WORK A Journal of Prevention, Assessment & Rehabilitation
ELSEVIER
Work 11 (t 998) 331-338
Using career choice considerations in the counseling process: examination of the structure of preferences, gender and age differences Nurit Adler* , Danny Kaplan, Vered Argaman Hadassah Career Counseling Institute, 24 Strauss St., PO Box 1406, Jerusalem 91013, Israel
Abstract The aim of this research was to examine the structure of career choice considerations and to outline group differences in these considerations. Following the aspect-based approach to career decision making, a considerations questionnaire was established and given to 754 young adults who applied to the Hadassah Career Counseling Institute. Holland's self-directed search questionnaires were also given. Seven core factors which underline people's considerations were derived and compared to Holland's interest types. Gender and age differences in the importance assigned to career considerations were also examined and analyzed via the seven core factors. The results show both the common and distinctive features of the considerations structure and the interest structure. Several significant group differences in career considerations were established. Ways to incorporate the findings in occupational counseling are discussed and the contribution of a systematized considerations questionnaire is outlined. © 1998 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Career counseling; Considerations; Preference structure; Gender differences
1. Introduction A major feature in career decision making is the attempt to determine what are the individual's unique considerations in choosing a profession. Since occupational alternatives differ from each other on a variety of aspects, evaluating which of * Corresponding author. Tel.: + 972 2 6244343; fax: + 972 2 6221287; e-mail: [email protected]
these aspects are most important to the counselee can assist him or her in making a career choice. These aspects can refer to any personal factor or criterion that is relevant to the individual for comparing and evaluating occupational alternatives, and may include required skills, preferred work conditions, work values, needs, and interests (Gati, 1986). Thus, an individual may prefer a job that relies heavily on analytical skills to one that demands few analytical skills, or a job that offers more social security to one that is less secure.
1051-9815/98/$ - see front matter © 1998 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. Pll S 1 051-9815(98)00050-3
332
N. Ad/eret at. / Work 11 (J998) 33J-338
Consequently, the relative importance of each aspect to the individual can be assessed. Studies have shown that individuals differ in the importance they assign to the various aspects under consideration (Wooler, 1985). The aspect-based approach to career decision has been suggested by Gati (1986) as an alternative to traditional interest-based approaches for career counseling (e.g. Roe, 1956; Holland, 1973). Within the process of counseling in the Hadassah Career Counseling Institute (HCCl), a systematized application of the above approach has been put to use through the development of a considerations questionnaire. Based on research on the characterization of occupations according to the important aspects for career choice (Gati et aI., 1996), a limited set of considerations, equivalent to these aspects, has been established. This set is presented to the counselee who is requested to grade all considerations according to the degree that he or she would like each aspect to appear in his future occupation. After filling out the questionnaire, its consequences for career alternatives are discussed with the counselor. Naturally, differences in the importance ratings of considerations lead to differing occupational choices. In order to make additional use of the consideration rating, it may be helpful to study the way people perceive these considerations. One way to do so is to examine the structure of considerations as derived from the pattern of relationships among them. If two considerations obtain similar preference profiles on the basis of many individuals' preferences, these considerations are probably perceived as more related than considerations receiving different preference profiles (Gati et aI., 1995). Considerations that are more related may then be grouped together to form an underlying factor or dimension in career considerations, while considerations that are less related will be grouped under different factors. In such a way, a structure of underlying core factors in career considerations can be obtained. This structure can be compared to other models of occupational preferences frequently used in career counseling, such as the Holland interest-
based approach, which suggests six personality types related to six types of occupational environments (Holland, 1973). Another issue that can assist in the counseling process is the acknowledgment of group differences in the relative importance assigned to the various work aspects under consideration. Most notably, one line of research examined gender differences in work considerations that may be related to gender differences in career choice (Erez et aI., 1989). It has been reported that women attribute high importance to working hours, work conditions (Erez et aI., 1989; Lunneborg, 1990) and expressive aspects such as relationships with people and actualization of social interest. Men, on the other hand, attribute high importance to instrumental aspects such as income (Bern, 1974; Gati et aI., 1995). Age differences may offer yet another pattern of preferences in choice of considerations, since consideration preferences change during different life stages. This topic has received less attention in the literature. The aim of the present study is twofold. Its first aim is to examine the structure of career choice considerations and to derive major core factors which underline the existing set of considerations and which present a new look at people's preferences. This structure will be further compared to another well-known structure of career interests, namely the Holland occupational types (Holland, 1973). The second aim is to examine both gender and age differences in the importance assigned to career considerations. These will be examined both at the level of specific considerations and at the level of the core factors derived in the first section. The combination of all examinations will enable us to evaluate the contribution of a systematized career choice considerations approach to the counseling process. 2. Materials and method
2.1. Subjects Seven-hundred and fifty-four counselees applied to the HCCI; 65% of the subjects were
N. Adleret al. / Work 11 (1998) 331-338
female and 35% were male; 99% had 12 years of education or more, and their average age was 24.5 (71 % were 24 years old or less).
