Do Interests and Cognitive Abilities Help Explain College Major Choice Equally Well for Women and Men?

Journal of Career Assessment

Volumn 20, Issue 4, 2012, Pages 479-496

  Päßler, Katja ^a   Hell, Benedikt ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF KONSTANZ   (Germany)

^b UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES AND ARTS NORTHWESTERN SWITZERLAND   (Switzerland)

Author keywords

cognitive abilities; gender differences; major choice; RIASEC; vocational interests

Indexed keywords

EID: 84868032010     PISSN: 10690727     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/1069072712450009     Document Type: Article

References (60)

1. Achter J. A.,Lubinski D.,Benbow C. P.,Eftekhari-Sanjani H.Assessing vocational preferences among gifted adolescents adds incremental validity to abilities: A discriminant analysis of educational outcomes over a 10-year interval.Journal of Educational Psychology. 1999;91:777-786.
2. Ackerman P. L.A theory of adult intellectual development: Process, personality, interests, and knowledge.Intelligence. 1996;22:227-257.
3. Ackerman P. L.,Heggestad E. D.Intelligence, personality, and interests: Evidence for overlapping traits.Psychological Bulletin. 1997;121:219-245.
4. Allen J.,Robbins S.Prediction of college major persistence based on vocational interests and first-year academic performance.Research in Higher Education. 2008;49:62-79.
5. Allen J.,Robbins S.Effects of interest-major congruence, motivation, and academic performance on timely degree attainment.Journal of Counseling Psychology. 2010;57:23-35.
6. Armstrong P. I.,Fouad N. A.,Rounds J.,Hubert L.Quantifying and interpreting group differences in interest profiles.Journal of Career Assessment. 2010;18:115-132.
7. Armstrong P. I.,Vogel D. L.Interpreting the interest-efficacy association from a RIASEC perspective.Journal of Counseling Psychology. 2009;56:392-407.
8. Assouline M.,Meir E. I.Meta-analysis of the relationship between congruence and well-being measures.Journal of Vocational Behavior. 1987;31:319-332.
9. Austin J. T.,Hanisch K. A.Occupational attainment as a function of abilities and interests: A longitudinal analysis using project TALENT data.Journal of Applied Psychology. 1990;75:77-86.
10. Beauducel A.,Kersting M.Fluid and crystallized intelligence and the Berlin model of intelligence structure (BIS).European Journal of Psychological Assessment. 2002;18:97-112.
11. Benbow C. P.,Lubinski D.,Shea D. L.,Eftekhari-Sanjani H.Sex differences in mathematical reasoning ability at age 13: Their status 20 years later.Psychological Science. 2000;11:474-480.
12. Bergmann C.,Eder F.Allgemeiner Interessen-Struktur-Test mit Umwelt-Struktur-Test (AIST-R/UST-R). Göttingen: Beltz Test; 2005:.
13. Budescu D. V.Dominance analysis: A new approach to the problem of relative importance of predictors in multiple regression.Psychological Bulletin. 1993;114:542-551.
14. Cohen-Bendahan C. C. C.,van de Beek C.,Berenbaum S. A.Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews. 2005:353-384.
15. Cronbach L. J.Essentials of psychological testing. Oxford, England: Harper; 1949:.
16. Dawis R. V.The individual differences tradition in counseling psychology.Journal of Counseling Psychology. 1992;39:7-19.
17. Feldman K. A.,Smart J. C.,Ethington C. A.Major field and person-environment fit: Using Holland's theory to study change and stability of college students.Journal of Higher Education. 1999;70:642-669.
18. Fouad N. A.,Mohler C. J.Cultural validity of Holland's theory and the strong interest inventory for five racial/ethnic groups.Journal of Career Assessment. 2004;12:423-439.
19. Furnham A.Self-estimates of intelligence: Culture and gender difference in self and other estimates of both general (g) and multiple intelligences.Personality and Individual Differences. 2001;31:1381-1405.
20. Gottfredson L. S.The challenge and promise of cognitive career assessment.Journal of Career Assessment. 2003;11:115-135.
