Three longitudinal research projects have been devoted to the assessment of vocational maturity (Crites, 1965; Gribbons and Lohnes, 1965, 1967, 1968; Super and Over street, 1960). However, the Career Patterns Study, the Career Development Study, and Career research have not been focused directly on career development among lower socioeconomic subjects. Hall (1963) has suggested that psychologists have looked at homogeneous populations and Gribbons and Lohnes (1968) note that too little vocational development research has been directed toward the less academically able students and students from lower socioeconomic groups. Some writers have been concerned that theory and research relative to vocational maturity have been based on middle-class groups (Amos and Grambs, 1968; Calia, 1966; Tyler, 1967) and call for research relevant to the lower-class individual.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the rates and levels of vocational maturity in lower and middle-class adolescent boys. Do lower-class white and black adolescents achieve vocational maturity at a rate similar to middle-class white adolescents?
Method
A stratified random sample of 375 male students in Grades 8 through 12 participated in the study. This involved randomly selecting 25 students at each grade level from three socioeconomic groups. The groups were identified as lower-class white, lower-class black, and middle-class white. It was not possible to select 25 middle-class black students in each grade. Lower-class students were identified from the free lunch program, and middle-class students were identified by street address. The subjects were selected from two of four urban junior high schools and two of four urban senior high schools in a large northeastern city. Although all schools are in an urban setting, the lower-class students did attend different schools from the middle-class students. Curricular choice was not a criterion selection but once the sampling was complete, all programs in the curriculum were represented.
The Readiness for Vocational Planning Scale was used to assess vocational maturity. This scale consists of 22 items which were selected by factor analysis from the original 45 items of the eighth-grade interview conducted in the Career Development Study (Gribbons and Lohnes, 1968). The scale is designed to assess eight dimensions of readiness for vocational planning: Factors in Curriculum Choice, Factors in Occupational Choice, Verbalized Strengths and Weaknesses, Accuracy of Self-Appraisal, Evidence for Self-Rating, Interests, Values, and Independence of Choice. The scale is a questionnaire that is answered in an interview with a counselor. The responses are rated from 0 to 2 with the highest possible total score being 44. The score indicates the student's level of readiness for vocational planning or his vocational maturity.
The most recently reported group IQ score in the student's permanent record was used in the study. For the entire population, this involved scores from the California Test of Mental Maturity, the Primary Mental Abilities Test, and the Pintner Mental Abilities Test (Advanced). All scores were converted to T-scores.
Statistical procedures first included a uni-variate analysis of covariance with intelligence controlled as the covariate to determine the effect of socioeconomic groups and grade levels on vocational maturity. Scheffe's post hoc comparisons were made when permissible.
Results
Vocational maturity does increase with age for all sample groups but the samples developed at different rates. Middle-class students earned the highest scores at each grade level, generally followed by lower-class white, and then lower-class black students. Vocational maturity for the middle-class students represented a relatively steady progression from Grades 8 through 12 while the lower-class students made their largest increases during the last 2 years.
A uni-variate analysis of covariance tested for interaction between socioeconomic groups and grade levels. The significant F ratio means that the differences between socioeconomic groups on the dependent variable, vocational maturity, when assessed by the Readiness for Vocational Planning Scale, are not consistent across the various grade levels. Since significant interaction occurred, analysis of main effects was omitted and comparisons by employing the Scheffe's technique were employed to detect where significant differences existed between the socioeconomic groups within grade levels.
Scheffe post hoc comparisons were computed regarding the simple effects of socioeconomic class within grade levels. When zero is included in the confidence interval, the difference is not significant. Therefore, the post hoc comparisons revealed no significant differences between eighth and ninth grade lower-class students when compared with eighth and ninth grade middle-class students. A significant difference did exist when lower-class white and lower-class black students were separately compared with middle-class white students in Grades 10, 11, and 12. However, no significant differences occurred when lower-class black students in Grades 8 through 12 were compared to lower-class white students in those grades.
Discussion
The results of this study suggest that disadvantaged high school students are slower than their middle-class counterparts in developing the ability to select a vocation. Vocational maturity generally increases with age but the level is slightly lower for disadvantaged students; in fact, they are about 2 years behind the development of middle-class students. The middle-class students show a steady progression in scores while the lower-class students made large increases in the eleventh grade. One speculation is that some less mature lower-class students dropped out of school after the tenth grade permitting the mean for those that remained to be higher. One weakness of a cross-sectional study is that it does not follow the same students through their patterns of development.
The Readiness for Vocational Planning Scale detected differences among the vocational maturity levels of the three groups of students. The differences in Grades 10, 11 and 12 were found to lie between the middle-class students and the lower-class students without regard to race. No significant difference appeared between the lower-class black and white students in their vocational maturity throughout the five grades. Economic background and possibly the school differences played a greater part in the development of vocational maturity than did racial background.
According to vocational development theory (Super, 1957), students in the eighth grade should be in the Capacity Stage. If the middle-class students have reached the Capacity Stage, the lower-class students remain behind, probably in the Fantasy Stage. Characteristics of the Capacity Stage involve the process in which individual abilities and job requirements including training are considered while during the Fantasy Stage, vocational choice is still a matter of fantasy based on individual needs. The lower-class students will be further behind when they enter the Tentative Stage where emphasis is given to individual needs, interests, capacities, values and opportunities for employment. Commonly students make high school curricular decisions during their eighth or ninth-grade year. Although curricular decisions are not irreversible, changes are difficult and frequently costly. For years writers (Caplow, 1954; Super and Overstreet, 1960) have been critical of forced curriculum planning at an early age because students are not sufficiently vocationally mature to make a decision of such importance. Research to support this conclusion has been derived primarily from middle-class populations. Disadvantaged students are even less ready. Counselors who are directly associated with disadvantaged, students must be aware of variations in their vocational development and have at their disposal reliable information relevant to the needs of their clients. Counselors must take a more active role in developing new programs and seeking change in the school which will aid the student in his vocational maturity.
The Readiness for Vocational Planning Schedule holds a promising future in vocational counseling. Rapport can be established with clients by first seeking classification information required by the instrument. Once such information is acquired, clients generally are willing to cooperate by responding to the questions requested in the interview. The total score may not necessarily be as informative as the quality of the responses offered by the clients. An item analysis of the questions relevant to the particular variable being assessed affords an opportunity to gain insight into the client as well as the client learning about his particular strengths and weaknesses.
