previous chapter the problem, theoretical
orientation and methodology of the investigation were set
forth. This chapter reports the findings of the investiga-
tion. The initial section of the chapter is a description

and analysis of methods employed in the measurement of the
self concept of vocational ability. This is followed by a
section which presents comparative analysis of the SCVA
with the SCAA. The remaining part of the chapter deals
with the tests and analysis of the hypotheses advanced ear-
lier in this thesis. The hypotheses are restated in sequen-
tial order followed by relevant statistical data and tests.
The chapter is concluded with a brief summary of the re-

search findings.

Section I: Measurement of the SCVA

 

In the Chapter II review of literature, several
methods for quantifying the vocational self concept were
presented. In most instances, however, a theoretical basis

uPon which measurement instruments were developed was not

74

75

found. Furthermore, indiVidual self-concept levels were
often inferred or alluded to through the use of projective
testing techniques.

Since direct measures of the Self Concept of Voca-
tional Ability were apparently unavailable, the exploratory
development of self-concept measures became the initial
phase of this study. Drawing upon the social interaction-

ist theory of self—concept formation, two measurement tech-
niques were developed, both utilizing a straight forward
question and answer approach.

The post high school questionnaire contained twenty
three items which were patterned after the style of items
used to measure the self-concept of academic ability. An

example of one representative item is:

How do you rank yourself in your ability to do any
job that you want to do? (see Appendix F)

a. among the best
b. above average

c. average

d. below average

e. among the poorest

Scale analysis was conducted utilizing the derived
data. Items were initially grouped into two categories:

(1) those which appeared to be general i.e. refer-
red to "any" occupation, (such as the example
above) and,

(2) those items which referred to an occupation of
one's interest.

 

76

For example:
How would you rank yourself in ability in comparison
to all others in the occupation of your greatest

interest?

a. among the best
b. above average

c. average
d. below average
among the poorest

As a result of subsequent scale analysis only the items that

scaled were used. Two distinctively separate scales were
derived for use in the measurement of the self—concept of

vocational ability for males and two others, somewhat simi-

lar, were derived for the measurement of the self-concept of

vocational ability for females.
General self-concept of vocational ability—males,

hereafter referred to as SCVA—G was operationally defined

as the sum of scored responses of an individual to a six

item multiple choice scale (see Appendix F). Self-concept

of vocational ability-interest — males, hereafter referred
to as SCVA—I, was operationally defined as the sum of scored

responses of an individual to anorher six item multiple

chOice scale (see Appendix F).
SCVA-G females was Operationally defined as the sum

of scored responses of an individual to a five item multi-
SCVA—I for females was

ple choice scale (see Appendix F).

Operationally defined as the sum of scored responses of an

individual to a seven item multiple choice scale (see

77

Appendix F). Each item in all scales was scored from five
to one with higher self—concepts receiving the higher values.
As the development of the scales involved selecting
items which were, in Guttman's sense "scaleable," high in-
ternal consistency reliability as indexed by the Guttman re-
produceability coefficient is assured by definition. The
reproduceability coefficients of .89 and .88 (males and fe-
males respectively) for the SCVA-G scale and .91 and .90
(males and females respectively) for the SCVA—I scales in-
dicate a rather high consistency in the pattern of responses,

but say nothing of the magnitude of the score for a given

 

response. Consistency in pattern of response would be evi—
dence that the items are related to each other and there-
fore, derived from a uniform content dimension, or, in
Guttman's terminology have "unidimensionality." Guttman
scaling does not permit one to differentiate the relative
contributions of items to the total score; every item by
definition has equal weight.

The Hoyt method of reliability determination was
applied to both scales for the two sexes of the population.
The computed reliability coefficients were .83 for both
males and females on their respective SCVA-G scales and .85
and .84 imales and females respectively) for the SCVA-I
scales. These figures are below the desired .90 level but
this may be the result of the relatively few items in the

respective scales.

78

The coefficient of reproducibility, the correlation
of scale scores with total scores and the Hoyt's analysis
of variance reliability estimates for the four scales are

reported in Table 1.

TABLE 1. Coefficients of reproducibility, Pearson product
moment correlation coefficients of scale scores
with total scores and, Hoyt's analysis of variance
reliability coefficients for self—concept of voca-
tional ability scales, post high school data

M

CoeffiCient of Correlation Hoyt's Analysis

 

Reproducibility of TS w/ss of Variance
Reliability
SCVA-G
Males .89 .951 .837
Females .88 .907 .838
S CVA- I
Males .914 .943 .859
Females .903 .943 .843

 

In addition to the SCVA scales, a "Self Assessment
and a Self Expectation of Ability" for various occupational
levels was solicited. The two items included in the post
high school questionnaire for this purpose offered respond—
ents an opportunity for selection of an occupation from a
list of ranked occupations which they perceived to be come
mensurate with their ability. These two questions were as

follows:

79

1. Of the occupations listed below, which one do
YOU feel is closest to your ability (circle the
number to the left of the occupation).

2. Of the occupations listed below, which one best_
represents the type of jobs YOU EXPECT you can
obtain when your schooling is over (if you are
currently in college) or right now (if you are
not in college).

The response choices for the above two questions were:

1. judge—---—------ ----- physician

2. college professor--——engineer

3. accountant ----------- teacher

4. draftsman ------------ insurance agent

5. bank teller -------- --manufacturing foreman
6. railroad switchman—--construction foreman
7. plumber -------------- retail salesman

8. bus driver ——————————— craneman

9. automobile mechanic-~barber
10. janitor -------------- factory laborer

All occupational levels listed were derived from
Duncan's Socio-Economic Index for all Occupations.l Each
category represents a ten point spread on the scale (i.e.
factory laborer - janitor = 0 - 10, judge - physician =~90
- 100). (An open ended opportunity to answer the same two
questions was also provided. Answers were coded as above.)

Specific internal consistency reliability checks

were not performed on these items. The two general questions

10. D. Duncan. A Socio-Economic Index for all Oc-
cupations. In Occupations and Social StatuS, A. J. Reiss,
ed. (Illinois: The Free Press 1961), pp. 109-161.

 

80

and their open ended alternates (SAO, SAOO, SEO, SEOO)* were
used as descriptive measures and no attempt was made to
identify them as a scale.

A brief examination of the SCVA scales with the two
Self Evaluation questions indicates that a fundamental dif-
ference exists between them as measures of the self-concept.
While the responses to the Self Evaluation questions were
scored against the rank order of occupational socio—economic
status levels, the SCVA scales do not account for occupa-
tions of varying SOCio-economic status levels.

The advantage of the Self Evaluation questions lies
most certainly in the fact that responses were scored using
the definite occupations listed. This decreases the possi-
bility that misinterpretation of the particular occupa-
tional level would occur. On the other hand, since the re-
sponse choices were compressed to within the categories
listed, latitude of choice was restricted. This was found
to be particularly true for females since fewer occupations
listed are commonly thought of as feminine occupations.

The SCVA scales did not have the limitation of par-
ticular occupational levels. Respondents to scale items

were free to answer them regardless of the socio-economic

—*

*SAO -Self assessment of occupational level ability

SAOO-Self assessment of occupational level ability
(open ended question)

SEO ~Self expectation of occupational level ability

SEOO—Self expectation of occupational level ability
(open ended queStion)

81

status level of occupations considered. But the question
might be asked, "Does not the identification of an occupa—
tion make a difference in the way one answers such items?"
Probably. However, this is not inconsistent with the pre-
mise of this study and the theory supporting it. That is,
one's self concept of vocational ability may not be corre-
lated with the particular socio-economic status level of an
occupation. As described in Chapter III, an individual may
exhibit a measured high self-concept of his vocational
ability to be a truck driver (a low SES level occupation)
while another person may exhibit a low self-concept of his
vocational ability to be a lawyer (a high SES level occu-
pation). Stated succinctly, the SCVA is believed to operate
independently from the socio-economic status level of oc-
cupations.

Subsequent analysis deals with the intercorrelations
of data from the SCVA scales with that of the Self Evalua—
tion items and, the items used to measure the perceived
parental, friend and spouse evaluation of vocational abil-
ity. In addition, the relationships between the self-con-

cept of vocational ability and perceived parental and

 

friend evaluations of academic ability and, the self-concept

of academic ability were investigated.

 

82

Section II: The Self-Concept Measures Compared

 

The theoretical orientation upon which this study
is based holds that individuals behave in ways they con-
sider appropriate to themselves. Appropriateness of behav-
ior is defined by each person through the internalization
of the evaluations and expectations which he perceives
others whom he considers important hold of him. According—
ly, the first general hypothesis asserted that perceived
reference group evaluations and the self-concept are
related. Specifically, hypothesis I stated:

H1 An individual's perceptions of the evaluations

of his vocational ability by significant others
(parents, friends, spouses) are associated with
his self-concept of vocational ability.

The analytical procedure for testing this hypothesis
involved the separation of the total population by sex.
Data from the two scales developed for measuring self—con-
cept of vocational ability for each sex (SCVA-I, SCVA-G),
and the Self Evaluation items (SAO, SAOO, SEO, SEOO) were
correlated with measures of perceived parental (PPEV),
friend (PFEV), and spouse (PSEV), evaluation of occupation—
al level ability. These same self-concept measures were
also correlated with perceived parental expectation (PPEx),
perceived friend expectation (PFEx), and perceived Spouse
expectation (PSEx) of occupational level ability. Pearson
product moment correlation coefficients computed between

the above variables for males are shown in Table 2.

83

The Relationship of the SCVA
Scale to the Self Evaluations
of Occupational Level Ability
and Perception of Others of
Occupational Level Ability

 

 

 

 

 

Preceding a discussion of the findings shown in
Tables 2 and 3, it should be noted that all variable "N"s
were not equal. Population respondents did not always se-
lect answers for every item and in some instances the cate-
gory was obviously inappropriate (for example single indiv-
uals could not answer the questions concerning spouse eval—
uations). For every variable other than the SCVA Scales,
the open ended item received less total responses than did
its forced choice counterpart. However, although it is not
shown in the table, the mean scores for all but two of the
open ended items were greater than for the forced choice
items.

The variability of "N"s is likely to have been re-
Sponsible for some of the fluctuation in the resulting cor—
relation coeffiCients. It was observed that where a corre-
lation coeffiCient was significantly greater than zero in
one instance, it may not have been in another. This too,
may be accounted for by a difference in variable number of
responses.

A general perusal of the data presented in Table 2
shows that a dichotomous situation exists. For the most
part, a substantial relationship does exist between the

Self Evaluation variables (SAO, SAOO, SEO, SEOO) and the

84

 

 

 

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86

perceptions and expectations of others. The only exception
occurs in the relationship between both forced choice and
the open ended versions of the self assessment of occupa-
tional level of ability and corresponding verSions of per-
ceived spouse evaluations.

On the other hand, data representing the relation—
ship between the Self-Concept of Vocational Ability Scales
and the perceived evaluation of others shows only three
correlation coefficients which were large enough to be sig-
nificantly greater than zero. These correlation coeffi-
cients, although extremely low, show that a slight relation—
ship may exist between the self—concept of vocational abil—
ity and the forced choice item measuring the perceived
parental evaluation of occupational level ability. In ad—
dition, a low relationship is indicated between the SCVA—G
and the forced choice item measuring the perceived friend
evaluation of occupational level ability. But in general,
it may be concluded that for males there is little rela-
tionship between the data from the SCVA scales and that of
the perceived evaluations of others of occupational level
ability.

