Appraising birth order in career assessment: Linkages to Holland's and Super's models

Adlerian vocational theory proposes that birth order, or psychological posi tion in the family of origin, significantly influences vocational behavior. If so, appraising birth order position may be useful in a career assessmen t context to enrich an understanding of an individual's occupational intere sts, values, and vocational personality style. Two exploratory studies exam ined this potentiality. In Study 1, analysis of variance results indicated significant differences in vocational personality type, occupational intere sts, and values among three birth-order groups derived from a medical stude nt sample (N = 159). Significant differences in occupational interests amon g birth-order groups also emerged in Study 2 which used a college student s ample (N = 119). Combined, results of the present research lend support to the Adlerian theoretical assertion that birth order determines vocational p ersonality, occupational interest, and values patterns. Birth order represe nts a salient and viable variable to consider in career assessment and coun seling contexts as well as to examine in future research.