REFRENSI

1. Journal of Applied Psychology
1984, Vol 69. No 3, 390-400
In the public domain
Personality and Vocational Interests in an Adult Sample
Paul T. Costa, Jr. and Robert R. McCrae
Gerontology Research Center, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health
John L. Holland
Johns Hopkins University
This article examines the relations between Holland's vocational typology and the
Neuroticism-Extraversion-Openness (NEO) model of personality in a sample of
men (N = 217) and women (N = 144) aged 21 to 89 bung and old adult groups
were similar to college students m most vocational interests, and the same pattern
of sex differences was found. Correlations between Self-Directed Search (SDS)
scales and NEO scores showed strong associations of Investigative and Artistic
interests with Openness to Experience, and of Social and Enterprising interests
with Extraversion Individuals interested primarily in Conventional occupations
tended to be closed to experience. These associations were generally confirmed
when spouse ratings were used as a non-self-report measure of personality traits
in a subset of the subjects The NEO complements the Holland typology, primarily
m providing measures of Neuroticism Research on the possible utility of supple-
menting vocational interest data with personality measures is suggested, and some
implications for vocational counseling among older adults are discussed
Historically, vocational interests and per-
sonality traits have been considered relatively
distinct areas of inquiry. Instruments such as
Strong's (1943) Vocational Interest Blank
(SVIB) and the Kuder Preference Inventory
(1960) were empirically derived and prag-
matically oriented guides to occupational
choice. By contrast, with such notable excep-
tions as the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality
Inventory and the California Psychological In-
ventory, personality models (e.g., Cattell, 1946;
Eysenck, 1960; Murray, 1938) have often been
theoretical in orientation, and personality
measures have usually been constructed
through rational or factor analytic methods.
Although relations between the two domains
have long been hypothesized (e.g., Darley &
Hagenah, 1955; Strong, 1943), early research
results were inconsistent. Indeed, Super (1957)
concluded that "personality traits seem to have
no clear-cut and practical significant differ-
ential relation to vocational preference" (pp.
240-241). In part, this conclusion reflects the
use of older personality measures such as the
Requests for reprints should be sent to Paul T Costa,
Jr., Chief, Section on Stress and Coping, Gerontology Re-
search Center, Baltimore City Hospitals, Baltimore, Mary-
land 21224
Bell and Bernreuter adjustment inventories,
which failed to tap the full range of personality
characteristics.
In addition, empirical studies of interests
versus personality are often confounded by the
presence of interest and personality items in
both kinds of inventories. Many personality
inventories include items concerning voca-
tional interest to measure personality traits.
The Guilford-Zimmerman Temperament Sur-
vey (GZTS; Guilford, Zimmerman, & Guil-
ford, 1976), for example, uses the item "You
like to sell things" to assess Ascendance and
"You would rather be a forest ranger than a
dress designer" to measure Masculinity. Many
of the items measuring Factor A (Outgoing
vs. Aloof) in the Sixteen Personality Factor
Questionnaire (16PF; Cattell, Eber, & Tat-
suoka, 1970) are occupational preferences.
These correspondences attest to the recogni-
tion by personality researchers that vocational
choices can be indicators of personality dis-
positions. However, they also lead to interpre-
tive problems. The correlations between per-
sonality and vocational interests (Costa, Foz-
ard, & McCrae, 1977; Holland, 1968; Siess &
Jackson, 1970) may be due partly to overlap-
ping item content rather than to substantive
relations. The main purpose of this article is
to examine the relations between personality
390

2. PERSONALITY AND INTERESTS 391
and vocational interests usinginstruments that
cover a broad range or traits and interests but
are free from this kind of criterion contami-
nation.
Holland's Theory of Vocational Choice
In contrast to most other work on vocational
interests, Holland's (1966,1973) theory of vo-
cational choice explicitly recognizes the role
of personality. According to Holland, occu-
pations are not discrete entities but can be
meaningfully grouped into six ordered cate-
gories (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social,
Enterprising, and Conventional) based on
shared psychological features. These features
can be used to describe either environments
or individuals, and vocational behaviors are
influenced largely by the match between these
two. Thus, people who are self-confident, at-
tention-getting, and energetic seek out envi-
ronments in which these traits can be ex-
pressed, and they are likely to find them in
the occupational roles of business executive,
salesman, or sports promoter. Both the persons
and the occupations can be classified as En-
terprising.
