An Investigation of Holland Types and the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire—Fifth Edition - Statistical Data Included

Career Development Quarterly, Dec, 2001 by Dale R. Pietrzak, Betsy J. Page

The authors investigated the stability of the published Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire--Fifth Edition (16PF; S. Conn & M. Rieke, 1994) predictors in predicting Holland types as measured by the Self-Directed Search (SDS; J. Holland, B. Fritzsche, & A. Powell, 1994). Because the majority of the published regression equations contained unstable predictors, the authors developed modified multiple regression equations using the more stable predictors. However, these equations, although statistically significant, shared less than 50% of the variance with the criterion variable, suggesting limited practical utility or support for the domain overlap of the 16PF and the SDS. The authors recommend that the SDS be used when a measure of SDS types is needed.

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The Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire--Fifth Edition (16PF; Conn & Rieke, 1994) is consistently rated as one of the most used and researched personality tests (Cattell, Eber, &Tatsuoka, 1970; Walsh & Betz, 1995). It contains 16 bipolar scales (called "primary factors") and several validity scales, with 15 of the factors measuring personality traits and 1 factor measuring cognitive ability or reasoning ability (Conn & Rieke, 1994). One reason the 16PF has been such a popular measure is that validated special scores greatly expand the utility of the 16PF for the counselor. These scores allow the instrument to assess the role of personality structure in leadership, creativity, and specific occupations. Thus, the instrument not only allows the client's interests and abilities to be examined but also allows his or her personality to be taken into consideration during occupational decision making. For example, a client may have interests that are similar to those of a surgeon but may have a score on the 16PF that indicates a great degree of impulsivity and impatience. Of course, this characteristic would need to be addressed during the career decision-making process with this client. Although certainly not all clients would benefit from such a discussion, many occupations (e.g., police officer, clergy, or airline pilot) do require that the personality of the applicant be taken into consideration.

One set of special scores obtained from the 16PF, available by computer scoring, is the prediction of Holland's occupational types. The intent of these special scores is to allow the career counselor to explore the client's interests and personality structure in the career counseling process (Conn & Rieke, 1994). Using the 16PF and the Self-Directed Search (SDS; Holland, Fritzsche, & Powell, 1994) in career counseling requires understanding the overlap of personality and interests, in general, and the ability of the 16PF to predict the SDS codes, in particular.

The field of career counseling continues to examine the relationship between personality and interests and to debate whether there is an overlap of personality and interests or whether these constructs are largely separate domains (Holland, Fritzsche, et al., 1994; Janda, 1998; Oliver, Lent, & Zack, 1998; Young & Chen, 1999; Zunker, 1994). Because the 16PF is one of the most commonly used personality measures that has application to career counseling, the overlap of the 16PF and interests may be of particular importance to career counselors (Oliver et al., 1998; Young & Chen, 1999; Zunker, 1994). The proposed overlap of interests may be important for several reasons, but arguably one of the more important reasons for the career counselor may be the utility of making assumptions about the personality of the client from interest inventory results or of making assumptions about interests given a client's personality structure. If empirical support for the overlap of the personality and interest domains can be de monstrated, then the career counselor may be able to discuss the client's personality characteristics that may be important for a specific career, given the results of an interest inventory. Without the establishment of empirical support for the overlap of these domains, making any assumptions about personality from interests, or interests from personality, is risky, at best.

An additional possible benefit of empirical support for the overlap of interests and personality domains, especially in today's HMO-styled market where assessment time is often limited, is a reduction in testing time in situations when information about personality and interests is beneficial. It can certainly be argued that not all career decisions would benefit from data on personality and interests; however, for situations in which it would be beneficial, a substantial reduction in resources may be possible. The Holland types were likely choices to examine the overlap of more general personality and occupational types because Holland conceptualized these occupational types as "personality types" (Holland, Fritzsche, et al., 1994, p. 1). He contended that there are six occupational personality types, found in both people and the environment, that can be described using a hexagonal model (Holland, Fritzsche, et al., 1994). Holland further contended that the better the match between a person's personality typ e and his or her work environment, the more likely the individual is to find the occupation satisfying. Because Holland conceived of his model as a personality model, we believed that it seemed logical to examine the overlap of interests and personality traits.

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An Investigation of Holland Types and the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire—Fifth Edition - Statistical Data Included

Career Development Quarterly, Dec, 2001 by Dale R. Pietrzak, Betsy J. Page

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