21. Hailer A. (2004).Entwicklung eines Fragebogens zur Erfassung verschiedener Aspekte der Studienwahlreife zum Zwecke der strukturierten Studienberatung. [Development of an instrument for assessing distinct aspects of career maturation for career counseling.] (Unpublished manuscript). University of Hohenheim, Germany.
22. Halpern D. F.Sex differences in cognitive abilities. 2000). Sex differences in cognitive abilities (3rd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers; 2000:.
23. Harmon L. W.,Hansen J. C.,Borgen F. H.,Hammer A. L.Applications and technical guide for the strong interest inventory. Palo Alto, CA: CA Consulting; 1994:.
24. Hell B.,Päßler K.Are occupational interests hormonally influenced? The 2D:4D-interest nexus.Personality and Individual Differences. 2011;51:376-380.
25. Hell B.,Päßler K.,Schuler H.Was-studiere-ich.de: Konzept, Nutzen und Anwendungsmöglichkeiten. [Was-studiere-ich.de: Concept, benefit, and application.].Zeitschrift für Studium und Beratung, 4. 2009;:9-14.
26. Hirschi A.Development and criterion validity of differentiated and elevated vocational interests in adolescence.Journal of Career Assessment. 2009;17:384-401.
27. Hirschi A.,Läge D.Holland's secondary constructs of vocational interests and career choice readiness of secondary students: Measures for related but different constructs.Journal of Individual Differences. 2007;28:205-218.
28. Holland J. L.A theory of vocational choice.Journal of Counseling Psychology. 1959;6:35-45.
29. Holland J. L.1997). Making vocational choices: A theory of vocational personalities and work environments(3rd Ed.). Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources; 1997:.
30. Humphreys L. G.,Lubinski D.,Yao G.Utility of predicting group membership and the role of spatial visualization in becoming an engineer, physical scientist, or artist.Journal of Applied Psychology. 1993;78:250-261.
31. Humphreys L. G.,Yao G.Prediction of graduate major from cognitive and self-report test scores obtained during the high school years.Psychological Reports. 2002;90:3-30.
32. Jäger A. O.Mehrmodale Klassifikation von Intelligenzleistung: Experimentell kontrollierte Weiterentwicklung eines deskriptiven Intelligenzstrukturmodells [Multimodal classification of intelligence tests: Experimentally controlled development of a descriptive model of intelligence structure].Diagnostica. 1982;28:195-225.
33. Jäger A. O.Intelligenzstrukturforschung: Konkurrierende Modelle, neue Entwicklungen, Perspektiven [Research on intelligence structure: Competing models, new developments, perspectives].Psychologische Rundschau. 1984;35:21-35.
34. Johnson J. W.A heuristic method for estimating the relative weight of predictor variables in multiple regression.Multivariate Behavioral Research. 2000;35:1-19.
35. Kline P.The handbook of psychological testing. 2000). The handbook of psychological testing (2nd ed.). London, England: Routledge.London, England: Routledge; 2000:.
36. Larson L. M.,Wei M.,Wu T.,Borgen F. H.,Bailey D. C.Discriminating among educational majors and career aspirations in Taiwanese undergraduates: The contribution of personality and self-efficacy.Journal of Counseling Psychology. 2007;54:395-408.
37. Larson L. M.,Wu T.,Bailey D. C.,Borgen F. H.,Gasser C. E.Male and female college students' college majors: The contribution of basic vocational confidence and interests.Journal of Career Assessment. 2010;18:16-33.
38. Lent R. W.,Brown S. D.,Hackett G.Toward a unifying social cognitive theory of career and academic interest, choice, and performance.Journal of Vocational Behavior. 1994;45:79-122.
39. Lubinski D.Introduction to the special section on cognitive abilities: 100 years after Spearman's (1904) "general intelligence,' objectively determined and measured'.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 2004;86:96-111.