Holland's theory is also a model of person-
ality, because he conceives ofthe six categories
as representing distinct personality types. Al-
though personality typologies based on psy-
chodiagnostic categories (Shapiro, 1965) and
on styles of defense (Reich, 1945) have often
been proposed, Holland's scheme is perhaps
the only persistent attempt to infer the struc-
ture of personality from the clustering of vo-
cational interests. The usefulness of this at-
tempt has become evident to vocational coun-
selors, but, with rare exceptions (Hogan, 1982),
personality researchers have not appreciated
the importance of the conceptualization.
Originating as it does in a different domain,
Holland's model offers an important new per-
spective on personality that deserves systematic
comparison with existing personality models.
In a series of studies using the Vocational
Preference Inventory, a list of occupational
titles for which the subject indicates a like or
dislike, Holland (1968} showed a number of
significant correspondences with theoretically
predicted personality characteristics in samples
of college students. Artistic men, for example,
rated themselves as higher in originality than
any other group; Enterprising men saw them-
selves as highest in popularity. Although these
findings contribute to the body of evidence on
the validity of Holland's model, they do not
allow a systematic evaluation of the accuracy
and comprehensiveness of Holland's typology
as a model of personality. Do the personality
traits associated with vocational interests
themselves cohere into six types? Are any ma-
jor aspects of personality omitted from Hol-
land's types? Are the Holland categories better
understood as parts of a larger system of per-
sonality? To evaluate these questions, the Hol-
land typology must be examined in relation
to other established models of pesonality.
The NEO Model of Personality
Costa and McCrae (1980b) have proposed
a conceptual classification ofpersonality traits
into three broad domains: Neuroticism (N),
Extraversion (E), and Openness to Experience
(O). Drawing on the work of Cattell et al.
(1970), Guilford et al. (1976), Eysenck (1960)
and others, they argued that many ofthe traits
usually studied in isolation can best be un-
derstood as aspects of these three dimensions.
Thus, Rokeach's Dogmatism (1960), Tellegen
and Atkinson's Absorption (1974), and Wess-
man and Ricks's Affective Variability (1966)
can all be seen as facets of Openness to Ex-
perience. Organization of specific traits into
a small number of global domains clarifies a
number of significant issues.
Factor analyses (Costa & McCrae, 1976,
1980b; McCrae, Costa, & Arenberg, 1980) of
the 16PF (Cattell et al., 1970), the EASI-HI
(Buss & Plomin, 1975), and the GZTS (Guil-
ford et al., 1976) have provided empirical ev-
idence for the three factor model. A direct test
of the Costa and McCrae model was provided
by factor analyses of the NEO Inventory and
NEO Rating Form, which directly operation-
alize it (McCrae & Costa, 1983). Anxiety,
Hostility, Depression, Self-Consciousness, Im-
pulsiveness, and Vulnerability represent the
domain of Neuroticism; Warmth, Gregar-
iousness, Assertiveness, Activity, Excitement
Seeking, and Positive Emotions form the Ex-
traversion cluster, and Openness to Experience
is measured in the areas of Fantasy, Aesthetics,
Feelings, Actions, Ideas, and Values. Each of
these facets is represented by a subscale, and

3. 392 P. COSTA JR., R. McCRAE, AND J. HOLLAND
more detailed and specific information is ob-
tained by examining correlations with the
subscales themselves.
As recent reviewers (Nichols, Licht, & Pearl,
1982) have pointed out, personality research
is sometimes compromised by the use of mea-
sures contaminated by the criteria they seek
to predict. In the construction of the NEO
Inventory, particular care was exercised to en-
sure that the items measured personality di-
rectly, without an admixture of item content
that overlapped with relevant external criteria.
In particular, an attempt was made to avoid
items reflecting occupational interests. A few
items (e.g., "I like to follow a strict routine in
my work"; "I prefer jobs or activities that let
me work alone without being botheredby other
people") do involve general preferences in
working style, but there are no references to
specific occupations. The correlation of the
NEO Inventory with Holland's SDS thus pro-
vides an unambiguous assessment of the re-
lations between a general model ofpersonality
and a system of vocational interests.
