STEM Careers and Their Association with Holland’s RIASEC Typologies Carreras STEM y su asosiación con las tipologías RIASEC de Holland

Abstract

This project sought to evaluate Holland’s RIASEC theory model, its applicability in the classification of STEM careers at the Costa Rica Institute of Technology, as well as analyze differences in the scores of the activities and skills scales of the Self Directed-Search (Spanish version) according to sex and level of vocational satisfaction, a sample of 581 students from 18 majors, with an average age of 20.29 (DE = 3.33), 40.62% women and 59.38% men. Through confirmatory factor models, the presence of the 6 typologies of the RIASEC theory was evidenced. In relation to the classification of careers according to the triad codes of the career and occupation explorer of Holland et al. (2005c), a complete match (3 acronyms) was obtained for only 33.33% of the sample of courses; a partial match (2 acronyms) for 44.44% of the courses and finally, 22.22% showed a minimal match (1 acronym). The analysis of variance showed that those who showed higher levels of vocational satisfaction obtained higher averages in the realistic, entrepreneurial, and social skills scales, but no significant differences were evident between the skills scale scores. In relation to sex, women show higher averages in the artistic and social typologies, and men in the realistic and investigative typologies.