A test of Holland's hexagonal model of occupational classification using an inner-city high school population

Abstract

John L. Holland has developed a theory which states that people can be characterized by their resemblance to each of six personality types: realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, and conventional. Holland further indicates that the environments in which people live can be characterized by their resemblance to six model environments which correspond to the six personality types. Finally, the pairing of persons and environments leads to predictable outcomes relative to vocational choice, vocational stability and achievement, educational choice, and susceptibility to influence.

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which Holland's model of occupational classification could be applied to an inner-city high school population.

In order to determine the applicability of Holland's model to the population being tested, four hypotheses were formulated. 1. There are significant relationships between the occupational classifications of Holland's model when applied to an inner city high school population. 2. There are significant relationships between the intercorrelations of the occupational classifications of Holland's national sample and the intercorrelationR of the occupational classifications of the present study. 3. There is a significant relationship between the rank ordering I of the intercorrelations of the occupational classifications of Holland's study and the rank ordering of the intercorrelations occupational classifications of the present study. 4. There are dominant personality types in an inner-city high school population as measured by the Vocational Preference Inventory. The subjects for the study were 492 high school sophomores (218 male, 274 female) from Region I of the Baltimore Public·School System. To test the first hypothesis, data collected by the VPI were treated by the correlation program BMDO3D. This treatment resulted in a correlation matrix. The data were then displayed on a hexagonal model. The relationships among the scales on the hexagon were treated by Spearman and Kendall correlation coefficients. The results indicated that the relationships were significant at the .001 level.

The second hypothesis required a comparison of the hexagon which resulted from testing the first hypothesis with Holland's hexagonal model. The results revealed higher correlations among the six scales of the present study than for Holland's study.

The third hypothesis was tested by treating the rank ordered correlations from the present study and Holland's model with the Spearman coefficient of rank correlation, The results indicated that the two rank orderings were significant at the .01 level.

The fourth hypothesis 'Was tested by using the SPSS program Codebook. The results yielded means and standard deviations for male and female subjects. 'l'his made it possible to determine the three highest variables for male and female subjects. The dominant variables for the male subjects were Realistic, Enterprising, and Conventional, and for female subjects, social, Artistic, and Conventional. The results of statistically treating the data from this study revealed similarities between Holland's findings and the findings of this study. Thus, it could be suggested that the VP! is an appropriate instrument to use with inner-city high school students.