Status of Holland's Investigative personality types and their consistency levels seven years later

Assessed the predictability of J. L. Holland's Investigative personality type and the 3 consistency levels over a 7-yr period. A sample of 95 male Investigative Ss who completed the Self-Directed Search (SDS) as college freshmen in 1970 were sent a questionnaire 7 yrs later. The questionnaire gathered information about the Ss' educational and occupational situations including present occupation, educational status, ideal career choice, and projected career in 1982. Hypotheses concerned the predictability over a 7-yr period of (a) 1-, 2-, and 3-letter SDS codes and most recent daydream codes and (b) Holland's sign of consistency. Results indicate that for Investigative-type males, the SDS had moderately high efficiency in predicting, 7 yrs later, actual job entry, graduate major, and ideal and projected career plans. The differential predictability of Holland's 3 consistency levels was supported in 21 of the 24 tests applied. Future research is recommended on the predictiveness of other personality types and Holland's diagnostic schema. Implications for counseling and future research are indicated. (40 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).