333
of the variance in the counselees' preferences. After studying the consideration items included in each factor, the seven factors have been labeled as follows:
2.2. Instruments (1) Considerations questionnaire -
includes a list of aspects by which occupations can be defined. The counselee is requested to evaluate the degree he or she would like each characteristics to appear in his future occupation on a scale from 1 (to a very small degree) to 9 (to a very high degree). (2) Holland's Self-Directed Search (SDS) questionnaire (Israeli version, Feldman and Meir, 1976) - determines the subjects' interests by summing up scores in each of the six occupational types across three categories of activities, competencies and occupations. 2.3. Method and procedures
Counselees filled out the two questionnaires after their first counseling session. Biographical information including sex and age was gathered from an additional questionnaire filled out prior to the first counseling session. Statistical analysis of the data included factor analysis and Weighted Smallest Space Analysis (WSSA) which presents the relative sizes of observed relationships between variables in a graphical form (Guttman, 1968). 3. Results 3.1. Structure of preferences
A factor analysis was carried out in order to derive the structure of considerations, as reflected from the counselees' responses. First, a general analysis was computed, whereby 10 factors were defined. These factors accounted for 61 % of the variance in the counselees' preferences. In an attempt to characterize the content of each factor, seven factors lent themselves to a logical combination of considerations. We thus conducted another factor analysis, limited to these seven factors. These factors accounted for 52.5%
Factor 1 - Self-expression and self-realization at work. Includes aspects whose common denominator is high personal involvement in the job, such as initiative, responsibility and creativity. Factor 2 - Technical and practical aspects of the job. Includes required technical skills. Factor 3 - Social and economical status. Includes aspects such as material benefits and prestige. Factor 4 - Working with people. Includes differing characteristics of relationship with people such as team work or working with groups. Factor 5 - Use of cognitive skills on the job. Includes aspects such as analytical thinking and spatial ability. Factor 6 - Use of helping skills at the job. Includes aspects such as counseling, mental and physical aid. Factor 7 - Physical conditions of the job, such as being in motion and flexibility in working hours. The resulting structure was compared to the structure of Holland's interest types by producing a matrix of the correlations of scores in the seven factors (calculated as the average score of items included in each factor) and the six final scores in the Holland interest questionnaire. The correlations matrix was then processed through a WSSA method (Guttman, 1969). One of the two-dimensional impositions of the three-dimensional analysis is shown in Fig. l. First, this figure portrays the hexagonal-circular structure of interest types predicted by Holland's theory (Holland, 1973). Secondly, the figure shows the relationship between the specific core consideration factors and the interest types according to the relative position of each variable on the WSSA map. Thus, helping skills are perceived as related to the social type, working with people is perceived as related to the enterprising type, and technical and practical aspects are close to the realistic and investigative types. The factor
N. Adleret af. / Work 11 (1998) 331-338
334
social and * economical status
conven~:~~!!!..• ...........
working
with people .......
*
.
•• Ent~rprising
.... ·····~ognitive* skills Rea/is/i~' •
* self
expression
physical * conditions
technical* and practical aspects Investigative ..•
\helping : skills
*
Social • ......
Artis/ic- •. '
Fig. 1. WSSA map of scores in core factors of considerations and Holland SDS scores (idented labels) (coefficient of alienation in three-dimensional analysis = 0.11).
of physical conditions at the job is situated at the center of the circular structure, implying its equal involvement in all interest types. The position of the other three factors is perhaps more intriguing: the social and economical status factor lies outside of the circle between the conventional and enterprising types, the self-expression factor lies more inwards, but also next to the enterprising type, and the cognitive skills factor is positioned next to the conventional type. These relationships can be partly explained in that economical considerations are more important to people who tend to be either conventional, or enterprising types rather than any other types. Also, selfexpression can be logically associated with enterprising, as this field suggests more independence and less subordination. The proximity of cognitive skills to the conventional type is less explicable, and may be a result of an over emphasis on computational skills in this factor. What is more noteworthy is the 'isolated' position of the artistic type distant from any core factors. This suggests that, for people who are attracted to this field, other major considerations apart from their artistic interest are of less importance. It should be noted that in the other two impositions, not presented here, the variables of the
considerations questionnaire and the interest questionnaire are situated separately from each other. This shows the disparity between the two structures and the importance of using both questionnaires in the counseling process simultaneously, since each provides unique information, in addition to their common features discussed previously.
3.2. Gender and age differences Gender differences in the importance assigned to career considerations were investigated in two stages. First, the average weight of each specific consideration for each sex was calculated, and then a t-test was conducted to examine the significance of gender differences. The detailed results are found in an internal report of the HCCI. One-third of all considerations showed significant gender differences in the weight of importance assigned to them. Men assign more importance than women to the use of computational, spatial, analytical and technical skills in their job. They are more interested in working with materials and instruments, engaging in organizational and managerial work, involvement in team work and being in motion in their job. They also assign more importance to income level than women do. Women, on the other hand, put a greater emphasis than men on the integration of a mental aid aspect in their work. Fig. 2 shows the 10 most important considerations and 10 least important considerations for each sex. In the next stage, we wished to obtain a more general view of how both gender and age variables influence the preference of considerations in career choice, by using the core factors scores derived in the previous section. A two-way variance analysis of both gender and age dimensions was conducted for each of the core factors. The counselee population was divided into the following three age groups: 24 years old or less, 25-30 years old, and 31 years or more. Fig. 3 shows the average score of each core factor in the different groups as well as the significance of the results of the variance analysis. The number in parentheses denotes the order of the core factors by their importance for each group.