Vocational Interests in Adulthood
One of the striking similarities between vo-
cational interests and personality dispositions
is the stability ofboth in adulthood. Vocational
counselors were aware that interest inventories
would be more useful guides to careers if the
interests they measured were stable over a pe-
riod of many years. For that reason, the lon-
gitudinal study of interests was an early focus
of research. By 1951, Strong was able to cite
22-year retest data in support ofhis conclusion
that from late adolescence on there is high
stability of vocational interests. Subsequent
studies (e.g., Johannson & Campbell, 1971)
have confirmed these conclusions. Research
on a different index of interest—occupational
membership—has also shown strong evidence
of stability. Gottfredson (1977) documented
that whenjob changes occur, the large majority
are from one job to another in the same Hol-
land category.
Research on the stability ofpersonality traits
as measured by standard personality inven-
tories lagged several years behind. It was not
until the 1970s that a substantial body of data
from several longitudinal studies permitted the
parallel conclusion that personality is stable
in adulthood (Costa & McCrae, 1980b). Cross-
sectional, longitudinal, and cross-sequential
studies of a wide variety of personality vari-
ables have shown little or no consistent evi-
dence of developmental increases or decreases
over the course of adulthood or old age, and
longitudinal studies examining retest corre-
lations have shown high levels of stability in
individual rank ordering, with most correla-
tions above .70 after periods of up to 12 years
(Costa, McCrae, & Arenberg, 1980). A series
of recent studies have shown that this stability
cannot be explained away as a result of mem-
ory (Woodruff, 1983), response set (Costa,
McCrae, & Arenberg, 1983), or the influence
ofa crystallized self-concept (McCrae & Costa,
1982). Studies using personality ratings rather
than self-reports have also provided evidence
of stability (Bakteman & Magnusson, 1981;
Block, 1971).
From these considerations, it would appear
that adult populations of any age could be
expected to have much the same levels of in-
terests as young adults, and that then- current
interests are probably a good guide to both
past and future interests. However, previous
research has not extensively examined occu-
pational interests in adults over the age of 55,
when retirement, or imminent retirement, may
bnng about changes. One purpose of this ar-
ticle is to examine the mean level ofvocational
interest scale scores in a sample of men and
women ranging in age from 21 to 89. On the
assumption that age will be relatively unim-
portant in understanding interests, the re-
mainder of the article will examine the rela-
tions between vocational interests and per-
sonality.
Method
Subjects
Participants in this study were members of the Aug-
mented Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (ABLSA)
The BLSA sample itself is composed of a community-
dwelling, generally healthy group of volunteers who have
agreed to return for medical and psychological testing at
regular intervals. The sample has been recruited contin-
uously since 1958, with most new subjects referred by
friends or relatives already in the study Among the men,
93% are high school graduates and 71% are college grad-
uates, nearly one fourth have doctorate level degrees. The
ABLSA sample consists of 423 men and 129 women who
are participants in the BLSA, together with 183 wives and
16 husbands who are not themselves BLSA participants
but who have agreed to complete questionnaires at home

4. PERSONALITY AND INTERESTS 393
Complete data were obtained from 52% of the individ-
uals contacted, including 241 men, aged 25 to 89, and
153 women, aged 21 to 86. Preliminary analyses using
data collected earlier on the ABLSA sample showed that
subjects who returned complete vocational interest data
did not differ from those who failed to return or complete
the questionnaire with regard to age, sex, or social desir-
ability (Crowne & Marlowe, 1964) Failures were slightly
higher in Neuroticism than were subjects with complete
data, F[l, 631) = 4.42, p < .05, u>2
= 005 They did not
differ, however, in Extraveraon or Openness to Experience
The results reported here, therefore, would appear to be
unlikely to be influenced by subject self-selection
For purposes of age-group comparisons, subjects were
divided into those 21 to 55 and those 56 to 89 This
division yielded approximately equal numbers in each
group and also made sense in terms of occupational mem-
bership, because 55 is the beginning age of retirement of
this group Differences between the two groups might be
due either to age or to employment status
i
28
24-
20-
12-
RealBtic Investigative Artistic Social Enterprising Conventional
Figure 1 Mean Self-Directed Search scores for 578 college
men (shaded, source. Holland, 1979, p 66), 106 men aged
25 to 55 (open), and 135 men aged 56 to 89 (hatched)
Measures and Procedures
The Self-Directed Search (SDS) is now one of the most
widely used instruments for the assessment of vocational
interests Scores for Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social,