40. Lubinski D.Neglected aspects and truncated appraisals in vocational counseling: Interpreting the interest-efficacy association from a broader perspective: Comment on Armstrong and Vogel (2009).Journal of Counseling Psychology. 2010;57:226-238.
41. Lunneborg C. E.,Lunneborg P. W.Seattle: University of Washington; 1975:.
42. Miner C. U.,Osborne W. L.,Jaeger R. M.The ability of career maturity indicators to predict interest score differentiation, consistency, and elevation.Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development. 1997;29:187-201.
43. Päßler K.,Hell B. (2010, September).Studienerfolgsprognose: Not much more than g [Predicting academic success: Not much more than g?]? Paper presented at the Meeting of the German Society of Psychology, Bremen, Germany.
44. Patrick L.,Care E.,Ainley M.The relationship between vocational interests, self-efficacy, and achievement in the prediction of educational pathways.Journal of Career Assessment. 2011;19:61-74.
45. Porter S. R.,Umbach P. D.College major choice: An analysis of person-environment fit.Research in Higher Education. 2006;47:429-449.
46. Rounds J. B.,Tracey T. J.Career counseling: Contemporary topics in vocational psychology. Osipow S. H., ed. Hillsdale, NJ, England: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc; 1990:1-44.
47. Schiefele U.,Krapp A.,Winteler A.The role of interest in learning and development. Renninger K. A.Hidi S., ed. Hillsdale, NJ, England: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc; 1992:183-212.
48. Schmidt D. B.,Lubinski D.,Benbow C. P.Validity of assessing educational-vocational preference dimensions among intellectually talented 13-year-olds.Journal of Counseling Psychology. 1998;45:436-453.
49. Seymour E.,Hewitt N. M.Talking about leaving. Why undergraduates leave the sciences. Boulder, CO: Westview Press; 1997:.
50. Shea D. L.,Lubinski D.,Benbow C. P.Importance of assessing spatial ability in intellectually talented young adolescents: A 20-year longitudinal study.Journal of Educational Psychology. 2001;93:604-614.
51. Steiger J. H.,Fouladi R. T.R2: A computer program for interval estimation, power calculation, and hypothesis testing for squared multiple correlation.Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, and Computers. 1992;4:581-582.
52. Su R.,Rounds J.,Armstrong P. I.Men and things, women and people: A meta-analysis of sex differences in interests.Psychological Bulletin. 2009;135:859-884.
53. Tabachnick B. G.,Fidell L. S.Using multivariate statistics. 2007). Using multivariate statistics (5th Ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon/Pearson Education.Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon/Pearson Education; 2007:.
54. Tracey T. G.,Hopkins N.Correspondence of interests and abilities with occupational choice.Journal of Counseling Psychology. 2001;48 (2): 178-189.
55. Tracey T. J. G.,Robbins S. B.The interest-major congruence and college success relation: A longitudinal study.Journal of Vocational Behavior. 2006;69:64-89.
56. Tracey T. J. G.,Rounds J.Scientist-practitioner perspectives on test interpretation. Goodyear R. K.Lichtenberg J. W., ed. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon; 1999:113-131.
57. Tranberg M.,Slane S.,Ekeberg S. E.The relation between interest congruence and satisfaction: A metaanalysis.Journal of Vocational Behavior. 1993;42:253-264.
58. Tsabari O.,Tziner A.,Meir E. I.Updated meta-analysis on the relationship between congruence and satisfaction.Journal of Career Assessment. 2005;13:216-232.
59. Wai J.,Lubinski D.,Benbow C.Spatial ability for STEM domains: Aligning over 50 years of cumulative psychological knowledge solidifies its importance.Journal of Educational Psychology. 2009;101:817-835.
60. Webb R. M.,Lubinski D.,Benbow C. P.Mathematically facile adolescents with math-science aspirations: New perspectives on their educational and vocational development.Journal of Educational Psychology. 2002;94:785-794.