335
N. Ad/eret al. / Work 11 (1998) 331-338
men promotion possibilities responsibility and independence diversity on the job income level intellectual curiosity self expression concrete results initiative engaging with people dynamic work
women promotion possibilities responsibility and independence diversity on the job self expression concrete results intellectual curiosity engaging with people income level initiative dynamic work
men verbal skills computational skills using materials or instruments stress situations working with groups manual skills instruction and teaching mental aid physical aid work with animals or plants
women
tus, use of cognitive skills and physical conditions of the job; women assign more importance than men to helping skills. These trends replicate at a more general level the gender differences in specific considerations described previously. Age differences: Older people assign more importance than younger people to technical and practical aspects in the job and to the use of cognitive skills; younger people assign more importance than older people to social and economical status. Interaction effect: The factor of working with people shows an interesting shift across age and gender. At a young age there is no difference between men and women in the importance assigned to this factor, and both rate it as third in importance relative to other factors. However, among older men its importance is increased and it is raised to the second place, while women at an older age consider it less important and it is lowered to the fourth place.
2.
.;;;;C;
working with groups work outdoors stress situations manual skills instruction and teachin o using materials or instruments computational skills physical aid work with animals or plants technical skills
3.
Fig. 2. Ten highest and lowest considerations in career choice.
As can be seen in Fig. 3, the order of the core factors in all groups is very similar. However, some core factors differ significantly in their importance across gender and age:
1.
4. Comment
Gender differences: Men assign more importance than women to technical and practical aspects in the job, social and economical sta-
The results of the present study may prove useful for the implementation of the aspect-based approach in career counseling. Describing the
core consideration
24 years old or less men women
25-30 years old men women
self expression
7.30 (2)
7.25 (1)
7.54 (1)
7.18 (1)
social and economical status working with people cognitive skills
7.35 (1)
6.99
6.95 (2)
6.71
(2)
6.34 (3)
6.40 (3)
6.24 (3)
6.30 (3)
5.81 (4)
5.34 (4)
6.06 (4)
5.63 (5)
5.29 (5)
5.32 (6) 4.80 (7)
physical conditions practical and technical aspects helping skills
(2)
30 years old or more
variable
variable
age
interaction
sex
men 7.42 (1)
women 7.24 (1)
n.s.
n.S.
n.s.
6.77 (3) 6.80
6.70
p-.Ql
p-.Ol
n.s.
(2)
5.83 (4)
n.s.
n.s.
p=.05
(2)
6.35 (4)
6.14 (3)
p=.OI
p=.OI
n.S.
5.68 (6)
5.76 (4) 5.29 (5)
5.36 (6)
5.18 (7)
p=.02
n.s.
n.s.
4.92 (7)
5.79 (5)
5.28 (6)
5.84 (5)
5.38 (5.5)
p-Ol
p-.05
n.S.
5.17 (6)
5.20 (7)
5.12 (7)
5.23 (7)
5.38 (5.5)
p=.06
n.S.
n.S.
Fig. 3. Gender and age differences in core factors of career considerations.
336
N. Adleret al. / Work 11 (1998) 331-338
structure of considerations in terms of underlying general factors, and gender and age differences may facilitate the use and understanding of this approach for both the counselor and the counselee. Referring to the first part, defining the major considerations people use in career decision making, in terms of underlying factors, allows for a better understanding of how counselees perceive the composition of their career preferences. Seven such factors have been singled out: technical and practical aspects in the job, social and economical status, working with people, use of cognitive skills, use of helping skills, and physical conditions of the job. These factors account for roughly one-half of the variance in responses to the considerations questionnaire. This means that there are also additional factors, whose content does not fall under this questionnaire, which account for the variance in responses. One of these factors is the occupational interests of the counselees, as reflected by other methods such as Holland's questionnaire. The partial disparity in content between the two structures calls for using both questionnaires in the counseling process, since each provides unique information. Acknowledging the common attributes of the aspect-based approach and the interest-based approach may also be useful in career counseling. As shown from the above results, the following typical ties between the structures of the two approaches can be observed: 'social type' counselees tend to consider helping skills as most important in their future occupation, 'realistic' and 'investigative' counselees emphasize technical and practical aspects in their considerations, 'enterprising' counselees consider working with people, self-expression and social and economical status as more important, the latter factor being shared also by 'conventional' counselees, and 'artistic' counselees tend to disregard other major considerations. In addition, the factor of physical conditions is considered equally among all interest types. This mapping of core factors in work considerations onto preferences in terms of interest types, can be compared to the specific pattern of preferences expressed by the counselee. In case of a relatively strong discrepancy, the mean-
