should be considered complex measures that reflect personality, as
well as preferences, motivation, values, self-efficacy, style, and so on.
(Savickas, 1999; Silva, 2001; Hogan & Blake, 1999).
Underlying Structure of Vocational Interests. In a controversy
related to personality and interests, the question of the underlying
theoretical structure of variables such as interests and personality is
crucial to the theory and to measurement in vocational behavior.
To illustrate the importance of the structure issue, consider the
implications of a hypothetical finding that the underlying structure
of interests is substantially different for men than women (or for
some cultures when compared with others). If such differences
exist, then different inventories and possibly different theoretical
models as well might be necessary for each group. Answers to these
questions depend, in large measure, on delineating the underlying
structures of interests for use in such comparisons.
Holland’s discovery in 1973 (Holland et al., 1973; see Figure 9.1)
that a regular statistical structure could be found to underlie interest
inventories was a breakthrough of major proportions. This structure
permitted an exact diagnostic calculus and confirmed theoretical
statements about the organization of interests. This work went more
or less unchallenged until a recent special issue of the Journal of
Vocational Behavioron the hexagonal structure of Holland’s theory.
In an unusually synchronous series of articles, James Rounds and
Terrence Tracey (Day & Rounds, 1998; Rounds & Tracey, 1993,
1996; Ryan, Tracey, & Rounds, 1996; Tracey, 1997; Tracey &
Rounds, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996) reanalyzed correlation matrices
(structural meta-analysis) from previous studies of the structure of
occupational interests. This work, though highly technical, is fun-
damental to our understanding of the nature and organization of
occupational interests. The question being addressed is how regular
and symmetrical are the relationships among the types, the degree
to which the relationships are similar across diverse cultural groups,
and whether the configurations that result are two-dimensional
404 CAREER CHOICE AND DEVELOPMENT