Interest

Introduction

This entry briefly summarizes highlights of what is known currently about the assessment of interests including its underlying scientific basis. The history of the measurement of interests is briefly described. Structural issues are discussed and alternative ways to measure interests, including some of the currently used measures of interests, are briefly reviewed.

Nature of Interests

Although they have been studied most comprehensively as they relate to occupational choices, interests identify aspects of a person that constitute enduring individual difference variables (Crites, 1999). Interests affect a number of life choices and activities in which people are likely to invest time, energy and attention; they appear to influence [Page 478]both work and life satisfaction (Super, 1940; Super & Crites, 1962).

The definition of the term ‘interests’ that will be used here is the following:

Interests are relatively stable psychological characteristics of people which identify the personal evaluation (subjective attributions of ‘goodness’ or ‘badness’, judged degree of personal fit or misfit) attached to particular groups of occupational or leisure activity clusters.

Occupational interests, the primary focus of this entry, have been studied since the early 1900s, were initially approached primarily as a useful dimension for predicting such issues as occupational choice and career satisfaction rather than as psychological dimensions of interest in their own right.

Interests, as measured by such early measures as Strong's 1927 Vocational Interest Blank (SVIB; Strong, 1943) and Kuder's Preference Record – Personal (Kuder, 1948; Kuder and Zytowski, 1991), were found to be markedly reliable and to predict well the college and occupational choices. The reason for this consistency partly attests to the psychometric excellence of the early measures but also to the nature of the underlying construct. Recent evidence (e.g. Gottfredson, 1999) points to a strong heritability component to occupational interests, perhaps as much as 50%. Such data would help explain the strong reliability of occupational interests and their limited susceptibility to change efforts.

Contemporary interest theory, largely based on, or deriving from, the prolific empirical and theoretical work of John L. Holland and his associates (e.g. Holland, 1997), reduced complex interest measures that typically had focused on individual items or item clusters in predicting career choices to six primary factors, which Holland has labelled ‘occupational personality’ types. These groupings were also used to describe the occupational environments in which people work, essentially collections of people in particular occupational settings sharing similar patterns.

Holland's six ‘RIASEC’ interest types (realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, and conventional; Holland, 1997) are now popularly used throughout the world to measure occupational interests. The interest ‘types’ have demonstrated both structural consistency and the ability to predict occupations likely to be found motivating and enjoyable (see Holland, 1997, for a comprehensive review). The interest types seem markedly resilient across ethnic groups, cultures and genders (Day & Rounds, 1998). Although the theory is described as being a six-factor one, in assessment practice individuals are typically classified on the basis of their three most highly endorsed vocational interest scales rather than just one, so that, in individual difference terms, 120 possible combinations of the three highest endorsed interest patterns are possible.

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