ing of his or her preferences should be discussed more thoroughly. For example, a counselee that assigns the most importance to helping skills and yet shows major interest in the realistic field, exhibits an unusual preference pattern whose underlying basis should be ·further examined with the counselor. Referring to the second part, applying the above core factors to the examination of gender and age differences in considerations may help in outlining major trends in career preferences. While as a whole, most considerations are similar in their order of importance to all groups, some distinctive preferences emerge. Men tend to consider technical and practical aspects in the job, social and economical status, use of cognitive skills and physical conditions more than women, while women tend to consider helping skills more than men. This trend echoes, on a more precise level, the distinction drawn in existing literature between men's attraction to instrumental aspects and women's attraction to expressive aspects in the job. The shift in age is also informative. Younger counselees tend to relate more importance than older ones to social and economical considerations in their future job, while older counselees tend to consider, more than younger ones, the use of technical, practical and cognitive skills in the job. It seems, then, that at a younger age extrinsic-materialistic needs are more dominant in career choice, whereas at an older age people look for more intrinsic satisfaction in the occupation they seek, such as making use of their skills. This can be accounted for by several reasons. For one, older counselees may feel less need to establish themselves economically. Secondly, they have acquired more experience and are thus more aware of the skills they wish to employ in their job. Another interesting trend is the importance increased with age that men assign to the various aspects of working with people, while women reduce its importance with age. Again, perhaps men develop with age a better understanding and awareness of their social needs and skills. Women, on the other hand, who to begin with are said to be more aware of social relationships and interests (Bem, 1974) perhaps feel freer at an older
N. Adleret al. / Work 11 (J998) 331-338
age to satisfy other considerations in the sought after-job. Further research is needed to establish these possibilities. Here too, knowledge of typical trends in gender and age preferences may prove useful to the counselor, when discussing with the counselee his or her specific responses in the counseling session. The counselee's responses can be compared to group norms and the extent of diversion from these norms can be acknowledged. This by no means implies that diversions from social norms should be discouraged. Rather, this knowledge enables the counselor to deepen the understanding of the counselee's decision making process. It may be examined to what extent specific preferences are influenced, consciously or unconsciously, by cultural biases such as social desirability, sexual stereotypes, or peer and family pressure, and to what extent they reflect the counselee's intrinsic choices. It should be noted that the present findings refer only to a segment of the popUlation, and one that may not represent the general Israeli population. Most counselees were under 24 years old, had 12 years or more of education and exhibited an orientation towards further education. Further research is needed in order to examine whether the trends observed in this study can be generalized to other segments of the population. Making comparisons to gender and age preferences in career considerations in other countries is also called for. After outlining possible applications of the present findings in the career counseling, we wish to note some of the general advantages of the aspect-based approach in this process, as applied through the use of the considerations questionnaire. First, this approach forces counselees to think in terms of a defined set of aspects that can be used as criteria for evaluating work alternatives (Gati, 1986). While the possible set of criteria may be very large, people tend to focus on a relatively small group of considerations, that are more salient in their perception of the occupational world. By using a considerations questionnaire that captures a comprehensive list of work criterions, counselees are thus encouraged to reexamine their preferences more systematically and
337
from these to better understand their personal needs, values and motives. Secondly, the aspectbased approach engages the counselees with the need to compromise, which is essential in career decision making. The gap between preconceived images of an ideal career and attainable occupational alternatives becomes more accessible through this approach. Compromise is involved both in the readiness to consider an occupational alternative, despite its inferiority in certain aspects relative to another alternative, and in the ability to change the relative importance assigned to aspects (Gati, 1993). With the use of the consideration questionnaire in the counseling process, these consequences on career choice may be confronted. Finally, these advantages may prove even more valuable in specific vocational counseling domains, such as in educational settings or rehabilitation counseling settings. Assimilating criteria for evaluating work alternatives and recognizing the need for compromise are necessary features for returning to work following the rehabilitation process. Practitioners and theoreticians in the rehabilitation field are encouraged to incorporate the aspect-based approach via the use of the considerations questionnaire into occupational counseling in their field. References Bern SL. The measurement of psychological androgyny. J Consult Clin Psychol 1974;42:155-162. Erez M, Borochov 0, Mannheim B. Work values of youth: Effects of sex or sex role typing? J Vocat Behav 1989;34: 350--366. Gati I. Making career decisions: A sequential elimination approach. J Couns Psychol 1986;33:408-417. Gati I. Career compromises. J Couns Psychol 1993;40:416-424. Gati I, Garty Y, Fassa N. Using career-related aspects to assess person-environment fit. J Couns Psychol 1996;43: 196-206. Gati I, Osipov SH, Givon M. Gender differences in career decision making: The content and structure of preferences. J Couns Psychol 1995;42:204-216. Guttman LA. General nonmetric technique for finding the smallest coordinate space for configuration of points. Psychometrica 1968;33:469-506_
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Holland JL. Making vocational choices. Engelwood Cliffs NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1973. Meir EI, Feldman S. Measure of women's interests using Holland's vocational classification. J Vocat Behav 1976; 9:345-353. Lunneborg PW. Women changing work. New York: Bergin Garvey, 1990.
Roe A. The psychology of occupations. New York: Wiley, 1956. Wooler S. Let the decision maker decide: A case against assuming common occupational value structures. J Occup Psychol 1985;57:217-227.