Data for females presents primarily the same sort
of information (see Table 3). Correlation coefficients
computed between the Self Evaluation variables (SAO, SAOO,
SEO, SEOO) and the perceived evaluations and expectations

of others of occupational level ability were generally

87

large. Forty three out of forty eight correlation coeffi-
cients were significantly greater than zero, exceptions oc—
curring only among the "spouse" variables. Thus, it may
generally be concluded that a substantial relationship ap-
pears to exist between these variables for females as well
as males.

The correlation coefficients between the SCVA scales
and the perceived evaluation items show that a larger pro-
portion of them are significantly greater than zero for fe—
males than for males. (14 of 24 for females, 3 of 24 for
males) Nine of 14 of the significant correlations are be-

tween the SCVA scales and the gpen ended version of the

 

perceived evaluation/expectation items. Ten of the 14 sig-
nificant correlations were generated by the perceived ex-
pectation items. This gives some indication that females
perceived expectations were more often related to the SCVA
scales than were the females perceived evaluations. In ad—
dition the open ended verSion of the perceived evaluations
may be more appropriate for females than the forced choice
type of question.

The above data indicates that for females some re-
lationship may exist between the SCVA scales data and that
of the perceived evaluations of others of occupational level
ability. This conclusion however, does not take into ac-
count the generally large difference between correlation

coefficients listed for the SCVA scales and the perceived

88

evaluation items and, those indicated for the Self Evalua—
tion items. Correlation coefficients for the SCVA scales,
even though some were significantly greater than zero, were
all extremely low- Like males it may also be concluded for
females that apparently very little relationship exists be—
tween the SCVA scales and the perceived evaluations of
others of occupational level ability.

This finding is not surprising nor totally unex-
pected. It has been discussed previously that the SCVA
scales and the Self Evaluation items differ extensively,
particularly in their focus upon occupations. The Self
Evaluation items refer the respondent to a particular occu-
pation and its correSponding socio—economic status level.
Hence, they simply indicate how an individual rates himself
among a hierarchy of ranked occupations.

The SCVA scales on the other hand, are not based

upon a ranking among occupations. Briefly, it is conceived
that the SCVA fluctuates within occupations--not between.
An individual might possess a high, or low SCVA irrespective
of the socio-economic status level of an occupation. There-
fore the Self Evaluation items apparently are not measuring
the same concept as the SCVA scales.

The data represented by the correlation coefficients
in Tables 2 and 3 are based upon measurements of perceptions
of evaluation and expectations of others by items similar in

design to those utilized in measuring the Self Evaluation of

89

occupational level ability. In fact, only the person named
differed within the items (self, parent, friend, or spouse).
Thus it would not be unusual to expect a rather high corre-
lation among these variables. Conversely, since the items
used to measure the perceived evaluations were closely akin
to the Self Evaluation items, it follows that they were also
quite dissimilar to the SCVA scales. Therefore, the rather
low relationship displayed between the SCVA and our measures
of the perception of the evaluations of others of occupa-
tional level ability for both males and females cannot be
unexpected.

SummariZing, the data from items used to identify
the Self Evaluation of occupational level ability were for
the most part highly correlated With the data derived from
the items used to measure the perceived evaluations and ex-
pectations of others of occupational level ability. In so
far as the Self Evaluation of occupational level ability
may be interpreted as a measure of the vocational self-con-
cept, hypothesis I is sustained. On the other hand, little
relationship was found between the self-concept of voca-
tional ability as measured by the SCVA scales and, the per-
ceived evaluations of others of occupational level ability,
thereby suggesting rejection of hypothesis II.

Unfortunately, items to measure the perceived eval-
uations of others of vocational ability similar to the SCVA

scale items were not included in the post high school

9O

questionnaire. The fact that data from the Self Evaluation
items were highly correlated with data from their perceived
evaluation counterparts while the SCVA scales were not, in-
dicates the importance of utilizing comparable measuring
techniques when conducting scientific analysis.
Relationship of the SCVA to the

SCAA and to PercEIVed Evaluation
of Others offiAcademic Ability

 

 

 

In addition to the investigation of the SCVA scales
and their relationship to the Self Evaluation and perceived
evaluations presented above, this research offered further
opportunities to compare the self—concept of vocational
ability construct with that of the self-concept of academic
ability—-post high school.

Procedures used for comparing the two constructs
consisted of computing Pearson product moment correlations
between:

(1) the two self—concept of vocational ability
scales and the self—concept of academic ability post high
school scale,

(2) the two self-concept of vocational ability
scales and the perceived parental evaluation of academic
ability scale,

(3) the two self-concept scales and the perceived
friend evaluation of academic ability scale,

(4) the self-concept of academic ability--post high

91

school scale and the perceived parental evaluation of aca-
demic ability scale,

(5) the self-concept of academic ability and the
perceived friend evaluation of academic ability scale.

For a more comprehensive analysis the population
was subdivided into three separate groupings and by sex.
These three groupings included:

(1) College (four year students

(2) College (two year or less students)

(3) Non—college individuals.

This delineation was made in order to more clearly investi-
gate the magnitude of relationship and differences of the
two self-concept constructs among the three groupings. For
all comparisons, correlation coefficients for males and fe-
males including tests of significance are presented in
Table 4.

A multiplicity of interesting results are reported
in Table 4. These general findings concerning the several
categories are summarized and interpreted in the following
paragraphs.

The correlation coefficients between the Self-Con—
cept of Vocational Ability scale-general and the Self-Con-

cept of Vocational Ability scale-interests were high and

 

statistically significant for all groupings. However, it
should be noted that the correlation coefficient decreases

from four year college students (.90) for males and females

\

92

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TABLE 4. Pearson product moment correlation matrix between
self-concept of vocational ability, self-concept
of academic ability, perceived parental and friend
evaluation of academic ability-—post high school

M

Variables SCVA-G SCVA-I PPEV PFEV

Females

College 4 yr. N 55

SCVA-G --- . 90* . 15 . 24

SCVA-I .90* --- .10 .23

SCAA—PH .34* .21 .72* .74*

College 2 yr. N 98

SCVA-G -—- .83* .14 .34*

SCVA-I .83* --- .26* .38*

Non-college N 69

SCVA-G --- .79* .22 .24*

SCVA-'I 079* ‘-- .22 .23

Males

College 4 yr. N 54

SCVA-G --- .90* .78* .77*

SCVA-I 090* --_ 085* 080*

SCAA-PH .79* .80* .85* .89*

College 2 yr. N 71

SCVA-G --- 083* 034* .21

SCVA—I .83* --- .37* .29

SCAA-PH .32* .36* .80* .77*

Non-college N 14

SCVA—I .68* --- .52 .50

SCAA-PH .66* .52* .76* .64*

 

level.

*Correlation

significant beyond the point > .05

93

to lows of (.79) and (.68) for males and females respec—
tively in the non-college grouping.

This data indicates that a rather strong relation—
ship exists between the two Self—Concept of Vocational
Ability scales, particularly for four year college students.
The lower correlation for non-college female students (even
though a definite relationship appears to exist) may explain
some of the differences which occurred between these two
scales shown in Table 3.

The relationship of the two Self—Concept of Voca—
tional Ability scales to the self—concept of academic abil—
ity-~post high school varied among the groupings. For
males, all correlations between the variables were signifi-
cantly greater than zero and ranged from a high correlation
of .80 for college students to a low of .32 for two year
college students. These findings would indicate that ap-
parently male college students relate scholastic ability to
vocational ability. To believe that they can do well
in college may mean to this group of individuals that they
can also do well in most any vocation.

The data indicating a rather close relationship be-
tween the two self-concept construct measures for non-
college males is somewhat surprising. Closer analysis in-
dicates that the rather high correlations may in fact have
been caused by the low number of individuals who fell into

this category (14).

94

The lowest correlation coefficient between the two
variables was for males who were identified as those in a
collegiate program of two years or less. This may have oc-
curred because (a) many who were enrolled in short courses,
one year or less training programs, or had at one time or
another participated in any type of post high school train-
ing were included in this grouping or, (b) since this is a
"catch all" category, the number (N = 71) was larger than
the other two male groupings which may have caused result-
ing correlation coefficients to be lower.

The correlation coefficients between the SCVA scales
and the SCAA scale for females were low. Except for the
relatively low correlation coefficients of .34 for women
college students, all others were statistically nonsignifi-
cant. These findings indicate that for females, only a
slight.relationship exists between the self—concept of vo-
cational ability and the self-concept of academic ability.
This low relationship may be explained by the common concep-
tion that vocational competence may be irrelevant for many
women whose main occupation may be as a homemaker. More-
over, many occupations such as clerks, typists, tellers,
commonly filled by female workers require little further
schooling beyond high school. Thus, they may perceive
academic ability and vocational ability as two quite dif-

ferent abilities.

95

The correlation coefficients computed between the
self-concept of academic ability and both perceived parental
evaluations and perceived friend evaluations of academic
ability were significantly greater than zero in all in—
stances. This information provides strong support for the
theorized position of this study and previous research

2 That is, perceived

completed by Brookover and associates.
evaluations of academic ability of others are associated
with the self-concept of academic ability.

A relationship between the self-concept of voca—
tional ability and the perceived evaluations of academic
ability was not expected. However, the data from Table 4
gives support to that hypothesis among college males. Cor-
relation coefficients for all other categories of individ-
uals were low and in most instances not significantly great—
er than zero.

The explanation for the relationship between these
two variables for college males is similar to that given
for the relationship between the SCVA and SCAA. Apparently
male college students perceive a strong relationship be-
tween vocational and academic ability skills. Therefore,
for them, it would be somewhat surprising if the relation-

ship between the self-concept of vocational ability and

perceived evaluation of others of academic ability did not

 

2Brookover, loc. cit.

96

exist. Since the SCAA is associated with the perceived
evaluation of others, and also, the SCAA is associated with
the SCVA for this grouping, then the SCVA must also be asso-
ciated with the perceived evaluations of academic ability.

In summary, the above information shows that:

(l) The SCVA-I is closely associated with the
SCVA—G.

(2) The relationship of the self—concept of voca-
tional ability to the self-concept of academic ability is
highest for four year college males. The magnitude of this
relationship decreases for other males but the correlation
coefficient was always found to be significantly greater
than zero.

(3) A low but statistically significant relation-
ship was found for four year college females between the
SCVA—G scale and the SCAA. All other correlations between
the two self-concept construct variables for females were
low and not significantly greater than zero.

(4) The relationship of the SCVA to the perceived
evaluation of others of academic ability generally followed
the SCVA-SCAA relationship pattern.

In conclusion it is apprOpriate to indicate that
both similarities and differences were found between the
academic and vocational self-concept scales, depending upon
the group tested. Data for males indicated a closer rela-

tionship between the two self-concept constructs than was

97

indicated for females. And, greater relationships were re—
ported for the two constructs by four year college students
than the other groups.

