Explaining Leisure Interests, Personality, Work Centrality, and Vocational Interests

The current study examined the relations between leisure interests and other vocational constructs among undergraduate university students. Methods included utilizing previously obtained data from a sample of 194 undergraduate students at the University of Minnesota, where study measures were given in 2007. Data collected included the Leisure Interest Questionnaire, used to determine leisure interests and activities outside the workplace; the International Personality Item Pool, a measure of five main personality traits; and the Strong Interest Inventory, a measure of vocational interests. Work centrality, or the importance of the role of work, was also assessed to determine the relations between leisure interests and vocational interests, given the importance of leisure versus work in an individual’s life. As predicted, significant correlations between leisure interests, vocational interests, and personality were found

Vocational and Leisure Interests: A Profile-Level Approach to Examining Interests

Although much attention has been devoted to examining the measurement of vocational interests, much less attention has been directed to studying leisure interests, despite suggestions for incorporation of leisure interests into career counseling, particularly for college students. Furthermore, research on the relations between leisure and vocational interests highlights that some leisure interests are highly related to vocational interests, such as interests in Social, Artistic, and Realistic activities. To advance understanding on interests and the relations between leisure and vocational interests, the current study used Latent Profile Analysis, a novel approach to examining interest profiles that identifies groups of individuals with similar profiles. Support was found for seven different interest profiles in a sample of college students. Additionally, a number of mean differences on work values, work centrality, and personality traits among the seven profiles were examined