Enterprising, and Conventional interests are obtained by
summing responses to sections on activities, competencies,
occupational preferences, and abilities Detailed infor-
mation on the test is provided in the manual (Holland,
1979) Because the standard instructions for the SDS are
designed primarily for use with individuals who are seeking
vocational counseling, an introductory statement was
added, explaining that our purpose was to understand vo-
cational interests for individuals of all ages
The NEO (Neuroticism-Extraversion-Openness) In-
ventory provided self-report personality data for this study
The NEO Inventory is a 144-item questionnaire developed
through factor analysis to fit a three-domain model of
personality (Costa & McCrae, 1980b; McCrae & Costa,
1983) Eight-item scales are used for each of six facets,
or specific traits, within each of three broad trait domains
or dimensions, and overall domain scores are obtained by
summing the scores of the six facets within each domain
Item scoring is balanced to control for acquiescence
Internal consistency ranges from 61 to .81 for individual
facets of the NEO Inventory (McCrae & Costa, 1983),
and 6-month retest reliability ranges from .66 to 92. Both
internal consistency and retest reliability are higher for
the three global domain scores, ranging from .85 to 93
Evidence of convergent and discriminant validity for NEO
domain scores has been provided by correlations of self-
reports with spouse ratings and scores on the Eysenck
Personality Inventory ranging from 45 to .82 (McCrae,
1982)
Scores on the NEO Rating Form were obtained for a
subset of about half the subjects in the sample whose
spouses agreed to participate in a rating study The NEO
Rating Form was constructed from the NEO Inventory
by transforming items from the first person to the third
person Internal consistency and factor structure of the
NEO Rating Form are similar to those of the NEO In-
ventory (McCrae & Costa, 1983) In obtaining spouse
ratings, subjects were specifically instructed not to discuss
their ratings with their spouses in order to provide inde-
pendent assessments of personality As a check on this
instruction, an item was added to the questionnaire stating
"I have discussed some of these items with my wife [hus-
band] " Five subjects who answered "agree" or "strongly
agree" to this item were excluded from all analyses
All questionnaires were completed by subjects at home
and mailed back to the investigators The NEO Inventory
was administered to subjects in February 1980, the NEO
Rating Form in August, 1980, and the SDS in October,
1981 These instruments were parts of a more compre-
hensive data-collection program conducted as part of the
overall longitudinal study The interval between these two
administrations ensures a conservative estimate of the re-
lations between personality traits and vocational interests,
because correlations will not be inflated by the shared
influence of transient moods or states
Results
Age and Sex Differences
Two-way ANOVAS on total interest scores
were performed, using sex and age group as
classifying variables. Subjects under age 55
were significantly (p < .05) higher in Realistic,
Artistic, and Enterprising scores than were
subjects over 55, but these differences were all
relatively small («2
= .028 to .052), especially
in view of the fact that many of the over-55
subjects were already retired and might be ex-
pected to have had lowered vocational interests
in general. For purposes of comparison, Figure
1 gives the mean levels of total SDS scores for
college norms (Holland, 1979) along with the
two age groups examined here for men. Figure
2 gives the same information for women. In
most cases, young and old adults do not differ

5. 394 P. COSTA JR., R McCRAE, AND J. HOLLAND
Realistic Investigative Artistic Social Enterprising Conventional
Figure 2 Mean Self-Directed Search scores for 860 college
women (shaded; source. Holland, 1979, p 66), 88 women
aged 21 to 55 (open), and 65 women aged 56 to 86
(hatched).
markedly from college students, nor is there
consistent evidence of linear developmental
changes in interests. Even the small effects seen
here cannot be assumed to represent true age
changes in interests. Longitudinal studies are
needed to determine if these effects are due
to age, retirement, or cohort differences, or
simply to differences in sampling.
Among younger samples, differentiation of
interests, measured as the difference between
highest and lowest score, increases with age
(Edwards, Nofziger, & Holland, 1974) In the
present sample of adults, however, there is no
evidence of further differentiation with age.
The correlations of age with differentiation are
r = .01, ns, for men and r = -.09, ns, for
women.
As a comparison of Figure 1 with Figure 2
shows, the same sex differences are found for
adult women as for college students. Statisti-
cally significant (p < .05) differences between
the men and women in the present sample are
found for all six SDS scores, with women
higher in Artistic, Social, and Conventional
interests, and lower in Realistic, Investigative,
and Enterprising interests. Effect sizes ranged
from w2
= .012 for Conventional interests to
.145 for Investigative and .302 for Realistic
interests.
