Childhood determinants of adult vocational choice: A study of lawyers, dentists, and social workers.

Abstract

This study replicated and extended research originally done by Barbara Nachmann in 1957. Her study tested hypotheses derived from a psychodynamic theory of vocational choice, which proposed that adult interests were shaped by the satisfaction or frustration of needs during childhood. Nachmann's study of male students in law, dentistry, and social work strongly supported the theory, but her research has not to date been replicated. My goals for this study were threefold: (1) to replicate Nachmann's study; (2) to test the theory's applicability for women; and (3) to see whether psychological influences on career choice had changed over the last thirty years. Subjects were students in law, dentistry, and social work, including 54 males and 54 females. For the replication, males were administered both an interview (Nachmann's original method) and a questionnaire; females were administered only a questionnaire. Thus, the current study also tested the use of questionnaires as an alternative mode of data collection. This study supported most of Nachmann's hypotheses for men. Changes in Western gender roles and family structure appear to have caused the major divergences found between the replication and the initial study. This study also supported a set of hypotheses for women, based upon the ones Nachmann designed for men. The results for women may raise questions for theories of female personality development. In particular, the role of fathers appeared to be more important than has been suggested by many contemporary theories of women's personality development. Overall, this study supported the notion that childhood experiences and parenting styles have important effects on adult vocational choice.