Examining the Relationship between Career Interests, Styles, and Subjective Well-Being with the Strong Interest Inventory

Author

Kristine Buelow, Southern Illinois University CarbondaleFollow

Date of Award

8-1-2013

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Rottinghaus, Patrick

Abstract

The Strong Interest Inventory (SII; Donnay, Morris, Schaubhut, & Thompson, 2005) has a broad research base commonly comprised of vocationally-relevant constructs such as career satisfaction (Hees, 2010), self-efficacy (Betz & Borgen, 2000), and educational aspirations (Rottinghaus, Lindley, Green, & Borgen, 2002). The present study aimed to expand the research base on the SII by linking the fields of vocational and positive psychology by examining the relationships between vocational interests, personal styles, and subjective well-being. This study focused specifically on the General Occupational Themes (GOTs) and Personal Style Scales (PSSs) of the SII by exploring the relationship between these scales and subjective well-being across a sample of 4945 working adults in eight occupations, including administrative assistant, a STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) fields composite, realtor, elementary school teacher, sales manager, graphic designer, attorney, and automobile mechanic. Regression analyses demonstrated that the GOTs and PSSs individually explain a significant portion of variance in subjective well-being, as well as that the PSSs explain a significant amount of variance in subjective well-being above and beyond the GOTs. Occupation-specific hypotheses for GOTs and PSSs were also supported for 4 of the 8 occupations. This study provides further validation for the 2005 SII, specifically the newest PSS, Team Orientation. Future research, theory, and practice implications are discussed herein.