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- Title
PAPER #78 - General patterns of interests and undergraduate psychology students' preferences for master programs in psychology.
- Authors
NICOLAE, URSULA ANA-MARIA; CATARGIU, OANA MARIA
- Abstract
Problem Statement: International studies have showed that general interest patterns, along with other criteria, are associated with students' choice of profession. This study focuses on factors associated with the undergraduate psychology students' preferences for master programs being based on the literature on vocational and career interests (D. N. Jackson, 1071, 1977) and career choices (Jackson, Holden, & Marks, 1984; Leong, & Golubovich, 2010). Purpose of Study: The study aims to explore the psychology students' preferences for master programs (N= 280) according to their pattern of vocational interests reflected by 10 Jackson's General Occupational Themes (Expressive, Logical, Inquiring, Practical, Assertive, Socialized, Helping, Conventional, Enterprising, Communicative). Research Methods: The study involved 280 students (Psychology Bachelor's degree), aged 19 to 57 (M = 27.05, SD = 7.37), 66 male/214 female, from Bucharest, Romania. Data was collected using the Jackson Vocational Interest Survey (http://romania.testcentral.ro) and a questionnaire about the students' preferences for master programs. Findings: One Way ANOVA showed that the students' preferences towards a Master program are differentiated according to these occupational themes: Logical, Inquiring, Helping, Conventional, and Enterprising. The other JVIS occupational themes do not induce differences in the students' preferences. One Way ANOVA indicates that students oriented toward masters' programs in Clinical Psychology and psychotherapy reported higher scores on occupational themes Logical (F5,274=2.62, p=.02), and Inquiring (F5,274=3.79, p=.002), those oriented toward masters programs in Organizational Psychology, work and traffic reported higher scores on Conventional theme (F5,274=5.25, p=.001), and students oriented toward masters' programs in Educational Psychology, reported higher scores on Helping (F5,274=3.83, p=.002). Conclusions: The results proved a significant association between part of the general pattern of vocational interests and the choice of Master's program. We conclude that determining the general vocational pattern interests of students is an important asset for adequate vocational counseling and guidance towards Master programs. Further validity studies, and extending the respondent population are required to verify the relation between the choice of master's program and students' general pattern of vocational interests.
- Subjects
PSYCHOLOGY students; MASTER'S degree; GRADUATE psychology education
- Publication
Romanian Journal of Experimental Applied Psychology, 2015, Vol 6, p72
- ISSN
2069-1971
- Publication type
Abstract