A vocational interest inventory for the areas of child development and family relationships

The purpose of this research was the development of a vocational interest inventory for the child development and family relationships areas. Three broad occupational areas covering the field - child development, family service, and teaching/extension - were identified. Responses of professionals concerning characteristics of their vocation were utilized to develop thirty questions for each area. Items were randomly arranged into a questionnaire which was administered to a sample of 462 undergraduates whose responses underwent principal components factor analysis followed by orthogonal rotation. Six factors - Teaching/Extension, Child Development, Family Service, Work with Handicapped, Group Child Care, Child Service Organizational Activities - were identified and factor-related scores were generated for each respondent.

All MHFD junior/senior scores (N = 91) underwent pattern analysis which revealed three groups whose probability of chance occurrence was S .03. Occupational profiles generated from each group represent minimum and maximum response levels obtained by group members for each of the six factors. Two Child Development and Family Service profile were generated. These three profiles do not represent all junior/senior respondents. Only 27% and 18% of the Child Development and Family Service respondents, respectively, contributed to profile development. When all freshman/sophomore scores were compared with the identified profiles, approximately 20% of the respondents had occupationally interpretable patterns.

Thus, many individuals cannot be counseled positively on the basis of inventory results. Results should be considered tentative and should be used as a guide in conjunction with other vocational guidance techniques.

Administration to a large professional sample is recommended.