A Retrospective Study of Career Development: I. Relationship among First Aspirations, Parental Occupations, and Current Occupations

Brief interviews were conducted with 620 full-time employed adults between the ages of 40 and 55 years to identify their first realistic career aspirations and the ages at which they were made. A majority (59%) indicated a first career aspiration before the age of 13. Exact matches with current occupations were rare but increased in frequency with higher age of first aspiration. Aspirations and occupations were classified according to Holland's (1985) six occupational categories. Forty-one percent of the childhood aspirations and 46% of the adolescent aspirations matched current occupations. Those reporting early aspirations within the same category as their fathers' occupations were more likely to remain within the same category at middle age than those whose early career aspirations did not match their fathers' occupations.