ELSEVIER
Work 11 (t 998) 331-338
Using career choice considerations in the counseling process: examination of the structure of preferences, gender and age differences Nurit Adler* , Danny Kaplan, Vered Argaman Hadassah Career Counseling Institute, 24 Strauss St., PO Box 1406, Jerusalem 91013, Israel
Abstract The aim of this research was to examine the structure of career choice considerations and to outline group differences in these considerations. Following the aspect-based approach to career decision making, a considerations questionnaire was established and given to 754 young adults who applied to the Hadassah Career Counseling Institute. Holland's self-directed search questionnaires were also given. Seven core factors which underline people's considerations were derived and compared to Holland's interest types. Gender and age differences in the importance assigned to career considerations were also examined and analyzed via the seven core factors. The results show both the common and distinctive features of the considerations structure and the interest structure. Several significant group differences in career considerations were established. Ways to incorporate the findings in occupational counseling are discussed and the contribution of a systematized considerations questionnaire is outlined. © 1998 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Career counseling; Considerations; Preference structure; Gender differences
1. Introduction A major feature in career decision making is the attempt to determine what are the individual's unique considerations in choosing a profession. Since occupational alternatives differ from each other on a variety of aspects, evaluating which of * Corresponding author. Tel.: + 972 2 6244343; fax: + 972 2 6221287; e-mail: [email protected]
these aspects are most important to the counselee can assist him or her in making a career choice. These aspects can refer to any personal factor or criterion that is relevant to the individual for comparing and evaluating occupational alternatives, and may include required skills, preferred work conditions, work values, needs, and interests (Gati, 1986). Thus, an individual may prefer a job that relies heavily on analytical skills to one that demands few analytical skills, or a job that offers more social security to one that is less secure.
1051-9815/98/$ - see front matter © 1998 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. Pll S 1 051-9815(98)00050-3
332
N. Ad/eret at. / Work 11 (J998) 33J-338
Consequently, the relative importance of each aspect to the individual can be assessed. Studies have shown that individuals differ in the importance they assign to the various aspects under consideration (Wooler, 1985). The aspect-based approach to career decision has been suggested by Gati (1986) as an alternative to traditional interest-based approaches for career counseling (e.g. Roe, 1956; Holland, 1973). Within the process of counseling in the Hadassah Career Counseling Institute (HCCl), a systematized application of the above approach has been put to use through the development of a considerations questionnaire. Based on research on the characterization of occupations according to the important aspects for career choice (Gati et aI., 1996), a limited set of considerations, equivalent to these aspects, has been established. This set is presented to the counselee who is requested to grade all considerations according to the degree that he or she would like each aspect to appear in his future occupation. After filling out the questionnaire, its consequences for career alternatives are discussed with the counselor. Naturally, differences in the importance ratings of considerations lead to differing occupational choices. In order to make additional use of the consideration rating, it may be helpful to study the way people perceive these considerations. One way to do so is to examine the structure of considerations as derived from the pattern of relationships among them. If two considerations obtain similar preference profiles on the basis of many individuals' preferences, these considerations are probably perceived as more related than considerations receiving different preference profiles (Gati et aI., 1995). Considerations that are more related may then be grouped together to form an underlying factor or dimension in career considerations, while considerations that are less related will be grouped under different factors. In such a way, a structure of underlying core factors in career considerations can be obtained. This structure can be compared to other models of occupational preferences frequently used in career counseling, such as the Holland interest-
based approach, which suggests six personality types related to six types of occupational environments (Holland, 1973). Another issue that can assist in the counseling process is the acknowledgment of group differences in the relative importance assigned to the various work aspects under consideration. Most notably, one line of research examined gender differences in work considerations that may be related to gender differences in career choice (Erez et aI., 1989). It has been reported that women attribute high importance to working hours, work conditions (Erez et aI., 1989; Lunneborg, 1990) and expressive aspects such as relationships with people and actualization of social interest. Men, on the other hand, attribute high importance to instrumental aspects such as income (Bern, 1974; Gati et aI., 1995). Age differences may offer yet another pattern of preferences in choice of considerations, since consideration preferences change during different life stages. This topic has received less attention in the literature. The aim of the present study is twofold. Its first aim is to examine the structure of career choice considerations and to derive major core factors which underline the existing set of considerations and which present a new look at people's preferences. This structure will be further compared to another well-known structure of career interests, namely the Holland occupational types (Holland, 1973). The second aim is to examine both gender and age differences in the importance assigned to career considerations. These will be examined both at the level of specific considerations and at the level of the core factors derived in the first section. The combination of all examinations will enable us to evaluate the contribution of a systematized career choice considerations approach to the counseling process. 2. Materials and method
2.1. Subjects Seven-hundred and fifty-four counselees applied to the HCCI; 65% of the subjects were
N. Adleret al. / Work 11 (1998) 331-338
female and 35% were male; 99% had 12 years of education or more, and their average age was 24.5 (71 % were 24 years old or less).