As the parallelism of the twofiguresshows,
there were no significant age-by-sex interac-
tions. It might have been hypothesized that
recent changes in sex role expectations would
have had larger influences on younger women,
but there is no evidence in these data to sup-
port this notion. Women of all ages still appear
to prefer occupations that are stereotypically
feminine.
Personality Correlates
Table 1 presents the correlations of N, E,
and O scores with SDS subscales and total
scores for men and women. (For comparison,
correlations with age and sex in the total group
are also given.) The pattern of results is clear.
With scattered exceptions, neither Realistic nor
Conventional interests are associated with
personality dimensions measured by the NEO;
conversely, none of the occupational groupings
is substantially related to N There are, how-
ever, large correlations between Investigative
and Artistic interests and O and between Social
and Enterprising interests and E. These rela-
tions are found whether activities, competen-
cies, occupational preferences, or self-esti-
mated abilities are used to measure interest,
and they are found equally for men and
women. The magnitude of the correlations is
impressive, with several correlations in excess
of .50.
The hexagonal model of Holland assumes
that occupations can be arranged into opposing
pairs. Conventional interests are the opposite
ofArtistic interests, and Investigative interests
the opposite ofEnterprising. This model would
lead to the hypothesis that Conventional scores
should be inversely correlated with O and that
Investigative scores should be inversely related
to E. The data in Table 1 do not support this
prediction. However, a closer examination of
the Table shows that almost all interests are
positively related to both E and O. Psycho-
logically, this finding makes sense. The self-
confidence and enthusiasm of extraverts leads
them to endorse items ofall kinds on the SDS,
as does the breadth of interest and curiosity
of open individuals. Both open and closed
people have conventional interests; the differ-
ence is that closed people have only conven-
tional interests.
A test of this interpretation is offered by
correlating personality measures with an index
that expresses each SDS scale as a proportion

6. PERSONALITY AND INTERESTS 395
of the total number of items endorsed. Cor-
relations using this correction for breadth of
interest are given in Table 2 and provide some
support for the hypothesis. Conventional in-
terests are negatively correlated with 0 for both
men and women, and Investigative interests
are negatively related to E for men, though
not women.
The NEO Inventory provides information
on six specific facets within each of the three
domains, and more specific correspondences
between interests and traits can be seen. Of
the 18 NEO facets, Investigative interests are
most highly correlated with Openness to Ideas
in both men (r = .44) and women (r = .49),
and next most highly with Openness to Aes-
thetics (r = .27 for men, .28 for women). Ar-
tistic interests correspond primarily to Open-
ness to Aesthetics (r = .52 for men, .59 for
women), and secondarily to Openness to Fan-
tasy for men (r = .36) and Openness to Actions
for women (r = .37). Social interests correlate
most highly with Warmth in both men and
women (r = .49, .41) and next most highly
Table 1
Correlations of Self-Reported Neurotiasm (N), Extroversion (E), and Openness (O) Scores
With Self-Directed Search (SDS) Scales for Men and Women
SDS scale
Realistic
Activities
Competencies
Occupations
Abilities
Total
Investigative
Activities
Competencies
Occupations
Abilities
Total
Artistic
Activities
Competencies
Occupations
Abilities
Total
Social
Activities
Competencies
Occupations
Abilities
Total
Enterprising
Activities
Competencies
Occupations
Abilities
Total
Conventional
Activities
Competencies
Occupations
Abilities
Total
N
-08
- 0 3
-06
-11
-08
-14*
-17*
-04
-12
-13*
11
-03
2 3 "
14*
16*
-05
