The cognitive map of occupations: Factor structure in a Spanish sample

The present work was aimed at assessing the factorial structure of Gottfred son's (1981) cognitive map of occupations. Participants, 500 Spanish pupils aged 14 years, were presented 129 occupations derived from Shinar's (1975) questionnaire, and asked to rate each occupation on one of 10 different sc ales derived from Gottfredson's work: femininity, masculinity, prestige, in come, realistic, research, artistic, social, entrepreneurial, and conventio nal. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted on the 129 x 10 matrix of means. The best solution was found to be a three-factor sol ution, with an independent social status factor and two correlated factors: gender and creativity.