Spokane (1999), in one of the few studies incorporating both an
English and a Spanish-language version of the SDS, compared His-
panic, African American, and white middle school students with a
finding that there may be differences in the outcomes of such stud-
ies when linguistically appropriate inventories are employed.
In sum, the increase in the number of studies of the cross-
cultural utility and validity of Holland’s theory could culminate in
a body of evidence from which to draw firm conclusions about the
theory’s applicability across cultural and subcultural boundaries.
Given the youthful state of research in this area and the array of
methodological and conceptual issues that need to be addressed,
however, definitive conclusions may be some years away.
Among the serious problems to be addressed are (1) the use of
linguistically appropriate and previously validated instruments and
measures, (2) comparability of sampling with respect to SES, age,
employment status, gender, Holland type, and so on, and (3) con-
sideration of fundamental cultural variables in studies. As three
recent studies on culture and career illustrate ( Juntunen et al., 2001;
Gomez et al., 2001; Pearson & Bieschke, 2001), we may need to
pursue more information about career development in a variety of
specific cultures and subcultures before any universal variables or
generalizations can be made.
With these caveats in mind, vocational interests and their
underlying regular structures may be one possible universal. In addi-
tion, the cultural dimension of individuality versus collectivity
appears to be one variable that is relevant to the career develop-
ment of most cultural groups (Spokane, Fouad, & Swanson, 2001).
Despite the numerous translations of the Holland instruments,
cross-cultural work has been slow to accumulate. More work in this
area is sorely needed.
Summary of Empirical Research. The Holland theory is unique
in employing a comprehensive and integrated assessment system
based on empirical research. The system has been subjected to more
tests and analyses than any other model of career development. A
408 CAREER CHOICE AND DEVELOPMENT