THE APPRECIATION OF CAREER LITERATURE IN ADOLESCENTS

With adolescents, the appreciation of career literature was predicted to relate to their reading skill and cognitive development as well as their need for career information. Forty 11th-grade and forty 12th-gra de students at a university school read two passages from each of thre e domains of career literature: short stories, formal literature, and popular literature. The results indicated that both reading skill and cognitive development were related to the extent to which adolescents appreciated three passages in which career information was presented i n the form of short stories and personal accounts. Reported need for i nformation to make career choices did not relate to the appreciation o f any of the six passages. Implications for theory and practice in the use of career literature are discussed.