STUDENTS INTEREST AND VOCATIONAL ORIENTAT ION AS DETERMINANTS OF STUDY SATISFACTION

Based on subject-matter-related interest as a concept in educational p sychology, and Holland's person-environment model of vocational orient ation, the relation between students' interest and the satisfaction wi th their studies was investigated. A questionnaire was given to 331 un iversity students of different subjects. The results show that differe nt aspects of study satisfaction can be predicted from different aspec ts of interest. The best predictor for the satisfaction with studied s ubjects is the subject-matter-related interest, whereas satisfaction w ith studying conditions is better predicted by the fit between the stu dents' vocational orientations and the corresponding opportunities pro vided by the university. The students' satisfaction with their ability to cope with stress can only be explained to a low degree by interest factors. The importance of interest factors for the prediction of stu dy satisfaction differs between studied subjects.