Section III: Vocational and Academic
Significant Others

 

The identification of the others with whom an in-
dividual associates in a significant manner is relevant in l
a social psychological analysis of human behavior. Previ-
ous research had indicated that parents, more than any other
category of persons, were identified as both "important in

their lives" and "concerned" about how well they (the stud-

ents) did in school. Since the primary concern of the pres-

 

ent investigation was an understanding of the self-concept
of vocational ability, comparisons between academic and
yocational significant others were appropriate.
Proportions of those Names as
Significant Others

In order to analyze the data concerning significant
others, the number and percentages of individuals who named
at least one person from each of the categories of signifi-
cant others as being concerned about their academic and
vocational choice were computed. These data, as shown in
Table 5 shows that parents were named more often than all
other categories of significant others by both sexes in re-

sponse to the question asking individuals to identify who

98

 

 

 

 

TABLE 5. Percentage of post high school individuals who
named at least one person from each of the follow-
ing categories of significant others as being con—
cerned with academic achievement and vocational
choice N = 138 Males; 220 Females

=======1 ”

Significant Academic Achieve- Vocational

Other ment Choice
Number Percent Number Percent
Parent(s) Males 105 87 88 80
Females 185 93 143 71

Spouse or Males 26 21 18 16

Fiancé Females 76 38 93 46

Relatives Males 45 37 26 23

Females 95 48 71 35

Friend(s) Males 33 27 29 26

Females 66 33 56 28

High School Males 16 13 15 14

Personnel Females 27 14 21 10

College Teacher Males 14 12 11 10

or Professor Females 17 8 15 7

Employer or Males 3 2 17 15

Supervisor Females 9 5 22 ll

Co-Worker Males 0 0 2 2

Females 0 0 4 2

Other Adults Males 8 7 9 8

Females 15 8 l7 8
No Answer or Males 17* 14 28* 25
Self Females 20* 10 19* 9

 

*Not included in calculations

is "concerned about how well you do in school."

The parent

category totaled 87 percent and 93 percent for males and

females respectively (of all significant others named).

99

Similarly, parents were named by more individuals in answer
to the question of "whose judgment about your occupational
choice you value" than any other category of significant
others. Percentages equaled 83 percent and 71 percent re-
spectively for males and females.

The other categories of significant others were
listed less often by both sexes. For clarity of presenta-
tion, data pertaining to the ranking of the t0p four cate-
gories of those named as vocational and academic signifi-
cant others is presented in Table 6.

TABLE 6. Categories of academic and vocational significant

others ranked in order of percentage of times
named by post high school individuals

 

Males Females
Rank Academic Vocational Academic Vocational
Category % Category % Category % Category %

 

 

 

lst Parents 87 Parents 80 Parents .93 Parents 71

2nd Relatives 37 Friends 26 Relatives 48 Spouse & 46
Fiancé

3rd Friends 27 Relatives 23 Spouse & 38 Relatives 35
Fiancé

4th Spouse & 21 Spouse & 16 Friends 33 Friends 28
Fiancé Fiancé

From Table 6 it can easily be seen that no differ-
ences occurred between the first and last ranked categories
of academic or vocational significant others for each sex.

Parents as indicated before, were named first in all areas.

100

Spouses were listed last by males while friends were listed
last by females. Relatives were ranked next to parents as
academic significant others for both males and females.
When comparing the 2nd and 3rd ranked categories, it can be
seen that each sex merely reversed their academic and voca-
tional significant others ranking.

All the above data indicates that beyond the par—
ental category males and females differ in their listing of
individuals for particular significant other categories. At
first glance it might appear that spouses are less important
to male decision making then female. (This claim may be
unrealistic however, since apparently a much larger propor-
tion of females are married than males.) Friends apparent-
ly are less important than one might normally suspect for
females, and relatives may play a more important role in
academic decision making than in vocational matters. The
overwhelming proportion of those who name parents as sig-
nificant others indicates the strong influence that parents
may have, even two years post high school on academic as
well as vocational decision making.

Previous research reported by Brookover and asso—

3

ciates had indicated no significant change had occurred in

the proportion of parents named as significant others con-

cerned with academic achievement from grades eight through

3Brookover, Ibid.

101

twelve for either sex. Therefore additional analysis of
significant others data was undertaken in an effort to as-
certain whether a statistically significant change had oc-
curred between twelfth grade and two years post high school
in the prOportions of parents named as academic significant
others. The present analysis consisted of a test of Signi-
ficance between proportions for uncorrelated data of males
and females listing parents as academic significant others
in grade twelve and two years post high school. Data was
identified as shown in Table 7.

TABLE 7. Percentage of males and females listing parents

as academic significant others in grade twelve
and two years post high school

 

 

—_—-:

Twelfth Grade Percent Two Years Post High
School Percent

 

 

Males 96 87
Females 97 93
Z Scores Males Z 2.57 p < .05

Females Z 1.90 Not Significant
The ratio of the difference between the two uncor-
related proportions was 2.57 (significant beyond the .05
level) for males and 1.90 (not significant) for females.
It may therefore be concluded that the proportion of males
naming parents as academic significant others in twelfth

grade differed significantly from that proportion naming

102

parents as academic significant others two years post high
school. Conversely, support was not given to a statistical
difference between proportions of females naming parents as
academic significant others in the twelfth grade as opposed
to two year post high school.

Conclusions regarding these changes should not be
hastily made. Although it is interesting to note a begin-
ning decrease in the proportion of parents listed as aca-
demic significant others, it should be remembered that ac-
cording to the data reported herein, the parent category
far out ranks all other categories of significant others in
terms of academic achievement.

Proportions of those Named First
as Significant Others 4*

 

 

In addition to the information concerning the total
proportion of persons named as academic and vocational sig-
nificant others, the present study produced data pertaining
to the identification of those significant others named
3.3.3 in order of importance. These data were collected in
order to determine if the proportion of individuals named
first as a category of significant others would be unlike
that proportion of individuals who were named at all.

These data also made possible a comparison of the
proportions of parents named first as academic significant
others with those named first as vocational significant

others. This is particularly relevant when taking into

103

account the data which was previously presented. The fol-
lowing hypothesis was therefore presented and tested in
this regard:
H2 The proportion of individuals naming parents
fi£§£_in importance concerning their careers
Will be less than those naming parents first
in importance of how well they do in SCHESIT
The two proportions referred to in this hypothesis
were non—independent. That is, those individuals naming
persons as academic significant others were the same in-
dividuals as those asked to name vocational significant
others. Thus in this regard, the resulting data was non—
independent and correlated. Complete data giving the number
and prOportion of significant others named by post high
school individuals figs; as being concerned with academic
achievement and vocational choice is shown in Table 8.
Data from Table 8 shows parents as highest in all
categories with 66 and 56 percent of males and females re-
spectively naming parents first as academic significant
others. Percentages of males and females naming parents
figgg as vocational significant others were 57 and 43 re-
spectively.
The spouse or fiancé as a category of significant
others was second to the parents category of "others" named
£i£§5_by both sexes as concerned with academic achievement

and vocational choice. Proportions of male individuals

listing spouses or fiancé's first as significant others

104

 

 

 

 

TABLE 8. Number and proportion of significant others first
named by post high school individuals as being
concerned with academic achievement and vocation-
al choice

N = 112 Males N = 102 Males

Significant 192 Females 189 Females

Others Sex Academic
Achievement Vocational Choice
Number Percentage Number Percentage
Parent(s) Male 74 66 59 57
Female 106 56 84 43

Spouse or Male l8 16 16 16

Fiancé Female 54 28 67 35

Friends Male 11 9 11 11

Female 10 5 9 5

Relatives Male 2 2 2 2

Female 6 3 7 4

High School Male 4 4 3 3

Personnel Female 9 5 5 4

College Teacher Male 3 3 5 5

or Professor Female 4 2 3 2

Employer or Male 0 0 5 5

Supervisor Female 2 l 14 7

Co—Worker Male 0 0 0 0

Female 0 0 0 0

Other Adults Male 0 0 2 2

Female 1 .5 2 1
No Answer or Male 26* -- 36* —-
Self Female 28* -- 31* --

 

*Not included in calculations

totaled 16 percent for both vocational and academic "others."

Females, more than males, choose the category of spouses or

105

fiancés as significant others £££§E' Percentages of 28 and
35 were reported for academic and vocational spouse/fiance
significant others respectively for females.

Friends, as a category of academic significant
others, was third highest in proportion of times listed
figs; by both males and females at 9 and 5 percent respec—
tively. Similar data was found for friends listed EEEEE as
vocational significant others for males at 11 percent. Fe-
males differed however, listing as £$£§E employers or super—
visors third highest in all categories of vocational signi—
ficant others.

Data in Table 8 differs in several categories of
significant others from that reported in Table 5. For ex-
ample in Table 5, the category of academic significant
others, other relatives (not spouses), was the second high—
est listed with percentages of 37 and 48 for males and fe—
males respectively. The spouse category, which was ranked
in second place in Table 8 was listed in Table 5 in third
place as academic significant others for females at 38 per-
cent and, fourth for males as bg£h_academic and vocational
significant others.

From a general perusal of the data in Table 8, it
will be noted that more Specific descriptive information
is presented than that presented in Table 5. In addition,
it can be seen that individuals who named parents fi£§E_as

concerned about their academic achievement appears to be

106

greater in proportion than those who name parents figgt as
concerned with their vocational choice.

However, in order to more directly test this obser-
vation, McNamar's technique for testing the difference be-
tween proportions for correlated data was utilized for

4

analysis. The specific data used in the analysis is pre-

sented in Table 9.
TABLE 9. Number and proportion of males and females naming

parents first as vocational and academic signifi-
cant others

 

 

 

Vocational Academic
Number Proportion NumBer Proportion Significance

 

 

Males 59 57 74 66 3.12

N
ll

Females 84 43 106 56 Z 3.39

 

Level of Significance P > .01 level.

 

Z scores were found to be significant beyond the
.01 level for both males and females. The results of the
statistical tests shown in the table presents evidence of
support for the research hypothesis. Consequently, it may
generally be concluded that the proportions of individuals,
both male and female, who name parents first in importance

concerning their vocational career is less than the

 

4Quinn McNamar, Psychological Statistics. (New
York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc. 1963), pp. 52—56.

107

proportion who name parents first in importance of how well
they do in school.

In addition to the findings reported above it was
noted that the proportion of males who name parents first
as both vocational and academic significant others is great-
er than the proportion of females who name parents first.
Evidently two year post high school males will be more like-
ly than females to name parents first as significant others.

Summarizing all the data presented in this section,
the more important findings were:

(1) Parents are the most frequently listed cate-
gory of significant others in terms of academic endeavors
and vocational careers by two year post high school males
and females.

(2) The proportion of parents listed by males two
year post high school as academic significant others ap—
pears to be significantly less than the proportion listed
by males while in the twelfth grade. No differences were
found for females.

(3) The proportion of males and females who list
parents first as academic significant others is greater
than the proportion of males and females who list parents
35313 as vocational significant others.

(4) The proportion of males listing parents first
is greater than the proportion of females listing parents

first as both academic and vocational significant others.