-10
02
-19*
-09
-06
-22*
09
02
-04
-05
07
04
10
05
Men(Ar
=217)
E
13
10
12
12
14*
-05
08
-01
-01
00
16*
18*
11
15*
18*
4 4 "
52**
2 3 "
4 2 "
5 0 "
5 4 "
57**
4 5 "
5 4 "
6 5 "
07
21*
12
08
15*
O
17*
12
03
09
12
2 6 "
22*
3 7 "
21*
3 3 "
5 0 "
30**
4 1 "
3 6 "
4 9 "
07
12
14*
18*
17*
16*
16*
11
07
16*
-04
13
00
-07
00
N
12
10
11
00
09
- 0 3
-03
02
-15
-05
03
11
-01
00
03
-05
-26*
-06
-19*
-17*
-04
-17*
05
-09
-08
08
07
01
-07
02
Women (N =
E
00
00
06
09
05
06
15
07
20*
14
20*
24*
3 1 "
3 0 "
3 3 "
3 5 "
4 3 "
25*
40**
4 3 "
4 1 "
5 1 "
3 0 "
4 2 "
5 1 "
-23*
-05
-03
-02
-10
144)
O
11
19*
17*
08
17*
3 0 "
4 0 "
32**
2 8 "
40**
50**
4 9 "
3 9 "
3 8 "
5 3 "
14
24*
25*
23*
28**
2 8 "
20*
10
16
23*
-24*
-04
-07
-12
-15
Total (1
Age
-12*
-02
-08
-07
-08
00
-03
01
-04
-01
-24*
-14*
-20*
-19*
-24*
-03
-12*
- 0 3
-07
-08
-15*
- 0 3
-19*
-16*
-17*
00
-22*
-05
-07
-10*
V = 394)
Sex
- 4 5 "
- 6 0 "
- 4 7 "
- 3 8 "
- 5 5 "
- 2 7 "
- 4 5 "
- 1 9 "
- 4 3 "
- 3 8 "
2 8 "
15*
15*
2 0 "
2 4 "
2 3 "
2 3 "
07
08
1 8 "
-14*
- 2 2 "
- 1 9 "
-13*
- 2 1 "
15*
11*
-08
2 1 "
12*
Note Decimal points are omitted
*p<.05 " p < . 0 0 1

7. 396 P. COSTA JR., R. MCCRAE, AND J. HOLLAND
Table 2
Correlations of Self-Reported Neurotiasm, Extroversion, and Openness Scores With Self-Directed
Search (SDS) Scales as a Proportion of Total Endorsements in Men and Women
SDS scale
Realistic
Investigative
Artistic
Social
Enterprising
Conventional
N
-07
-13
21*
-08
-01
12
Men(iV=217)
E
-12
-34**
00
21*
50**
-13*
Note Decimal points are omitted
* p < .05 ** p < 001
O
-09
13
41**
-11
-08
-29**
N
13
-06
06
-18*
-07
09
Women (N =
E
-11
-04
18*
08
40**
-35**
144)
O
02
28**
43**
-16
00
-44**
with Gregariousness (r = .49, .34). Finally,
Enterprising interests are most closely related
to Assertiveness in both men and women (r =
.56, .54); in men they are next related to Gre-
gariousness (r = .47), whereas in women they
are next related to Activity (r = .35). None of
the NEO facets show correlations above .25
with either Conventional or Realistic interests.
The specificity of these associations might be
interpreted as construct validity for NEO fac-
ets; alternatively, it might suggest that voca-
tional interests should be construed as specific
facets of the E and O domains.
By correlating specific items in the Occu-
pations section of the SDS with NEO scores,
it is possible to identify the particular occu-
pational preferences that significantly differ-
entiate extraverts from introverts and open
from closed individuals. Considering only the
five highest correlations, extraverted men pre-
fer the occupations of Master of Ceremonies,
Advertising Executive, Manufacturer's Rep-
resentative, Marriage Counselor, and Sales
Manager. Extraverted women differ most from
introverted women in their preferences for the
jobs of Concert Singer, Advertising Executive,
Sports Promoter, Symphony Conductor, and
Free Lance Writer. All of these occupations
demonstrate the assertive and somewhat ex-
bibitionistic tendencies of extraverts.
Open men indicate distinctive interest in
the occupations of Author, Anthropologist,
Free Lance Writer, Journalist and Playwright.
Open women choose Free Lance Writer, Au-
thor, Independent Research Scientist, Jour-
nalist, and Anthropologist. The selection of
Anthropologist is particularly fitting, because
this occupation requires intellectual inquiry
into a new and foreign culture. Anthropologists
like Margaret Mead (who was also an Author
of considerable skill) could be used as ex-
emplars of Openness to Experience.
All ofthese correlations, however, are based
on self-reports, and self-presentational styles
or other response biases may artificially inflate
the observed correlations. A much stronger
test of the hypothesis would be provided by
correlations between self-reported interests and
rated personality, because these two data
sources would not share the same artifacts
(McCrae, 1982). Table 3 presents such data
using spouse reports on the NEO Rating Form.
