Underlying dimensions of personal background data and their relationship to occupational classification

Abstract

IN ORDER TO IDENTIFY UNDERLYING DIMENSIONS OF PERSONAL BACKGROUND DATA, 3 SUCCESSIVE FACTOR ANALYSES WERE PERFORMED ON THE RESPONSES OF A VOCATIONALLY HETEROGENEOUS SAMPLE OF 680 MALE SS TO A WIDE SPECTRUM OF COMMONLY USED PERSONAL-BACKGROUND-DATA ITEMS. USING THE FINAL FACTORING, AN ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE OF SCORES DERIVED FROM 15 INTERPRETABLE 1ST-ORDER FACTORS ACROSS 10 OCCUPATIONAL GROUPS SHOWED SIGNIFICANT F RATIOS (P < .001) FOR VIRTUALLY ALL FACTORS. A 2ND-ORDER FACTOR ANALYSIS YIELDED 5 UNCORRELATED FACTORS, THOUGHT TO REPRESENT BROAD BEHAVIOR PATTERNS ASSOCIATED WITH THE NEEDS AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF INDIVIDUALS. THE STUDY INDICATES RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE IDENTIFIED DIMENSIONS AND OCCUPATIONAL CLASSIFICATION AND PROVIDES A FRAMEWORK FOR FUTURE INVESTIGATIONS OF THE DYNAMIC RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN BIOGRAPHICAL DIMENSIONS AND OCCUPATIONAL SUCCESS. (22 REF.) (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)