108

(5) Spouses/fiance as a category of significant
others is listed in greater proportion by females than
males. In addition however, when proportions of individuals
named first as significant others are computed, the spouse/
fiancé category proportion is reported second only to par-
ents for ssts males and females.

(6) All categories of significant others, other
than parents, drOpped sharply in proportion of times named
first, when compared to the proportions of significant
others named at all.

Section IV: The SCVA in Relation to Factors
Affécting Vocational Development

 

 

The social environment in which interaction between
individuals takes place has been reported as an important

5 Since this

factor influenCing growth and develOpment.
study was designed to assess a vocational self-concept,
socio-economic status levels of those listed first by both
sexes as the significant others concerned with their careers
was obtained. The third hypothesis was directed toward an
investigation of the relationship of the socio-economic
status of significant others and the self-concept of voca-
tional ability:

H3 There is no relationship between socio-economic

status of significant others concerned with

5Caplow, loc. cit.

109
career development and an individual‘s level of
self-concept of vocational ability.

The analytical procedure for testing this hypothesis
consisted of computation of Pearson product moment correla-
tions between the socio-economic status levels of vocational
significant others and both Self Concept of Vocational Abil-
ity scales for each sex. Correlation coefficients were ex-
tremely low (.08 or less) in every instance.

It was clear from the above data that support for
hypothesis three was warranted. Thus it was concluded that
self-concepts of vocational ability are sst_associated with
the socio-economic status of significant others who were
named first by individuals of both sexes as being concerned
about their vocational choice.

The importance of parents as a category of signifi—
cant others was illustrated extensively in the presentation
of data surrounding hypothesis two. In addition, it is
commonly believed that the socio-economic environment in
which one lives during his developing years effects his vo—
cational outlook.6r7 Further analysis was therefore con-
cerned with the relationship of the socio-economic status
level of parents to the two Self Concept of Vocational

Ability scales.

 

6Clark, loc. cit.

7Weiner & Graves, loc. cit.

 

110

Hypothesis four was stated as follows:

H4 An individual's self-concept of vocational abil-
ity, two years post high school, is associated
with the socio—economic status of his parents
or parental environment measured during his
high school years.

Measures of the socio-economic status levels of
parents were taken during the school years of the popula—
tion grades eight through eleven. The data were analyzed
by computing the Pearson product moment correlations between
the socio-economic status levels of parents measured at each
of the four grade levels and, the two Self Concept of Voca-
tional Ability scales for both sexes.

Correlation coefficients were extremely low ranging
from a .11 to .02 for females and .02 to .04 for males.
None of the correlations were statistically significant and
therefore the research hypothesis was not supported. Con-
sequently, it was concluded that the self-concept of voca—
tional ability level of individuals, both males and fe-
males, is not associated in a statistically measurable way
with the socio—economic status level of their parents.
This finding lends support to the contention that the self-
concept of vocational ability is not dependent upon the
particular socio-economic status level of occupations.

The socio-economic status levels of parents had
been derived in the above analysis as a rank ordering of

their occupations among all others. If the occupational

interests of individuals were ranked according to this same

111

type of scale, what relationship would occur between that

of the socio-economic status level of an individual's occu-

pational interest and his self-concept of vocational abil-

ity?

It was therefore hypothesized:

H5 There is no relationship between the self-con-
cept of vocational ability and an individual's
socio-economic level of occupational interest.

The statistical data and test results of this hy-

pothesis are presented in Table 10.

TABLE 10. Pearson product moment correlation coefficients
between the self-concept of vocational ability
and socio-economic level of occupational inter-
est for post high school individuals for 222 fe-

males and 133 males

 

 

‘ J
Level of Level of
Males Signifi- Femalesl Signifi-
cance cance
Mean Socio-Economic
Level of Occupational
Interest 70 61
Correlation Coeffi-
Cient with SCVA-I .06 NS .21 .002
Correlation Coeffi—
cient with SCVA-G .06 NS .16 .002

 

lFemale r's are significant beyond the .01 level.

In an analysis of the data, the pOpulation was div-

.1

ided by male and female and correlations computed for each

sex between the two Self Concept of Vocational Ability

112

scales and occupational interest. Results of the analysis
indicate a difference between males and females on the two
variables.

The male category recorded very low non-significant
correlation coefficients between the self—concept of voca-
tional ability levels and occupational interests (.06 SCVA-
I and .06 SCVA—G). Data on females, on the other hand,
showed correlation coefficients which, although low, were
significantly larger than zero (.21, SCVA-I; .16, SCVA-G).
Both correlation coefficients for females fell beyond the
.01 level of significance.

Only partial support was given therefore to the
hypothesis of no relationship between occupational interests
and self-concepts of vocational ability. Correlation coeffi-
cients differed for the two sexes of the population. Males
data supported the hypothesis of no relationship between
the self-concept of vocational ability and occupational in—
terests. Conversely, female data indicated a low correla-
tion but statistically significant relationship between
SCVA and occupational interests. These results do not show
a particularly strong relationship between occupational in-
terests and the SCVA. However, the method which was util-
ized for measuring occupational interests might be ques-
tioned, particularly since it was based upon a socio-econom-
ic status criterion. Further research may be necessary be—

fore the implications of this relationship become clear.

113

In a general study of occupational interests the
focus often centers upon an analysis of occupational aspir-
ations and expectations/plans. Hypothesis six, seven and
eight which follow were designed to test the relationships
of aspirations with expectations and with the self-concept
of vocational ability. Hypothesis six was stated as fol-
lows:

H6 The relationship of occupational aspirations to
expectations (or plans) increases over time at
each grade level through post high school.

The analytical procedure for testing this hypothesis
involved two steps. The first was to describe statistically
the relationship of occupational aSpiration to occupational
eXpectation at each grade level, eight through post high
school, using nominal data. The second step was to illus—
trate the statistical results in such a manner that longi-
tudinal relationships could be analyzed.

Six chi-squares for aspirations/expectations were

calculated, one for each grade level and post high school,

in five by five tables (see Appendix G).* The resulting

 

*Chi-squares were originally computed and plotted
for each grade level by sex and by vocational-non vocation-
al groupings. Resulting patterns were varied and inconclu-
sive. In addition, becuase the analysis consisted of using
a nine by nine chi-square table and the Ns were compara-
tively low, many blanks occurred. This may have been re—
SponSible for some of the discrepancy in the findings.
Therefore, it was recommended that one chi-square be com-
puted for each grade level utilizing data from the entire
population.

114

chi-squares were then plotted on a graph using chi-square
scores as the values on the ordinate axis and grade level
as the values along the abscissa (see Figure l).

Chi—square values ranged from a low of 380.9 for
indiViduals when they were in the tenth grade to a high of
537.5 when they were two years post high school. All chi-
square results were extremely high and well above the ori-
tical value for statistical significance. Thus the null
hypothesis of no relationship between the variables aspir-
ation and expectation was rejected.

In so far as chi—square values may be interpreted

 

as indicating degree of relationship, two distinct trends
may be discerned from Figure l. The chi-square value of
477.8 at the eighth grade is higher than the 450.8 chi-
square value found at the ninth grade. The tenth grade is
reported still lower at 380.9. Thus, the first trend is
one of decreasing relationship between occupational aspir-
ations and occupational expectations.

The second trend is in the OppOSlte direction. Be-
ginning with the low chi—square value at the tenth grade of
380.9, the eleventh grade chi—square value is increased
slightly to 388.8, followed by an increase to a 472.6 chi-
square value at grade twelve and the high chi-square value
of 537.5 at two years post high school. Interpreting these
Chi-square values as before, it may be noted that the rela—

tionship of occupational aspirations to expectations

llS

 

 

550 s
537.5
525 a
500 1
477.8
475 4
472.6
450 — ‘\6SO.8
425 H
400 —
375 i 380.9 383.3
I HP I 7 1
8 9 10 11 12 post high
school
Grade Level
All X2 significant beyond the .05 level.
Critical value for chi-squares at .05 = 26.296

Figure l.—-The relationship of occupational aspirations
to expectations longitudinally (grade eight through two
years post high school) as described statistically by chi-
square values for males and females.

116

increases very slightly between grades ten and eleven, in-
creases markedly at grade twelve and continues to increase
to two years post high school.

Summarizing from the above chi-square information,
only partial support can be given to hypothesis six. Evi-
dence presented indicates a decrease in relationship of
occupational aspirations to occupational expectations from
grade eight to ten, therefore not supporting the research
hypothesis. Conversely, support may be claimed for the
hypothesis of an increase in the relationship of occupation-
al aspirations to expectations between grades ten to two
years post high school.

Recognizing the limitations of this method of anal-
ysis, one might interpret these findings as indicating that
when in the eighth grade individuals have a close associa-
tion between their occupational aspirations and expecta-
tions. This may possibly occur because at this age they

have not been exposed or recognize the great diversity of

occupations available. By grade ten and coupled by the un-

certainty of puberty, a greater diversity between aspira-

tion and expectation is found. After grade eleven and con-

tinuing through post high school, individuals may become

more stabilized in their thinking, begin ruling out many of

the occupational alternatives, and occupational aspirations

and expectations begin to converge.

117

In an extension of the investigation discussed
above and to investigate the relationship between occupa-
tional aspirations, expectations and the self-concept of
vocational ability further analysis was needed. In his
dissertation, Sandeen reported that the self-concept of
academic ability was highly correlated to a students aspir—
ation for college.8 Therefore it was further hypothesized
that:

H7 The relationship of self-concept of vocational
ability to occupational aspirations is greater
than the relationship of self-concept of voca-
tional ability to occupational expectations/
plans.

Analytical procedures for the analysis of this hy-
pothesis involved the computation of Pearson product moment
correlation coefficients between the variables derived from
post high school data. Occupational aspiration and expec-
tatiOns scores were based upon the ordinal scale by Duncan.
Specific data and tests of significance are presented in
Table 11.

Only tentative support for hypothesis seven was
generated by the data presented in Table 11. Correlations
were low between all variables except occupational aspira-
tions with expectations. The correlation coefficients of

.63 and .42 indicated a statistically significant relation-

ship between occupational aspirations and expectations for

8Sandeen, loc. cit.

118

 

 

 

 

TABLE 11. Pearson product moment correlations between self-
concept of vocational ability, occupational as-
pirations and occupational expectations for 139
males and 222 females two years post high school
“
Occupational
_ Aspiration ‘_Expectation
Corr. Level of Corr. Level of
Mean S.D. Coef. Signifi- Coef. Signifi-
cance cance
Males
Occupational 64.11 27.2
Aspiration .63 .0005
Occupational 56.53 29.8
Expectation
SCVA-G 23.92 3.7 .009 NS .024 NS
SCVA—I 25.26 306 o03 NS .027 NS
Females
Occupational 57.85 21.8
Aspiration .42 .0005
Occupational 51.48 21.8
Expectation
SCVA-G 18.87 3.1 .139 .039 .006 NS
SCVA-I 27.12 4.4 .127 .054 .036 NS

 

both males and females respectively.

that the correlation coefficient for females is

Observe, however,

.21 points

less than that for males indicating a variation of strength

of relationships between the two variables for the two sexes.