In this table, as in Table 2, SDS scales have
been adjusted for the total number of items
endorsed. Although the sample sizes are
smaller here, the pattern of results is strikingly
similar. Men who have relatively more social
and enterprising interests than investigative
interests are perceived by their wives as being
extraverted; men who report more artistic and
fewer conventional interests are seen as open
to experience. Among women, ratings of ex-
traversion are not associated with social or
enterprising interests; however, rated openness
is strongly related to artistic versus conven-
tional interests. The failure to replicate the
relations between extraversion and vocational
interests when husbands' ratings oftheir wives
are used is somewhat puzzling, although other
studies have also noted discrepancies between
ratings of extraversion in men and women
(McCrae, 1982). Further research is needed
on this point, but the general similarity of re-
sults using self-reports and using ratings sug-

8. PERSONALITY AND INTERESTS 397
Table 3
Correlations of Spouse-Rated Neurotwism, Extroversion, and Openness Scores With Self-Directed
Search (SDS) Scales as a Proportion of Total Endorsements in Men and Women
SDS scale
Realistic
Investigative
Artistic
Social
Enterprising
Conventional
N
04
-01
19
-25*
-03
05
Men (N = 98)
E
-20*
-30*
05
21*
41**
-06
O
-23*
11
41**
14
-10
-34**
N
-01
-08
10
-06
-04
06
Women {N = 90)
E
-17
03
15
05
18
-16
O
-06
15
46**
-16
14
-33*
Note Decimal points are omitted
* p< 05 ** p< 001
gests that the relations between personality and
vocational interests are substantive, not arti-
factual.
Discussion
The analyses generally support the conclu-
sions that vocational interests are similar for
adults of all ages and that personality dispo-
sitions show strong consistent associations with
vocational interests. The use of instruments
that avoid overlapping item content ensures
that the associations are not tautological, and
confirmation of the basic relations using
spouse ratings eliminates the possibility that
artifacts of self-report or self-presentational
styles are responsible. There are, thus, sub-
stantive relations between these two domains.
Further research, charting the course of both
personality and interests, is needed to deter-
mine whether vocational interests are the cause
or the effect of personality traits, or whether
both influence each other. Given the stability
of both sets of variables in adulthood, this
research would probably need to be begun in
childhood or adolescence.
The association of extraversion with enter-
prising occupations, particularly sales, is well
known, but the relation of openness to ex-
perience to vocational choice has less often
been noted. In a previous study using occu-
pational factors from the SVIB and a different
measure of openness, Costa et al. (1977) found
that openness was most clearly correlated with
a factor they interpreted as "Theoretical In-
teraction Style." Occupations having high
loadings on this factor included Psychologist,
Minister, Biologist, Social Worker, and Li-
brarian; occupations with large negative load-
ings included Farmer, Mortician, Banker,
Printer, and Policeman. Although these oc-
cupations cut across several of the Holland
categories, it is clear the the former group of
occupations includes primarily Investigative,
Artistic, and Social Occupations; the latter are
mainly Enterprising, Conventional and Re-
alistic. The studies, then, are in broad agree-
ment about the kinds of interests associated
with openness.
A comparison of Tables 1 and 2 with the
descriptive adjectives m the SDS manual shows
many points of convergence. Investigative
scores are correlated with openness and in-
troversion, and this type is described as "cu-
rious," "rational," and "reserved." Artistic
scores are correlated with O, and the Artistic
type is described as "imaginative," "emo-
tional," and "nonconforming." Warmth and
Gregariousness are the traits most closely re-
lated to Social interests, and the Social type
is described by Holland as "friendly," and "so-
ciable." Enterprising interests are correlated
with Assertiveness and Activity, and Enter-
prising types are described as "domineering"
and "energetic."
There are a few discrepancies, too. Although
the Realistic type is described as "shy," Re-
alistic scores in the present study were not
correlated with self-consciousness or low as-
sertiveness. Conventional scores were not cor-
related with low neuroticism, as the descriptor,
"self-controlled (calm)," suggests they should
be. Enterprising types are "impulsive" in the
sense of being higher m excitement seeking

9. 398 P COSTA JR., R MCCRAE, AND J. HOLLAND
but not in the sense of being impulse-ridden.
Indeed, one of the drawbacks of adjective de-
scriptions is that they are often ambiguous.
Personality scale scores are sometimes more
interpretable.
