Gender, Ethnicity, and College Students' Responses to the Strong‐Campbell Interest Inventory

Abstract

In this study we investigated the career interest patterns of White American, African American, and Hispanic students attending a summer orientation program at a predominantly White university. A total of 77 students completed the Strong‐Campbell Interest Inventory (SCII). Responses were analyzed by gender and ethnicity. The results indicated a gender effect for the Realistic theme. There were no ethnic differences in responses; there was, however, an interaction effect for gender and ethnicity on the Artistic theme and on the two special scales of the SCII: Academic Comfort (AC) and Introversion‐Extroversion (I‐E). Implications of the findings are discussed. Este estudio investiga la distribución del interés por una carrera de estudiantes Anglo‐Americanos, Afro‐Americanos, e Hispanos que as‐isten a un programa de orientación durante el verano en una universidad que es en su mayor parte anglo‐sajona. Setenta y siete estudientes respondieron a el inventorio Strong‐Campbell Interest. Se analizaron las respuestas según género y etnia. Los resultados indicaron un efecto de genero para el Tema Realista. No había diferencias étnicas en las respuestas, a pesar de eso, había un efecto de interacción entre género y etnia en el Tema Artístico, y en las dos Escalas Especiales de SCII: Academic Confort e Introversión‐Extroversión. Se discuten las implicaciones de los resultados.

Black-white differences on the Strong Interest Inventory General Occupational Themes and Basic Interest Scales at ages 16 to 65

“…In contrast, Yura did identify significant interactions for four interest scales: Mathematics, Medical Science, Teaching, and Social Service. Also, Tomlinson and Evans-Hughes (1991) found a significant Sex ϫ Ethnicity interaction for the Artistic theme with their small total sample of 77 Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics. Such interactions, however, have not been found in other studies.…”

“…These studies, however, differed from the present study and from studies that agreed with the present results in two important ways: they used an instrument other than the Strong, either the Self-Directed Search or the Vocational Preference Inventory; and they used subjects who were taken from the same academic fields (premedical and nursing students) or from the same occupations (engineers, physicians, lawyers). Tomlinson and Evans-Hughes (1991) found a nonsignificant Ethnicity main effect in their investigation of 77 White, Black, and Hispanic incoming college freshmen on the Strong-Campbell, but their study included too few Whites (n ϭ 12) or Hispanics (n ϭ 14) to permit meaningful interpretation of the data.…”

Career Assessment With African-American Clients

“…Further, there was evidence of substantial sex differences, and often of race-sex interactions, in interest patterns and validity rates (Hines, 1983;Howard, 1981;Tomlinson & Evans-Hughes, 1991;Yura, 1985). Studies directly examining validity showed mixed results; some studies suggested equal hit rates for African-Americans and Caucasians, whereas others suggested substantially lower hit rates for African-American samples (Borgen & Harper, 1973;Hines, 1983;Whetstone & Hayles, 1975).…”

Explaining the Appeal of Sales Careers: A Comparison of Black and White College Students

“…However, black and white female college students differ on the importance of job autonomy (Steward, Gimenez, and Jackson 1995). Using the same measure of job attributes, Tomlinson and Evans-Hughes (1991) reported no racial difference but Doughtie et al (1976) determined the existence of significant racial differences between black and white college students. In short, the studies that focus on black students suggest that autonomy is important, but race-comparative studies report conflicting findings.…”