Correlation coefficients of occupational aSpira-

tions and expectations with the self-concept of vocational

119

ability scales were nearly non-existent for males. Data
for females presented slightly different results. Although
correlation coefficients between occupational aspirations
and the Self Concept of Vocational Ability scales were very
low, these correlations were reported as statistically Sig-
nificant. Data for females, as with males, indicated no
statistically Significant correlations between occupational
expectation and the Self-Concept of Vocational Ability
scales.

In general, for males no support for hypothesis
seven is warranted and thus, apparently no measurable rela—
tionship exists between the self—concept of vocational
ability and either occupational aspirations or expectations.
Tentative support is warranted for hypothesis seven since
data for females indicates a relationship does exist be-
tween their self—concept of vocational ability and occupa-
tional aspirations. However, no relationship exists be-
tween self-concept of vocational ability and occupational
expectations.

The correlation coeffiCients between occupational
aSpirations and expectations is higher for males than for
females indicating a greater disparity for females between
what they would aspire to do occupationally and what they
expect to do.

Earlier in this report the question was posed, "Do

those individuals who register consistent occupational

120

aspirations have a higher self-concept of vocational abil-
ity than those who are less consistent?" Hypothesis eight
was then stated as follows:

H8 Consistency of occupational aspirations over
time is associated With higher levels of self-
concept of vocational ability.

The procedures employed to analyze the data per-
tinent to the testing of this hypothesis were rather exten—
sive. As With the analysis of hypothesis six, only nominal
data were available covering the six periods of data collec-
tion. One of nine occupational aspiration categories were
offered at each instance of data collection.

Consistency of occupational aspirations for each in-
dividual was determined by summing the occupational aspira-
tion category having the highest frequency of responses over
the Six periods of testing and then subtracting the number
of times that person changed over that same time. Occupa—
tional aspiration conSistency scores ranged from -4 to +6.

In order to test this hypothesis two groups were
derived from the pOpulation. Individuals whose occupation-
al aspiration consistency scores ranked in the tOp 25 per-
cent of the population were deSignated as the high consist-
ency group. Those whose consistency scores ranked in the
lower 25 percent of the pOpulation were designated as the
lower consistency groups.

Analysis proceeded by making an assessment of the

mean scores of self-concept of vocational ability for the

121

two groups and computing a statistical test of the differ-
ence between these means. Data and tests of significance

are presented in Table 12.

TABLE 12. Means and standard deviations of self-concept of
vocational ability scores for 49 males and 72 fe—
males classified in high and low occupational
aspiration consistency groups

1 r
1 1

 

 

 

 

Self-Concept High Consist- Low Consist— Level
of Vocational ency Group engy Grotp T Ratio of
Ability Male N=21 Male N=28 Sign.
Female N=39 Female N=33
Mean S.D. Mean S.D.
SCVA-I
Males 26.1 2.54 25.7 2.89 .4428 NS
Females 28.35 3.38 27.1 3.43 1.4590 NS
SCVA-G
Males 24.6 3.18 24.5 3.01 .1855 NS
Females 19.6 2.64 18.6 2.11 .0881 NS

 

From Table 12 it can easily be seen that no support
for hypothesis eight is justified. Although in every case,
mean SCVA scores for the high occupational aspiration con-
sistency group were higher than the low consistency group,
they were not different enough to be statistically signi-
ficant. The data provides no reason to believe that those
who are consistent in their occupational aspirations will
have any different self-concept of vocational ability than

those who are inconsistent. In summary, it appears that

122

the self-concept of vocational ability is not associated
with consistency of occupational aSpiration.

From the analysis of aspirational consistency and
its relation to the self-concept of vocational ability, the
investigation next turned to an analysis of the relation-
ship of the self-concept of vocational ability for particu-
lar subgroupings of the population. It is not uncommon for
students who have enrolled in high school vocational educa—
tion courses to be labeled as those having lower mental
abilities. The question then becomes, "How does the self—
concept of vocational ability of this group of individuals
compare with other non—vocational students?" Vocational
and non-vocational groupings of individuals were therefore
identified in order to test the following hypothesis:

H9 The self—concept of vocational ability of in-
dividuals who enrolled in vocational courses
while in high school will be equal to that of
those indiViduals who pursued a non-vocational
curriculum.

The analytical procedure for testing this hypothesis
involved the assessment of mean differences in self-concept
of vocational ability scores for both vocational and non-
vocational groups. In addition, tests of the mean differ-
ences in the self—concept of academic ability scores for
the two groups were also computed. Relevant data and the
tests of significance are presented in Table 13.

The results of the t tests shown in Table 13 indi—

cate support for hypothesis nine. It should be noted that

123

TABLE 13. Means and standard deviations of self—concept of
vocational and academic ability scores for males
and females for two years post high school di-
chotomized into vocational and non-vocational

groupings

 

 

 

 

 

Self-Concept Vocational Non-Vocational Level
of Ability Males N== 68 Males N = 71 T Ratio of
Scale Females N==l48 Females N = 72 Sign.
Mean S.D. Mean S.D.
SCVA-G
Males 23.84 3.29 24.35 3.07 .94 NS
Females 18.92 2.67 19.30 2.54 1.00 NS
SCVA-I
Males 25.34 3.04 25.55 2.78 .42 NS
Females 27.14 3.65 27.93 3.59 1.50 NS
SCAA-PH
Males 27.13 3.64 28.67 3.72 2.43 p<.016
Females 25.03 4.71 27.07 3.59 3.22 p<.001

for all t tests of differences between means using both
Self-Concept of Vocational Ability scales (SCVA-I or SCVA-G»
no statistical Significance was recorded. This was true
although in all cases reported means for the non-vocational
QIOUp were slightly higher.

Concomitant information presented in Table 13 com—
pares mean scores of vocational and non-vocational students
in terms of their self-concept of academic ability. From
the data presented, it can be seen that significant differ-

ences in self-concept of academic ability occur between

124

the two groups. Self-concept of academic ability scores
for non-vocationally identified individuals were higher
than mean scores for the vocationally identified individ—
uals. The t ratio of the difference between means was 2.43
and 3.22 for males and females respectively. Both t ratios
were Significant beyond the .01 level.

In summary, this research evidence sustains the hy-
pothesis of no Significant differences between the self-con-
cept of vocational ability for vocationally and non-voca-
tionally identified males and females. On the other hand,
it was concluded that students who enrolled in a non-voca—
tional curriculum during high school have a higher self—
concept of academic ability than those who enrolled in a
vocational curriculum.

These findings indicate support for the contention
presented previously in this report. That is, the self-
concept of vocational ability may not be related to parti-
cular levels of occupations. Students who enroll in voca-
tionally oriented courses that may be designed to prepare
them for somewhat lower socio—economic occupations than for
example college graduate occupations, may possess a self-
concept of vocational ability which is equal to any other
group of individuals. In other words, one's self-concept
of vocational ability is not dependent upon the socio-

economic level of his occupation.

125

Previous research has found that a relationship

exists between the self-concept of academic ability and

academic achievement. The findings which indicate a sig-

nificant difference in the self-concept of academic ability

between the vocational and non-vocational groups provide

evidence that they are indeed different in that one respect.

This gives evidence to the statement made above indicating

that students with lower mental abilities are often enrolled

in high school vocational courses.

Conclusion

The major purpose of this chapter was to present
the statistical data and interpretation of the findings
concerning the self—concept of ability scales, the general

questions advanced at the outset of this investigation, and

the nine hypotheses. Data indicated that differences do

exist between the self-concept of academic ability and

self-concept of vocational ability. In addition, empirical

support for hypotheses two, three, and nine was given.
Non support was indicated for hypotheses four, seven, and

eight. Both support and non support was given hypotheses

five and six.

CHAPTER V

SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS

This chapter presents a summary of the study, the

research findings, concluSions and suggestions for further

earch. The chapter organization includes the following

1’8

In

sections: (1} summary of the study, (2) summary of the

findings, (3) conclusion, (4) implications, and (5) recom-

mendations for further study.

M

The major problem of this study centered upon two

concerns. The first was an identification and assessment

of the construct, "self-concept of vocational ability,"

the second was concerned with the relationship of this
construct to other factors said to influence the career

development of individuals.

The problem of this theSis evolved through a crit-
ical review of literature pertaining to the empirical rela-

tionships between the self-concept and vocational chOice/

development. Most of the investigations conducted in this

regard have been focused upon the individual, his inferred

innate abilities and aptitudes, couched Within a framework

126

127
of trait psychology. Some have studied social status,
religion, labor market, education and other factors

race,

relating to career development processes. Those studies

which have approached the self-concept-vocational develop-
.ment arena of investigation have not discussed the origin
of the self-concept particularly as an outgrowth of inter-

action between an individual and others in his soc1a1 en-

Vironment.

The investigation of the self, ideal self, general

self-concept and Other self-concept constructs are numerous

and diverse. A variety of procedures have been utilized in

the definition and measurement of the self-concept. Conse-

quently, the literature left almost entirely to Speculation

the question concerning the development of a vocational

self-concept.

Extensive research concerning the self—concept of
academic ability and its relationship to academic achieve-
ment has been conducted at Michigan State University.
Since the focus of these investigations was upon academic
self—concepts rather than vocational self-concepts, they
did not directly approach the Specific interest of this
study. However, the Michigan State University investiga—
tion had provided a framework for the identification and

measurement of a self—concept. It was upon this basis that

the present study was extended to the identification and

128

assessment of the self-concept of vocational ability within

a social-psychological frame of reference.

The sample for this inveStigation consisted of 361

individuals, 139 males and 222 females. All were Caucasian,

complete School data was available for each of them from

grade eight through high school and two years post high

school. They were residents (or had been during their high

school years) of a midwestern city of approximately 120,000

population.
An orientation based upon the symbolic interaction-

ist theory to human behavior was developed. Nine general

hypotheses were obtained and tested from that theoretical

orientation. Scales designed to measure the self~concept

variable and questionnaire items created to identify the

self evaluation of occupational level ability, the percep-

tions of others of occupational level ability and, the

analysis of significant other categories were develOped

Within this operational frame of reference. The association

of self-concept of vocational ability to self-concept of
academic ability was described among such groupings as vo—

cational and non—vocational students and, college four year,

college two year or less, and non college individuals. The

relationship of the self-concept of vocational ability was

further analyzed in terms of its relationship to other

variables related to vocational development. These variables

129

included vocational interests, aspirations and expectations,

and socio—economic status levels.
In order to measure the self-concept of vocational

ability two methods were utilized in this study. Both

methods were deSigned to measure the self-concept through

the use of a straight forward question and answer approach.

One method, the SCVA scales, was designed after the
Style of items used in studies conducted previously at

Michigan State University by Brookover and associates1 to

measure the self-concept of academic ability. A total of

23 original items were included in the post high school

questionnaire. Through subsequent scale analysis these

items were organized into two separate scales for males and

two others, somewhat Similar, for females. Items which ap-

peared to be focused upon occupational interests were

grouped into an "interest" scale, while other items of a

more general nature were grouped into a "general" scale.

In addition to the SCVA scales, two Self Evaluation

of occupational level ability items were included in the

post high school questionnaire. These items offered re-

Spondents an opportunity for selection of an occupation

from a list of ranked occupations which they perceived to

be commensurate With their ability.

 

lBrookover, loc. cit.

