The Predictive Power of Vocational Interests: A Multi-Perspective Investigation

• Applicant: Dr. Lena Roemer
• Subject Area: Personality Psychology, Clinical and Medical Psychology, Methodology
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 536023374

Vocational interests are important aspects of human individuality. They predict various outcomes, ranging from occupational choice and performance to marriage or having children. Yet, despite much evidence on desirable outcomes of vocational interests, the mechanisms that underly the links between individuals’ interests and these outcomes remain poorly understood. As a general theoretical framework, it has been proposed that interests bear directing, energizing, and sustaining motivational functions, which then drive behavioral outcomes such as self-selection and engagement in environments. The overarching aim of the proposed project is to integrate aspects from a (1) momentary, (2) developmental, and (3) lifespan perspective to test and refine the mechanisms through which interests are theorized to predict outcomes. First, while theory assumes that vocational interests shape behavioral outcomes, it remains unclear whether interests in fact predict the choice, effort, and persistence of behaviors as they occur in daily life. To inform the links with proximal outcomes, I propose shedding a momentary perspective on interest-outcome links. Using an existing dataset collected with experience sampling methodology, I seek to test whether the mechanisms theorized to explain interest-outcome links also apply to predicting proximal behavioral outcomes in daily life. Second, via their functions to direct, energize, and sustain behavior, vocational interests might also predict stability and change in associated individual differences. I propose that a developmental perspective on the relations between vocational interests and change in individual differences can further refine our understanding of the mechanisms why interests predict distal outcomes. Using longitudinal data from university graduates, I seek to examine whether and how vocational interests can predict developmental trajectories in Big Five personality traits and work values. And third, the way how interests direct, energize, and sustain behavior may change depending on different developmental periods in adulthood. I propose that a lifespan perspective on interest-outcome links informs how the underlying mechanisms play out across adulthood. Using data representative for the adult population in Germany, I seek to assess possible non-linear patterns of how age may moderate the relations between vocational interests and prospectively assessed distal life outcomes. Overall, the proposed project encompasses three work packages, each using existing longitudinal data, taking a different temporal perspective, and focusing on diverse outcome variables. Jointly, the project promises to contribute to a better understanding of the mechanisms by which vocational interests predict proximal and distal outcomes, and thus shape individuals’ lives.

• DFG Programme: WBP Fellowship
• International Connection: USA
• Host: Christopher Nye, Ph.D.