A more detailed examination of the adjec-
tival descriptors also raises another issue. Most
ofthe adjectives used to describe Realistic and
Conventional types do not clearly correspond
to any ofthe facets ofthe NEO model. Coupled
with the failure of any ofthe NEO dimensions
to correlate noticeably with these two dimen-
sions, this suggests that these two occupational
groupings may correspond to aspects of per-
sonality not measured by the NEO model. In
particular, adjectives like "honest," "persis-
tent," "thrifty," "conscientious," "orderly," and
"obedient" suggest a dimension of control
(Costa & McCrae, 1980b) or conscientiousness
(Goldberg, 1981). Similarly, Social types may
differ from Enterprising types not so much in
extraversion as in a dimension called "Agree-
ableness" by Goldberg. The Holland typology,
of course, is also strongly influenced by the
dimension of Masculinity, another aspect of
personality not represented in the NEO In-
ventory. Further research is needed to clarify
these possibilities, but a fuller model of per-
sonality would likely show more comprehen-
sive links to vocational interests.
On its side, the Holland typology appears
to lack one ofthe major dimensions identified
in much personality research: Neuroticism.
Occupational preferences are apparently not
linked to differences in this domain, a con-
clusion also reached in earlier work with the
SVIB (Costa et al., 1977). This fact would also
explain the low correlations between person-
ality and interests reported when instruments
like the Bell Adjustment Inventory are used
to assess personality (Strong, 1943).
Yet there is reason to believe that many
aspects of occupational behavior are influ-
enced by neuroticism, especially job satisfac-
tion (Perone, DeWaard, & Baron, 1979). Ac-
cording to Holland's theory, dissatisfaction
occurs when an individual finds himself or
herself in an occupation that is incongruent
with his or her needs, abilities, and interests.
In addition, however, dissatisfaction and low
morale are known to be associated with the
chronic negative affect of those high in neu-
roticism (Costa & McCrae, 1980a). Changing
careers may not improvejob satisfaction ifthe
underlying problem is that ofan enduring per-
sonality disposition (e.g., anxiety or hostility)
rather than vocational incongruence. Coun-
selors need to be aware of the internal or ex-
ternal source of difficulties in supporting an
appropriate course ofaction, and data on neu-
roticism from personality inventories may be
a useful adjunct to vocational interest data in
this regard.
The results ofthis study also suggest a num-
ber of other promising lines ofresearch on the
utility of supplementary personality measures
in vocational counseling. For example, indi-
viduals high in openness to experience are
known to be more likely to endorse interests
of all kinds. The occupations of Tree Surgeon
or Financial Analyst may have the appeal of
novelty to an open individual, but are they
likely to sustain that interest for long? Coun-
selors might consider whether high scores in
Realistic, Enterprising, and Conventional cat-
egories should be discounted when the indi-
vidual is also high in O.
Personality data may be helpful to coun-
selors when the subject shows a relatively un-
differentiated profile. Scores on specific facets
of personality may provide additional infor-
mation to shift attention in one direction or
another. And data from a second instrument
is always useful as a check: An individual who
has a high score on Enterprising scales and a
low score on Extraversion may have been care-
less in completing the measures or may be
confused about the nature of the occupations
he or she indicates an interest in. For all these
reasons, information on personality traits may
also be useful to industrial psychologists who
use vocational interests in selection or place-
ment.
Finally, these data speak to the topic of ca-
reer counseling in adulthood and old age. An
extended lifespan and changing attitudes to-
ward mandatory retirement, together with
economic and technological changes, mean
that middle-aged and older adults will increas-
inglyfindthemselves facing new occupational
choices. To help make these decisions, the vo-
cational counselor must adopt a somewhat dif-
ferent approach from that used with adoles-
cents or young adults. The length of time
needed to prepare for the occupation and the
physical and mental demands it places on the

10. PERSONALITY AND INTERESTS 399
individual take on a new significance with these
clients. Similarly, the accumulated employ-
ment experience and life experience can be an
asset that should be capitalized on in selecting
a new career. However, m one important re-
spect older adults do not differ much from
young adults: Vocational interests and their
associated personality traits are highly stable
across adulthood and should play the same
role in choosing a career at all ages. In par-
ticular, counselors should guard against the
assumption that there are strong developmen-
tal trends and that all older people will share
the same age-stereotypic interests. The range
and variety of interests does not decline with
age, and vocational preference continues to
express individuality in older as in younger
people.
On both theoretical and practical levels,
then, a more explicit use of personality data
in vocational counseling seems advisable. In
addition, personality theorists need to take into
account the important advances oftheories of
vocational choice. These two traditions offer
both confirmation and extension ofeach other.
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