130

Fundamental differences were found to exist between
these two vocational self-concept measures. While the re-
sponses to the Self Evaluation questions were scored against
the rank order of occupational socio-economic status levels,
the SCVA scales were found to operate independently from
the SES level of occupations.

The relatedness of the self-concept of vocational
ability construct to the self—concept of academic ability
'was investigated in answer to questions concerning their
pOSSible similarities and differences. Procedures used for
comparing the two constructs consisted of (l) grouping the
male and female populations into sub-groups of those indiv-
iduals partiCipating in four year college programs, indiv—
iduals participating in two year or less college programs,
and those indiViduals not attending any post high school
institution; and. (2) computing Pearson product moment cor—
relation coeffiCients between the two self-concept con-
struCt scores and the perceived evaluations of others of
academic ability scores.

The theoretical orientation which was the baSis of
this investigation pOSltS that all attitudes, beliefs,
values, and behavior in the individual are consequences of
the individual's aSSOCiation and/or interaction with sig-
nificant other persons. The individual, as viewed by this
orientation, develops definitions of appropriate attitudes,

beliefs, values, and behavior through the internalization

131

of what he perceives as the evaluations and expectations
which others hold of him whom he considers important.

He constantly refers himself to these others, takes on the
attitudes of these others, and looks on himself and judges
and adapts his attitudes, beliefs, values, and behavior in
view of how he perceives these significant others evaluate
him and what they expect of him. This suggests that an in—
dividual's concept of self in terms of his ability to per-
form various vocationally relevant tasks will be derived
Via SOCial interaction with these others.

DraWing upon this theoretical orientation, research

hypotheses were developed as follows:

H1 An indiVidual's perceptions of the evaluations
of his vocational ability by significant others
(parents, friends, spouses) are associated with
his self—concept of vocational ability.

H2 The proportion of individuals naming parents
first in importance of judgments concerning
their careers will be less than those naming
parents first in importance of how well they
do in school.

H3 There is no relationship between socio—economic
status of significant others concerned with
career development and an individual‘s level of
self-concept of vocational ability.

H4 An individual's self—concept of vocational abil-
ity two years post high school is associated
with the socio-economic status of his parents
or parental environment measured during his
high school years.

The analytical procedure for testing hypotheSis

one, three and four involved separating the total pOpula-

tion into male and female groupings and computing Pearson

132

product moment correlation coefficients between the partic—
ular variables under consideration. In each instance cor-
relation coefficients which were reported as statistically
Significant at or beyond the .05 level of significance were
taken as evidence that a relationship does exist between
the two variables.

Hypothesis two involved a somewhat extensive analy-
sis of the vocational and academic significant others.
McNamar's technique for testing the difference between cor-
related proportions was computed in an analysis of the dif-
ference in proportions of vocational and academic signifi—
cant others by sex. In each instance Z scores which were
reported as statistically significant beyond the .05 level
of significance were recognized as evidence of a real dif-
ference between the two correlated proportions. Two tables
were prepared showing (a) the percentage of post high school
indiViduals who named at least one person from each of the
categories of Significant others listed as being concerned
with academic achievement and vocational choice and, (b)
the number and proportion of significant others named first
by post high school individuals as being concerned with
academic achievement and vocational choice.

In order to investigate the relationships of the
self—concept of vocational ability to other vocational de-
velopment variables the following four hypotheses were

tested:

133

H5 There is no relationship between the self-con-
cept of vocational ability and an individual's
socio-economic level of occupational interest.

H6 The relationship of occupational aspirations
to expectations (or plans) increases over time
at each grade level through post high school.

H7 The relationship of self-concept of vocational
ability to occupational aspirations is greater
than the relationship of self-concept of voca—
tional ability to occupational expectations/
plans.

H8 Consistency of occupational aspirations over
time is associated with higher levels of self-
concept of vocational ability.

Three different analytical procedures were used to
test these four hypotheses. Hypotheses five and seven in-
volved the separating of the population into male and female
groupings and computing Pearson product moment correlation
coefficients between the respective variables. As before,
correlation coefficients reported as statistically signifi-
cant beyond the .05 level were admitted as evidence of rela-
tionship between the two variables.

Analytical procedures for testing hypothesis eight
involved determining an occupational aspiration consistency
score for each indiVidual, selecting the individuals from
the top and bottom 25 percent of the population and then
computing a statistical test of the difference between the
means of their composite self-concept of vocational ability
Scores.

Differences of self-concept of vocational ability

levels between individuals identified as vocational students

134

and those identified as non-vocational students while in
high school were investigated in hypothesis nine.

H9 The self-concept of vocational ability of in-
dividuals who enrolled in vocational courses
while in high school will be equal to that of
those individuals who pursued a non-vocational
curriculum.

Analytical procedures for testing this hypothesis
involved dividing the population by sex and into vocational
and non—vocational groupings, then computing the students
t test between the means. A statistical significance level
of .05 or greater was interpreted as indicating a differ-
ence in mean scores between the groups identified. In addi-
tion, a test of difference between means on the Self-Concept
of Academic Ability scale were computed for the vocational

and non—vocational groupings. Results of these statistical

tests were interpreted as described above.

Summary_of Findings

 

The Specific data and statistical tests of hypoth-
eses indicated both support and non support for the various
research hypotheses. In some instances support for a re-
search hypothesis was warranted by the data derived from
one grouping of individuals of the pOpulation and not an-
other. For clarity the summary of findings of this study
will be presented in the same order as the analysis of

Chapter IV.

135

(l) The hypothesized relationship between perceived
evaluation of parents, friends and spouses and the self-
concept of vocational ability was only partially supported.
A substantial relationship was found to exist between the
Self Evaluation variables and the perceptions of others of
the evaluation and expectation of occupational level ability
for both males and females. Exceptions to the above state-
ment occurred only between the perceptions of the evalua-
tions of "spouses" and the Self Evaluation items.

(2) It was concluded that for males, there was
little relationship between data from the SCVA scales and
the perceived evaluations of others of occupational level
ability. Data for females indicated that some relationship
may exist between these same variables. However, in in—
stances where correlations were significantly greater than
zero, they were all extremely low.

(3) Measurements of the perceptions of the evalu-
ation of others of occupational level ability were similar
in style and design to those utilized in measuring the Self
Evaluation of occupational level ability. The findings
which showed that the data from the Self Evaluation items
were highly correlated with data from their self evaluation
counterparts while the SCVA scales were not, indicates the
importance of utilizing comparable measuring techniques

when conducting scientific analysis.

136

(4) In an analytic comparison of the Self-Concept
of Vocational Ability scales with the self-concept of aca-
demic ability scale the following information was indicated.

(a) A significant relationship exists between
the Self-Concept of Vocational Ability - general and
the Self-Concept of Vocational Ability - interest
scales. This finding held true for both males and fe-
males in all combinations of groupings.

(b) The relationship of the Self-Concept of
Vocational Ability scales to the Self-Concept of Aca-
demic Ability scale Varied. The scales were highly cor-
related for male college students. Correlation coeffi—
cients were lower for all other groupings of both males
and females and, no relationship was found for most
groupings of females.

(c) The relationship of the Self-Concept of
Vocational Ability scales to the perceived parental and
friend evaluation of academic ability followed the pat—
tern described in item b above. High correlation co-
efficients were reported between the two variables for
college males but, for the most part the correlation
coefficients were low and many statistically non-sig-
nificant for the non college males and most female cat—
egories.

(d) In all cases for males and females, the

self-concept of academic ability was highly correlated

137

with both the perceived parental and friend evaluation
of academic ability.
In summary, differences were found between the academic and
vocational self—concept of ability scales. Except for col—
lege males, relationships between the constructs were low.
(5) Findings concerning the academic and vocation:
al significant others were as follows:

(a) Parents are the most frequently listed
category of significant others in terms of academic
endeavors and vocational careers by two year post high
school males and females.

(b) The proportion of parents listed by males
two years post high school as academic significant
others appears to be significantly less than the pro-
portion listed by males while in the twelfth grade. No
differences were found for females.

(c) The proportion of males and females who
list parents first as academic significant others is
greater than the proportion of males and females who
list parents figst as vocational significant others.

(d) The proportion of males listing parents
first is greater than the proportion of females listing
parents first as both academic and vocational signifi-
cant others.

(e) Spouses/fiance as a category of signifi-

cant others is listed in greater proportion by females

138

than males. In addition however, when proportions of
individuals named §i£§£_as significant others are com-
puted, the spouse/fiancé category proportion is reported
second only to parents for both males and females.

(f) All categories of significant others,
other than parents, dropped sharply in proportion of
times named figgg, when compared to the proportions of
Significant others named at all.

(6) No statistically significant relationship was
found between socio-economic status of significant others
concerned with vocational choice and an individual's self-
concept of vocational ability.

(7) It was concluded that the self—concept of voca-
tional ability level of individuals, both males and fe-
males, is ngt_associated in a statistically measurable way
with the socio-economic status level of their parents.

(8) Only partial support was given to the hypoth-
esis of no relationship between occupational interests and
self-concept of vocational ability. Correlation coeffi-
cients differed between the two sexes. Males' data indi—
cated no relationship between the self-concept of vocation-
al ability and occupational interests. Data for females
indicated a low but statistically significant relationship
between the self-concept of vocational ability and occupa-

tional interests.

139

(9) Evidence presented in the analysis of hypothe-
sis six indicated a decrease in the relationship of occupa—
tional aspiration to occupational expectation from grade
eight to grade ten. However, support for hypothesis six was
generated by the data past the tenth grade. The relation-.
ship of occupational aspiration to occupational expectations
increased from grade ten through two years post high school.

(10) Tentative support of hypothesis seven was
given. Data did not support a measurable relationship be-
tween male self-concept of vocational ability and either
occupational aspirations or occupational expectations. The
data for females showed that a low but statistically sig-
nificant correlation existed in the relationship between
self-concept of vocational ability and occupational aspir-
ations. Correlation coefficients between occupational as-
pirations and occupational expectations is higher for males
than females which indicates a greater disparity for fe-
males than males between what they aspire to do occupation-
ally and what they expect they will do.

(11) ConSistency of occupational aspiration over
time is not associated with the self—concept of vocational
ability. In other words, those individuals who are incon-
sistent in their occupational aspirations may have self-
concept of ability levels equal to those who are consistent

in their occupational aspirations and vice versa.

140

(12) The~self~concept of vocational ability of in-
dividuals who were classified as vocational students during
high school is equal to the self-concept of vocational
ability of those individuals who were classified as non-vo-
cational students.

(13) Conversely, the self-concept of academic abil-
ity of individuals who were classified as vocational students
during high school is ngt_equal to the self—concept of aca-
demic ability of individuals who were classified as non-vo—

cational students.

Conclusions

 

The results of this investigation seem to warrant
several conclusions. First, the basic orientation of this
study is that the development of the self—concept, i.e. at-
titudes, beliefs, values and behavior in an individual, are
consequences of the individual's association or interaction
with significant other persons. Data in this study indicate
that parents by far exceed all others named first as sig-
nificant others concerned about the vocational choices of
the population. Furthermore, in the analysis of the rela-
tionship of the self-concept of vocational ability to the
perceived evaluations of others of occupational level abil—
ity, a low correlation was found for the parents category,
only. The items used to measure the perceived evaluation

of others was criticized for their dissimilarity to the

141

SCVA scales. The small evidence of this relationship, how-
ever, indicates that a greater relationship may exist if
appropriate perceived evaluation measures were used.