333
of the variance in the counselees' preferences. After studying the consideration items included in each factor, the seven factors have been labeled as follows:
2.2. Instruments (1) Considerations questionnaire -
includes a list of aspects by which occupations can be defined. The counselee is requested to evaluate the degree he or she would like each characteristics to appear in his future occupation on a scale from 1 (to a very small degree) to 9 (to a very high degree). (2) Holland's Self-Directed Search (SDS) questionnaire (Israeli version, Feldman and Meir, 1976) - determines the subjects' interests by summing up scores in each of the six occupational types across three categories of activities, competencies and occupations. 2.3. Method and procedures
Counselees filled out the two questionnaires after their first counseling session. Biographical information including sex and age was gathered from an additional questionnaire filled out prior to the first counseling session. Statistical analysis of the data included factor analysis and Weighted Smallest Space Analysis (WSSA) which presents the relative sizes of observed relationships between variables in a graphical form (Guttman, 1968). 3. Results 3.1. Structure of preferences
A factor analysis was carried out in order to derive the structure of considerations, as reflected from the counselees' responses. First, a general analysis was computed, whereby 10 factors were defined. These factors accounted for 61 % of the variance in the counselees' preferences. In an attempt to characterize the content of each factor, seven factors lent themselves to a logical combination of considerations. We thus conducted another factor analysis, limited to these seven factors. These factors accounted for 52.5%
Factor 1 - Self-expression and self-realization at work. Includes aspects whose common denominator is high personal involvement in the job, such as initiative, responsibility and creativity. Factor 2 - Technical and practical aspects of the job. Includes required technical skills. Factor 3 - Social and economical status. Includes aspects such as material benefits and prestige. Factor 4 - Working with people. Includes differing characteristics of relationship with people such as team work or working with groups. Factor 5 - Use of cognitive skills on the job. Includes aspects such as analytical thinking and spatial ability. Factor 6 - Use of helping skills at the job. Includes aspects such as counseling, mental and physical aid. Factor 7 - Physical conditions of the job, such as being in motion and flexibility in working hours. The resulting structure was compared to the structure of Holland's interest types by producing a matrix of the correlations of scores in the seven factors (calculated as the average score of items included in each factor) and the six final scores in the Holland interest questionnaire. The correlations matrix was then processed through a WSSA method (Guttman, 1969). One of the two-dimensional impositions of the three-dimensional analysis is shown in Fig. l. First, this figure portrays the hexagonal-circular structure of interest types predicted by Holland's theory (Holland, 1973). Secondly, the figure shows the relationship between the specific core consideration factors and the interest types according to the relative position of each variable on the WSSA map. Thus, helping skills are perceived as related to the social type, working with people is perceived as related to the enterprising type, and technical and practical aspects are close to the realistic and investigative types. The factor
N. Adleret af. / Work 11 (1998) 331-338
334
social and * economical status
conven~:~~!!!..• ...........
working
with people .......
*
.
•• Ent~rprising
.... ·····~ognitive* skills Rea/is/i~' •
* self
expression
physical * conditions
technical* and practical aspects Investigative ..•
\helping : skills
*
Social • ......
Artis/ic- •. '
Fig. 1. WSSA map of scores in core factors of considerations and Holland SDS scores (idented labels) (coefficient of alienation in three-dimensional analysis = 0.11).
of physical conditions at the job is situated at the center of the circular structure, implying its equal involvement in all interest types. The position of the other three factors is perhaps more intriguing: the social and economical status factor lies outside of the circle between the conventional and enterprising types, the self-expression factor lies more inwards, but also next to the enterprising type, and the cognitive skills factor is positioned next to the conventional type. These relationships can be partly explained in that economical considerations are more important to people who tend to be either conventional, or enterprising types rather than any other types. Also, selfexpression can be logically associated with enterprising, as this field suggests more independence and less subordination. The proximity of cognitive skills to the conventional type is less explicable, and may be a result of an over emphasis on computational skills in this factor. What is more noteworthy is the 'isolated' position of the artistic type distant from any core factors. This suggests that, for people who are attracted to this field, other major considerations apart from their artistic interest are of less importance. It should be noted that in the other two impositions, not presented here, the variables of the
considerations questionnaire and the interest questionnaire are situated separately from each other. This shows the disparity between the two structures and the importance of using both questionnaires in the counseling process simultaneously, since each provides unique information, in addition to their common features discussed previously.
3.2. Gender and age differences Gender differences in the importance assigned to career considerations were investigated in two stages. First, the average weight of each specific consideration for each sex was calculated, and then a t-test was conducted to examine the significance of gender differences. The detailed results are found in an internal report of the HCCI. One-third of all considerations showed significant gender differences in the weight of importance assigned to them. Men assign more importance than women to the use of computational, spatial, analytical and technical skills in their job. They are more interested in working with materials and instruments, engaging in organizational and managerial work, involvement in team work and being in motion in their job. They also assign more importance to income level than women do. Women, on the other hand, put a greater emphasis than men on the integration of a mental aid aspect in their work. Fig. 2 shows the 10 most important considerations and 10 least important considerations for each sex. In the next stage, we wished to obtain a more general view of how both gender and age variables influence the preference of considerations in career choice, by using the core factors scores derived in the previous section. A two-way variance analysis of both gender and age dimensions was conducted for each of the core factors. The counselee population was divided into the following three age groups: 24 years old or less, 25-30 years old, and 31 years or more. Fig. 3 shows the average score of each core factor in the different groups as well as the significance of the results of the variance analysis. The number in parentheses denotes the order of the core factors by their importance for each group.
