The basic confidence scales of the Expanded Skills Confidence Inventory were evaluated using 715 college students. The scales were correlated as predicted with confidence for Holland's six vocational themes and with the basic interest scales of the Strong Interest Inventory. Discriminant analyses using educational aspirations and major and career preferences job families as dependent variables indicated that using both interests and confidence measures led to additional predictive power over either one alone. The more specific sets of scales accounted for the most variance. Data supported the hypothesis of more frequent occurrence of score patterns of higher interest but lower confidence relative to gender-nonstereotypic domains (e.g., mechanical for women and helping for men), thus suggesting the utility of efficacy theory-based interventions to broaden the range of career options. It is hoped that these findings will facilitate the use of parallel measures of interests and self-efficacy in research and career counseling.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychology Review, 84, 191-215.
2.
Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
3.
Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: Freeman.
4.
Betz, N. E. (1987). Use of discriminant analysis in counseling psychology research. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 34, 393-403.
5.
Betz, N. E. (1992). Counseling uses of career self-efficacy theory. Career Development Quarterly, 41, 22-26.
6.
Betz, N. E. (1993). Issues in the use of ability and interest measures with women. Journal of Career Assessment, 1, 217-232.
7.
Betz, N. E. (1999). Getting clients to act on their interests: Self-efficacy as a mediator of the implementation of vocational interests. In M. L. Savickas & A. R. Spokane (Eds.), Vocational interests: Meaning, measurement, and counseling use (pp. 327-344). Palo Alto, CA: Davies-Black.
8.
Betz, N. E., & Borgen, F. H. (2000). The future of career assessment: Integrating vocational interests with self-efficacy and personal styles. Journal of Career Assessment, 8, 329-338.
9.
Betz, N. E., Borgen, F. H., & Harmon, L. W. (1996). Skills Confidence Inventory. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.
10.
Betz, N. E., Borgen, F. H., & Harmon, L. W. (2002). The Expanded Skills Confidence Inventory. Unpublished inventory, Department of Psychology, Ohio State University, Columbus.
11.
Betz, N. E., Borgen, F. H., Kaplan, A., & Harmon, L. W. (1998). Gender and Holland type as moderators of the validity and interpretive utility of the Skills Confidence Inventory. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 53, 281-299.
12.
Betz, N. E., Borgen, F. H., Rottinghaus, P., Paulsen, A., Halper, C., & Harmon, L. W. (in press). The Expanded Skills Confidence Inventory: Measuring basic dimensions of vocational activity. Journal of Vocational Behavior.
13.
Betz, N. E., & Hackett, G. (1981). The relationship of career-related self-efficacy expectations to perceived career options in college women and men. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 28, 399-410.
14.
Betz, N. E., Harmon, L. W., & Borgen, F. H. (1996). The relationship of self-efficacy for the Holland themes to gender, occupational group membership, and vocational interests. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 43, 90-98.
15.
Borgen, F. H., & Seling, M. J. (1978). Uses of discriminant analysis following MANOVA: Multivariate statistics for multivariate purposes. Journal of Applied Psychology, 63, 689-697.
16.
Campbell, D. P., Hyne, S. A., & Nilsen, D. L. (1992). Manual for the Campbell Interest and Skill Survey: CISS. Minneapolis, MN: National Computer Systems.
17.
Chartrand, J. M., Borgen, F. H., Betz, N. E., & Donnay, D. (2002). Using the Strong Interest Inventory and the Skills Confidence Inventory to explain career goals. Journal of Career Assessment, 10, 169-189.
18.
Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (3rd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
19.
Day, S. X., & Rounds, J. (1997). “A little more than kin, and less than kind”: Basic interests in vocational research and career counseling. Career Development Quarterly, 45, 207-220.
20.
Donnay, D. A. C., & Borgen, F. H. (1996). Validity, structure, and content of the 1994 Strong Interest Inventory. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 43, 275-291.
21.
Donnay, D. A. C., & Borgen, F. H. (1999). The incremental validity of vocational self-efficacy: An examination of interest, self-efficacy, and occupation. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 46, 432-447.
22.
Glass, G. V., & Stanley, J. C. (1984). Statistical methods in psychology and education. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
23.
Goodman, L. A., & Kruskal, W. H. (1972). Measures for association for cross-classification IV. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 67, 415-421.
24.
Hackett, G., & Betz, N. (1981). A self-efficacy approach to the career development of women. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 18, 326-339.
25.
Harmon, L. W., Borgen, F. H., Berreth, J. M., King, J. C., Schauer, D., & Ward, C. C. (1996). The Skills Confidence Inventory: A measure of self-efficacy. Journal of Career Assessment, 4, 457-477.
26.
Harmon, L. W., Hansen, J. C., Borgen, F. H., & Hammer, A. L. (1994). Strong Interest Inventory: Applications and technical guide. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
27.
Holland, J. L. (1997). Making vocational choices: A theory of vocational personalities and work environments (3rd ed.). Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc.
28.
Isaacs, J., Borgen, F. H., Donnay, D. A. C., & Hansen, T. A. (1997, August). Self-efficacy and interests: Relationships of Holland themes to college major. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, Chicago.
29.
Lachenbruch, P. A. (1967). An almost unbiased method of obtaining confidence intervals for the probability of misclassification in discriminant analysis. Biometrics, 23, 639-645.
30.
Lapan, R. T., Shaughnessy, P., & Boggs, K. (1996). Efficacy expectations and vocational interests as mediators between sex and choice of math/science college majors: A longitudinal study. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 49, 277-291.
31.
Lent, R. W., Brown, S. D., & Hackett, G. (1994). Toward a unifying social cognitive theory of career and academic interest, choice, and performance. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 34, 79-122.
32.
Lucas, J. L., Wanberg, C. R., & Zytowski, D. G. (1997). Development of a career task self-efficacy scale: The Kuder Task Self-Efficacy Scale. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 50, 432-459.
33.
Matlin, M. W. (1999). The psychology of women (4th ed). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
34.
Parsons, E., & Betz, N. E. (1998). Test-retest reliability and validity of the Skills Confidence Inventory. Journal of Career Assessment, 6, 1-12.
35.
Rottinghaus, P. J., Lindley, L. D., Green, M. A., & Borgen, F. H. (2002). Educational aspirations: The contribution of self-efficacy, interests, and personality. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 61, 1-19.
36.
Rounds, J., & Day, S. X. (1999). Describing, evaluating, and creating vocational interest structures. In M. L. Savickas & A. R. Spokane (Eds.), Vocational interests: Their meaning, measurement, and use in counseling (pp. 103-133). Palo Alto, CA: Davies-Black.
37.
Rounds, J., Smith, T. J., Armstrong, P. I., & Donnay, D. A. C. (2000). Strong occupational classification system. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.