Secondly, the self-concept of vocational ability as
measured in this study was found to be unrelated to several
factors often utilized by others in the study of vocational
development. For example, no significant relationship was
found between the self-concept of vocational ability and
the socio—economic status of vocational significant others,
the socio-economic status of parents, and, in general, oc-
cupational aspirations or expectations. These findings
support the contention presented in Chapter III and IV that
the self—concept of vocational ability may operate irre-
spective of the socio-economic status of various occupations
or socio—economic status of significant others. Therefore,
an individual who is a garage mechanic (a low socio-econom-
ic status occupation) may have a high self-concept of his
vocational ability to be a garage mechanic. Furthermore,
an individual who would like to be a teacher (a higher so-
cio—economic status occupation) may have no higher self-
concept of his vocational ability to be a teacher than the
garage mechanic's self-concept of vocational ability.

The analysis of hypothesis nine gives further sub—
stantiation of this position. The mean scores of self-
concept of vocational ability of individuals who were clas-

sified as vocational students during their high school years

142

were equal to those classified as non-vocational students
during that same period.

Finally, one of the more important objectives of
this study was the identification and measurement of the
construct, self-concept of vocational ability. TWO differ-
ent approaches were explored using data from the post high
school population. Findings presented evidence of substan-
tial differences between the two methods.

The relationships of the self-concept of vocational
ability and the self-concept of academic ability were ex-
plored. The data discussed in Chapter IV presented evidence
that the two self-concepts are indeed different. The self-
concept of vocational ability was highly correlated with the
self-concept of academic ability for only college males.
(This is not surprising since vocational and academic self-
concepts of ability might intuitively be similar for this
grouping of individuals.) Besides college males, however,
the strength of relationship between the two self—concept
variables diminishes. That is, the relationship was less
for male individuals who attended college two years or less
and for those who have not attended college. The relation-
ship of the self-concept of vocational ability to the self-
concept of academic ability for females was also very low
and in some instances no apparent relationship existed at
all. Thus it might generally be inferred that for those

individuals to whom a vocation is not dependent wholly upon

143

a college degree, their self-concept of vocational ability
and self-concept of academic ability could likely be un-

related.
Practical Implications

The practical or applied implications which the
results of this investigation hold for education, particu-
larly at the elementary and secondary level, are potentially
significant. Researchers conducting investigations con-
cerning the career development of youth will find here a
step in a new direction in the understanding of the voca-
tional self—concept. Previous studies, as indicated before,
have employed a variety of instruments and combinations of
them to quantify the vocational self-concept. This study
has not only provided a new appraoch to the assessment of
a self-concept of vocational ability, but also has based it
upon a theoretical foundation of self—concept formation.

The self-concept of vocational ability as it has
been identified offers a different outlook for vocationally
oriented educational programs. Although the self-concept
is developed by the individual through social interaction
with significant others, the self-concept has 22E_been
found to be dependent upon the socio-economic status of
significant others or their parental environment. Further—
more the self-concept of vocational ability apparently is

not dependent upon the socio-economic status of a particular

144

occupation. Thus it suggests new approaches to thinking
about education and vocational orientation programs partic-
ularly for people presently subsisting in predominantly
poverty conditions.

The potential contribution of the study may be
found in its application to the field of guidance and voca—
tional education and thereby, to the career development of
young people. Vocational education and guidance experiences
are most meaningful when they are appropriate to the under-
standings and self perceptions of the individual who is in-
volved in them. This study of self-concept may provide a
foundation for better identification and understanding of
factors interacting upon the total vocational developmental
process.

Limitations and Suggestions
For Further Research

 

 

Technically the results of this investigation are
limited to the 361 males and females who made up the longi—
tudinal population of this study. Careful generalization
may be made to other situations and populations similar to
those tested in this investigation, i.e. nineteen to twenty
year old Caucasian males and females of a typical midwest
City of over 100,000 population.

Some limitations which are indigenous to the present

study are to be noted. Some advantages of a longitudinal

145

study become limiting as well. For example, only nominal
data was available on occupational aspirations and expecta—
tions for longitudinal analysis. Furthermore, since this
investigation was of an exploratory nature, the measures
used to quantify the self—concept of vocational ability and
other preViously untested methods were employed as criterion
measures.

Specifically, recommendations for further research
would include the following items.

(1) The self-concept of vocational ability scales
need to be refined and tested using individuals from differ-
ent age groups, races, or geographical locations.

(2) The questions used to solicit perceived evalu-
ations of vocational ability by others do not appear to this
researcher to be strong measures for deriving needed in-
formation. Thus, it is suggested that further research be
conducted in the development and testing of such scales to
measure the perceptions of others of vocational ability.

(3) Research conducted in this present study in-
volved indiViduals across several possible combinations of
occupations. Further studies might be undertaken to analyze
the self-concept of vocational ability within various occu-
pational groupings using an adult sample.

(4) More comprehensive analysis of the self-concept
of vocational ability of high school students is desirable.

Analysis might be conducted which would compare groups by

146

intelligence, grade point average, achievement levels, and

educational and occupational aspiration levels.

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APPENDICES

APPENDIX A
SELF-CONCEPT OF ACADEMIC ABILITY SCALE
A. General

B. Post High School

154

SELF-CONCEPT OF ACADEMIC ABILITY SCALE--GENERAL*

(Form A)

Michigan State University
Bureau of Educational Research

Circle the letter in front of the statement which best an-

swers eachgguestion.

 

1. How do you rate yourself in school ability compared with

your close friends?

am
am
am
am
am

(DQJOU‘OJ
F4H+4k+H

the best
above average
average

below average
the poorest

2. How do you rate yourself in school ability compared with
those in your class at school?

a. I am
b. I am
c. I am
d. I am
e. I am

among the best
above average
average

below average
among the poorest

3. Where do you think you would rank in your class in high

school?

a. among the best

b. above average

c. average

d. below average

e. among the poorest

4. Do you think you have the ability to complete college?

a. yes,

b. yeS:

definitely
probably

c. not sure either way
d. probably not

e. no

*Copyright, Bureau of Ed. Research
Michigan State UniverSity, 1962

155

Where do you think you would rank in your class in
college?

a. among the best

b. above average

c. average

d. below average

e. among the poorest

In order to become a doctor, lawyer, or university pro-
fessor, work beyond four years of college is necessary.
How likely do you think it is that you could complete
such advanced work?

a. very likely

b. somewhat likely

c. not sure either way
d. unlikely

e. most unlikely

Forget for a moment how others grade your work. In your
own opinion how good do you think your work is?

a. my work is excellent

b. my work is good

c. my work is average

d. my work is below average

e. my work is much below average

What kind of grades do you think you are capable of
getting?

a. mostly A's
b. mostly B's
c. mostly C's
d. mostly D's
e. mostly E's

156

SELF-CONCEPT OF ACADEMIC ABILITY SCALE
POST HIGH SCHOOL

In each of the following questions circle the letter in
front of the statement which best answers each question.

 

 

1. How do you rate yourself in scholastic ability compared
Wlth other students your age in college?

a. I am the best

b. I am above average

c. I am average

d. I am below average

e. I am among the poorest

2. What kind of grades do you think you are capable of
getting in college?

a. mostly A's
b. mostly B's
c. mostly C's
d. mostly D's
e. mostly F's

3. For those college courses you are interested in, how
well do you feel you have the ability to do?

among the best

. above average

about average

probably below average
among the poorest

(DQJOU'DJ

4. Where do you think you would rank in a college graduat-
ing class?

among the best

. above average
average

below average
among the poorest

(DQ-IOU'DJ

5. How do you rate yourslef in scholastic ability as com—
pared to those who have elected not to go beyond high

school?
a. I am the best
b. I am above average
c. I am average
d. I am below average
e. I am the poorest

157

Where do you think you would rank in your class in
graduate school?

a. among the best

b. above average

c. average

d. below average

e. among the poorest

Forget for a moment how others might grade you. If you
attended graduate school, in your opinion, how good do
you think your work would be?

a. among the best

b. above average

c. average

d. below average

e. among the poorest

What do you think would be your class rank in comparison
with the majors in professional schools, such as law,

medicine, or dentistry?

a. among the best

b. above average

c. average

d. below average

e. among the poorest

APPENDIX B
QUESTIONS TO IDENTIFY SIGNIFICANT OTHERS
Section

1. Academic Significant Others
2. Vocational Significant Others

158

Section 1

There are many people whose judgments we value. In the
space below list the names of people whose judgments you
value concerning your ability to do well in school. Please
list in order (most valued first) and indicate who each
person is.

Names Who is this Person?

 

Section 2

There are many persons whose judgments about our careers we
value. In the space below list the names of persons whose
judgment about your occupational chOice you value. Please
list in order (most valued first) and indicate who each

person is.

Names Who is this Person?

Please indicate here the title of the job held by the per-
son whom you listed just above.

APPENDIX C

PERCEIVED EVALUATIONS OF OTHERS

OF ACADEMIC ABILITY SCALES

Section

1. Parents
2. Friend

159

Section 1. Parents

Please answer the following questions as you think your
parents would answer them. If you have not lived with your
parents in the last five years, answer for the family with

whom you have lived.

Circle the letter in front of the

statement that best answers each question.

1.

How do you think your Parents would rate your school
ability compared with other students your age?

among the best
above average
average

below average
among the poorest

Where do you think your Parents would say you would
rank in a college graduating class?

among the best
above average
average

below average
among the poorest

Do you think your Parents would say you have the abil-
ity to complete graduate school?

yes, definitely
yes, probably

not sure either way
probably not
definitely not

Do you think your Parents would say you have the ability
to complete profeSSIOnaI training in law, mediCine or

dentistry?

yes, definitely
yes, probably

not sure either way
probably not
definitely not

160

5. What kind of grades do you think your Parents would say
you are capable of getting?

a. mostly A's
b. mostly B's
c. mostly C's
d. mostly D's
e. mostly E's

161

Section 2. Friend

Think about your closest Friend. Now answer the following
questions as you think this Friend would answer them. Cir-
cle the letter in front of the statement that best answEEE
each question.

 

1.

How do you think this Friend would rate your school
ability compared with other students your age?

among the best
above average
average

below average
among the poorest

Where do you think this Friend would say you would rank
in a college graduating cIass?

among the best
above average
average

below average
among the poorest

Do you think this Friend would say you have the ability
to complete graduate school?

(DQJOU‘DJ

yes, definitely
yes, probably

not sure either way
probably not
definitely not

Do you think this Friend would say you have the ability
to complete profeSSionaI training in law, mediCine or

dentistry?

yes, definitely
yes, probably

not sure either way
probably not
definitely not

5.