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men promotion possibilities responsibility and independence diversity on the job income level intellectual curiosity self expression concrete results initiative engaging with people dynamic work
women promotion possibilities responsibility and independence diversity on the job self expression concrete results intellectual curiosity engaging with people income level initiative dynamic work
men verbal skills computational skills using materials or instruments stress situations working with groups manual skills instruction and teaching mental aid physical aid work with animals or plants
women
tus, use of cognitive skills and physical conditions of the job; women assign more importance than men to helping skills. These trends replicate at a more general level the gender differences in specific considerations described previously. Age differences: Older people assign more importance than younger people to technical and practical aspects in the job and to the use of cognitive skills; younger people assign more importance than older people to social and economical status. Interaction effect: The factor of working with people shows an interesting shift across age and gender. At a young age there is no difference between men and women in the importance assigned to this factor, and both rate it as third in importance relative to other factors. However, among older men its importance is increased and it is raised to the second place, while women at an older age consider it less important and it is lowered to the fourth place.
2.
.;;;;C;
working with groups work outdoors stress situations manual skills instruction and teachin o using materials or instruments computational skills physical aid work with animals or plants technical skills
3.
Fig. 2. Ten highest and lowest considerations in career choice.
As can be seen in Fig. 3, the order of the core factors in all groups is very similar. However, some core factors differ significantly in their importance across gender and age:
1.
4. Comment
Gender differences: Men assign more importance than women to technical and practical aspects in the job, social and economical sta-
The results of the present study may prove useful for the implementation of the aspect-based approach in career counseling. Describing the
core consideration
24 years old or less men women
25-30 years old men women
self expression
7.30 (2)
7.25 (1)
7.54 (1)
7.18 (1)
social and economical status working with people cognitive skills
7.35 (1)
6.99
6.95 (2)
6.71
(2)
6.34 (3)
6.40 (3)
6.24 (3)
6.30 (3)
5.81 (4)
5.34 (4)
6.06 (4)
5.63 (5)
5.29 (5)
5.32 (6) 4.80 (7)
physical conditions practical and technical aspects helping skills
(2)
30 years old or more
variable
variable
age
interaction
sex
men 7.42 (1)
women 7.24 (1)
n.s.
n.S.
n.s.
6.77 (3) 6.80
6.70
p-.Ql
p-.Ol
n.s.
(2)
5.83 (4)
n.s.
n.s.
p=.05
(2)
6.35 (4)
6.14 (3)
p=.OI
p=.OI
n.S.
5.68 (6)
5.76 (4) 5.29 (5)
5.36 (6)
5.18 (7)
p=.02
n.s.
n.s.
4.92 (7)
5.79 (5)
5.28 (6)
5.84 (5)
5.38 (5.5)
p-Ol
p-.05
n.S.
5.17 (6)
5.20 (7)
5.12 (7)
5.23 (7)
5.38 (5.5)
p=.06
n.S.
n.S.
Fig. 3. Gender and age differences in core factors of career considerations.
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N. Adleret al. / Work 11 (1998) 331-338
structure of considerations in terms of underlying general factors, and gender and age differences may facilitate the use and understanding of this approach for both the counselor and the counselee. Referring to the first part, defining the major considerations people use in career decision making, in terms of underlying factors, allows for a better understanding of how counselees perceive the composition of their career preferences. Seven such factors have been singled out: technical and practical aspects in the job, social and economical status, working with people, use of cognitive skills, use of helping skills, and physical conditions of the job. These factors account for roughly one-half of the variance in responses to the considerations questionnaire. This means that there are also additional factors, whose content does not fall under this questionnaire, which account for the variance in responses. One of these factors is the occupational interests of the counselees, as reflected by other methods such as Holland's questionnaire. The partial disparity in content between the two structures calls for using both questionnaires in the counseling process, since each provides unique information. Acknowledging the common attributes of the aspect-based approach and the interest-based approach may also be useful in career counseling. As shown from the above results, the following typical ties between the structures of the two approaches can be observed: 'social type' counselees tend to consider helping skills as most important in their future occupation, 'realistic' and 'investigative' counselees emphasize technical and practical aspects in their considerations, 'enterprising' counselees consider working with people, self-expression and social and economical status as more important, the latter factor being shared also by 'conventional' counselees, and 'artistic' counselees tend to disregard other major considerations. In addition, the factor of physical conditions is considered equally among all interest types. This mapping of core factors in work considerations onto preferences in terms of interest types, can be compared to the specific pattern of preferences expressed by the counselee. In case of a relatively strong discrepancy, the mean-
