Personality, Vocational Interests and Work-Related Strategies in the Years of Emerging Adulthood (18-29 Years)

Abstract

One of the psychosocial tasks of development during the years of emerging adulthood (18-29 years) is related to the career choice. This article attempts to clarify the professional identity of young people in Bulgaria through their career interests, work-related strategies and personal characteristics. The sample consists of 257 respondents, aged 18-29. The used scales are the Oregon vocational interests scales – ORVIS (Pozzebon, Visser, Ashton, Lee, & Goldberg, 2010), a questionnaire for the study of alternatives and work-related strategies (Bozhinova, 2003) and the questionnaire for measurement of the five factor structure of personality - Big Five model (Costa & McCrae, 1992). The results showed that in the years of emerging adulthood the professional interests Creativity, Leadership and Altruism in combination with intermediate strategy and orientation in the labor market stand out. The personal factors that dominate are Conscientiousness, Openness to experience and Agreeableness. The five factors of personality interact weakly with seven of the eight vocational interests in youth. The three types of work-related strategies interact from low to moderate degree with some of the big five factors of personality and the eight professional interests on the Oregon scale.

Language: Bulgarian