What kind of grades do you think this Friend would say

162

you are capable of getting?

mostly
mostly
mostly
mostly
mostly

A's
B's
C's
D's
E's

. - . AAA‘ ‘m-n—n—y

 

APPENDIX D

VOCATIONAL CAREER COURSES OFFERED

IN HIGH SCHOOL

163

VOCATIONAL CAREER COURSES OFFERED
IN HIGH SCHOOL

In which of the following career courses were you enrolled
in high school? (Please check those appropriate)

One Year Two Years Three Years

 
  
    
  

 
   
  
   

  

A ance Re air
uto Bum an a
uto ec anics
Bas c ectr Cit
00 ee in
ata roceSSin
Distri utive
Dra tin
Dra tin an
E ectronics
En ine Mec anics
oo erVice
Furniture Re a r
nera Mec anics
Gra ics Arts
Home Re air
Hos ita it SerVices
HOSpita ity Serv ces
Technolo
Mac ine 0
Machine S o
.erc an iSin
Meta wor n
O ice Co-O Tra nin
0 ice Mac ines
ice Tec ni ues
Pre—Em lo ent Pro ram
Print n
ReSi entia
Retai in
Sa esmans i
Secretaria Trainin
SerVice Stat on
S ort an
Tec nica Dra t n
Trade Tec no 0
Tra e an In ustria
Transcri t on
T in
Vocationa
Woodwor in

 

  
   

   

   
 
      
   

   
   
    
  
    

0—-

  
  
   
 

   

Des

   

  
  
     
  

  
 
  
 
  

     
   

  
  
  
  

 

  
  
 
 
    

   

rator

  

  
     
 
  

 

     
     
 
      
 

 

   

Deve o ment

 

  
   

 
      

  
     
       
    
 
   
   

 

Co—O

   
 

 

    
 

Pr ntin

.IJ.

APPENDIX F

SELF-CONCEPT OF VOCATIONAL ABILITY--
POST HIGH SCHOOL

. Males—-Genera1
Males--Interest
Females--Genera1
Females—-Interest

C(UUIP

 

164

SELF-CONCEPT OF VOCATIONAL ABILITY--GENERAL
Males
Please read carefully and answer each question by circling

the letter in front of the statement which best answers
each gpestion.

 

 

1. How do you rank yourself in your ability to do any job
that you want to do?

w

a. among the best 1
b. above average ‘
c. average

d. below average

e. among the poorest

1min. , _
._.... a-’

LL.

2. Do you think you have the ability to do any job you
desire?

a. yes, definitely

b. yes, probably

c. not sure either way
d. no, probably not

e. no, definitely not

3. If you could have any job in the world, how well would
you be able to do the job, as compared to all others
that are in that occupation?

a. among the best

b. above average

c. average

d. below average

e. among the poorest

4. Given that you have already acquired the training nec-

essary, where would you rank yourself in ability to do
any job?

a. among the best

b. above average

c. average

d. below average

e. among the poorest

165

Do you feel you have the ability to succeed in any oc-
cupation that you undertake?

a. yes, definitely

b. yes, probably

c. uncertain

d. no, probably not
e. no, definitely not

Compared to your best friends how well do you feel you
can do any job?

a. among the best

b. above average

c. average

d. below average

e. among the poorest

- . .y ”CHI-*3.”

166

SELF-CONCEPT OF VOCATIONAL ABILITY--INTEREST
Males
Please read carefully and answer each question by circling

the letter in front of the statement which best answers
each question.

 

1. How would you rank yourself, in ability in comparison to
all others in the occupation of your greatest interest?

a. among the best

b. above average

c. average

d. below average

e. among the poorest

2. Do you feel you have the ability to complete training
necessary in the occupation of your greatest interest?

a. yes, definitely

b. yes, probably

c. uncertain

d. no, probably not
e. no, definitely not

3. For the job of your greatest interest how do you think
you would rank in ability with all others?

among the best
above average
average

below average

. among the poorest

(DQJOU'DJ

4. After 5 years of working in the job of your greatest
interest where do you think you will rank in comparison
with others who have held the same job for 5 years?

a. among the best
b. above average

c. average

d. below average

e. among the lowest

167

For those occupations in which you are interested, do
you feel you have the ability to do well?

a. yes, definitely

b. yes, probably

c. uncertain

d. no, probably not
e. no, definitely not

Compared to your best friends how well do you feel you
can do in the occupation of your greatest interest?

a. among the best

b. above average

c. average

d. below average

e. among the poorest

168

SELF-CONCEPT OF VOCATIONAL ABILITY--GENERAL

Females

Please read carefully and answer each question by circling
the letter in front of the statement which best answers
each gpestion.

 

1.

How do you rank yourself in your ability to do any job
that you want to do?

among the best
above average
average

below average
among the poorest

Do you think you have the ability to do any job that

you desire?

yes, definitely
yes, probably

not sure either way
no, probably not
no, definitely not

How do you rate yourself in your ability to do a job
you would want in comparison to your classmates who

have similar interests?

am among the best
am above average
am average

am below average
among the poorest

Hrak4H

If you could have any job in the world, how well would
you be able to do the job, as compared to all others
that are in that occupation?

among the best
above average
average

below average
among the poorest

169

5. Given that you have already acquired the training nec-
essary, where would you rank yourself in ability to do

any job?

(DQaOU‘QJ

among the best
above average
average

below average
among the poorest

170

SELF-CONCEPT OF VOCATIONAL ABILITY--INTEREST
Females
Please read carefully and answer each question by circling

the letter in front of the statement which best answers
each question.

 

1. Where do you think you would rank in your ability to do
your favorite job?

a. among the best
b. above average

 

c. average
d. below average
e. among the poorest
2. How would you rank yourself, in ability in comparison

to all others in the occupation of your greatest inter-
est?

a. among the best

b. above average

c. average

d. below average

e. among the poorest

3. For the job of your greatest interest how do you think
you would rank in ability with all others?

among the best

. above average

. average

. below average

. among the poorest

(DQJOO‘QJ

4. After 5 years of working in the job of your greatest
interest where do you think you will rank in comparison
with others who have held the same job for 5 years?

among the best
above average
average

below average
among the lowest

(DQOU'QJ

171

Compared to others your age how would you rate yourself
in knowledge of the job of your greatest interest?

I have complete knowledge

I have more knowledge than most
about the same as others

less than others

almost none

For those occupations in which you are interested, do
you feel you have the ability to do well?

(DQJOU‘DJ

yes, definitely
yes, probably
uncertain

no, probably not
no, definitely not

Compared to your best friends how well do you feel you
can do in the occupation of your greatest interest?

(DQJOU‘DJ

among the best
above average
average

below average
among the poorest

 

 

APPENDIX G

CHI-SQUARE TABLES FOR EIGHTH, NINTH, TENTH,
ELEVENTH, TWELFTH GRADES AND

POST HIGH SCHOOL

EXPECTATIONS

172

TABLE I. Chi-square table describing the relationship of
occupational aspirations to expectations for
eighth grade students

 

 

 

N = 206 x2 = 477.8
ASPIRATIONS
Occupational
Categories 5 6 7 8 9 Totals
5 8 l O l 2 12

 

 

(2.1) (2.9) ( 8.3) ( 8.6) (27.1)

 

(1.3) (1.8) ( 5.1) ( 5.2) (16.6)

 

9 O 2 l 4 94 101
(4.4) (5.9) (17.2) (17.7) (55.9)

 

Totals 9 12 35 36 114 206

 

*Expected frequencies found in parentheses.

 

EXPECTATIONS

173

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TABLE 2. Chi-square table describing the relationship of
occupational aspirations to expectations for
ninth grade students
N = 254 x2 = 450.8

ASPIRATIONS
Occupational
Categories 5 6 7 8 9 Totals
5 9 0 2 3 0 14
( 8)* ( .3) ( 1.8) ( 4.8) ( 6.4)
6 0 5 0 l 2 8
( .4) ( .2) ( .l) ( 2.7) ( 3.7)
7 O l 26 13 14 54
(3 ) (1.3) ( 6.8) (18.2) (24.7)
8 2 0 l 65 11 79
(4.4) (1.9) ( 9.9) (26.7) (36.1)
9 3 0 2 5 89 99
(5.5) (2.4) (12.5) (33.5) (45.2)
Totals 14 6 32 86 116 254

 

*Expected frequencies in parentheses.

 

EXPECTATIONS

174

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TABLE 3. Chi—square table describing the relationship of
occupational aspirations to expectations for
tenth grade students
N = 239 x2 = 380.9

ASPIRATIONS
Occupational
Categories 5 6 7 8 9 Totals
5 4 2 0 2 l 9
( .3)* ( .4) ( 1.4) ( 2 ) ( 5 )
6 0 7 1 0 5 l3
( .4) ( .5) ( 2.1) ( 2.4) ( 7.1)
7 2 1 37 9 17 66
(1.9) (2.8) (10.1) (14.0) ( 3.6)
8 0 O O 35 4 39
(1.1) (1.6) ( 6.2) ( 8.5) (21.5)
9 1 0 O 6 105 112
(3.3) (4.7) (17.8) (24.3) (49.2)
Totals 7 10 38 52 132 239

 

*Expected frequencies found in parentheses.

EXPECTATIONS

175

TABLE 4. Chi-square table describing the relationship of
occupational aspirations to expectations for
eleventh grade students

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

N = 240 x2 = 383.3
m
ASPIRATIONS
Occupational
Categories 5 6 7 8 9 Totals
5 3 0 0 0 2 5
( l)* ( l) ( .6) (1.2) ( 2.9)
6 2 4 0 2 3 11
( .3) ( 2) ( 1.4) ( 2.7) ( 6.4)
7 l 1 30 ll 16 59
(1.7) (1.2) ( 7.6) (14.3) (34.2)
8 l 0 0 39 12 52
(1.5) (1.1) ( 2.7) (12.6) (30.1)
9 0 0 l 6 106 113
(3.3) (2.4) (14.6) (27.3) (65.4)
Totals 7 5 31 58 139 240

 

*Expected frequencies found in parentheses.

EXPECTATIONS

176

TABLE 5. Chi—square table describing the relationship of
occupational aspirations to expectations for
twelfth grade students

 

 

 

N = 280 x2 = 472.6
~I=.-—.-_==.
ASPIRATIONS
Occupational
Categories 5 6 7 8 9 Totals
5 8 0 0 l 4 13

 

 

 

(1.8) (1.6) (10.0) (11.6) (24.2)

 

9 1 1 3 6 111 122
(4.4) (3.9) (24.8) (28.8) (60.1)

 

Totals 10 9 57 66 138 280

 

*Expected frequencies in parentheses.

EXPECTATIONS

177

TABLE 6. Chi-square table describing the relationship of
occupational aspirations to expectations for
post high school students

 

 

 

N = 261 x2 = 537.5
a1=========================
ASPIRATIONS
Occupational
Categories 5 6 7 8 9 Totals
5 13 l 0 4 1 19

( .9)* (1.6) ( 2.9) ( 5.1) ( 8.4)

 

(1.2) (2.0) ( 3.7) ( 6.4) (10.7)

 

(3.9) (6.7) (12.1) (21.2) (35.1)

 

8 0 0 0 35 6 41
(2.0) (3.5) ( 6.3) (10.9) (18.2)

 

9 0 1 0 7 9O 98
(4.9) (8.3) (15.0) (26.3) (43.6)

 

Totals 13 22 40 70 116 261

 

*Expected frequenCies in parentheses.

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