ing of his or her preferences should be discussed more thoroughly. For example, a counselee that assigns the most importance to helping skills and yet shows major interest in the realistic field, exhibits an unusual preference pattern whose underlying basis should be ·further examined with the counselor. Referring to the second part, applying the above core factors to the examination of gender and age differences in considerations may help in outlining major trends in career preferences. While as a whole, most considerations are similar in their order of importance to all groups, some distinctive preferences emerge. Men tend to consider technical and practical aspects in the job, social and economical status, use of cognitive skills and physical conditions more than women, while women tend to consider helping skills more than men. This trend echoes, on a more precise level, the distinction drawn in existing literature between men's attraction to instrumental aspects and women's attraction to expressive aspects in the job. The shift in age is also informative. Younger counselees tend to relate more importance than older ones to social and economical considerations in their future job, while older counselees tend to consider, more than younger ones, the use of technical, practical and cognitive skills in the job. It seems, then, that at a younger age extrinsic-materialistic needs are more dominant in career choice, whereas at an older age people look for more intrinsic satisfaction in the occupation they seek, such as making use of their skills. This can be accounted for by several reasons. For one, older counselees may feel less need to establish themselves economically. Secondly, they have acquired more experience and are thus more aware of the skills they wish to employ in their job. Another interesting trend is the importance increased with age that men assign to the various aspects of working with people, while women reduce its importance with age. Again, perhaps men develop with age a better understanding and awareness of their social needs and skills. Women, on the other hand, who to begin with are said to be more aware of social relationships and interests (Bem, 1974) perhaps feel freer at an older
N. Adleret al. / Work 11 (J998) 331-338
age to satisfy other considerations in the sought after-job. Further research is needed to establish these possibilities. Here too, knowledge of typical trends in gender and age preferences may prove useful to the counselor, when discussing with the counselee his or her specific responses in the counseling session. The counselee's responses can be compared to group norms and the extent of diversion from these norms can be acknowledged. This by no means implies that diversions from social norms should be discouraged. Rather, this knowledge enables the counselor to deepen the understanding of the counselee's decision making process. It may be examined to what extent specific preferences are influenced, consciously or unconsciously, by cultural biases such as social desirability, sexual stereotypes, or peer and family pressure, and to what extent they reflect the counselee's intrinsic choices. It should be noted that the present findings refer only to a segment of the popUlation, and one that may not represent the general Israeli population. Most counselees were under 24 years old, had 12 years or more of education and exhibited an orientation towards further education. Further research is needed in order to examine whether the trends observed in this study can be generalized to other segments of the population. Making comparisons to gender and age preferences in career considerations in other countries is also called for. After outlining possible applications of the present findings in the career counseling, we wish to note some of the general advantages of the aspect-based approach in this process, as applied through the use of the considerations questionnaire. First, this approach forces counselees to think in terms of a defined set of aspects that can be used as criteria for evaluating work alternatives (Gati, 1986). While the possible set of criteria may be very large, people tend to focus on a relatively small group of considerations, that are more salient in their perception of the occupational world. By using a considerations questionnaire that captures a comprehensive list of work criterions, counselees are thus encouraged to reexamine their preferences more systematically and
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from these to better understand their personal needs, values and motives. Secondly, the aspectbased approach engages the counselees with the need to compromise, which is essential in career decision making. The gap between preconceived images of an ideal career and attainable occupational alternatives becomes more accessible through this approach. Compromise is involved both in the readiness to consider an occupational alternative, despite its inferiority in certain aspects relative to another alternative, and in the ability to change the relative importance assigned to aspects (Gati, 1993). With the use of the consideration questionnaire in the counseling process, these consequences on career choice may be confronted. Finally, these advantages may prove even more valuable in specific vocational counseling domains, such as in educational settings or rehabilitation counseling settings. Assimilating criteria for evaluating work alternatives and recognizing the need for compromise are necessary features for returning to work following the rehabilitation process. Practitioners and theoreticians in the rehabilitation field are encouraged to incorporate the aspect-based approach via the use of the considerations questionnaire into occupational counseling in their field. References Bern SL. The measurement of psychological androgyny. J Consult Clin Psychol 1974;42:155-162. Erez M, Borochov 0, Mannheim B. Work values of youth: Effects of sex or sex role typing? J Vocat Behav 1989;34: 350--366. Gati I. Making career decisions: A sequential elimination approach. J Couns Psychol 1986;33:408-417. Gati I. Career compromises. J Couns Psychol 1993;40:416-424. Gati I, Garty Y, Fassa N. Using career-related aspects to assess person-environment fit. J Couns Psychol 1996;43: 196-206. Gati I, Osipov SH, Givon M. Gender differences in career decision making: The content and structure of preferences. J Couns Psychol 1995;42:204-216. Guttman LA. General nonmetric technique for finding the smallest coordinate space for configuration of points. Psychometrica 1968;33:469-506_
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Holland JL. Making vocational choices. Engelwood Cliffs NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1973. Meir EI, Feldman S. Measure of women's interests using Holland's vocational classification. J Vocat Behav 1976; 9:345-353. Lunneborg PW. Women changing work. New York: Bergin Garvey, 1990.
Roe A. The psychology of occupations. New York: Wiley, 1956. Wooler S. Let the decision maker decide: A case against assuming common occupational value structures. J Occup Psychol 1985;57:217-227.
