The association between vocational personality and self-efficacy for school psychologists

The purpose of this study is to lay the groundwork for investigations into the profession of school psychology, specifically relating the variables of self-efficacy, vocational personality, professional and academic development level, and personal characteristics such as undergraduate background and gender. Holland's theory of vocational personality and Bandura's theory of self-efficacy were applied.; Participants for this study (31 males, 104 females) were student ( n = 58) or professional (n = 77) school psychologists in Arizona. Participants' three-letter Holland personality type was determined by their highest, second highest, and third highest score on the Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI). The Huber Inventory of Self-Efficacy for School Psychologists (HISSP) was utilized to assess self-efficacy.; The results revealed that professional school psychologists reported significantly higher vocational interests in Realistic-type employment compared to school psychology graduate students. Females reported significantly higher vocational interest in both Enterprising and Conventional employment types. There was one significant canonical correlation identified, whereby, individuals who reported low interests on the VPI Investigative and Conventional scales and higher interests on the Enterprising scale tended to perceive having higher HISSP professional and interpersonal skills and report lower research skills. Additionally, professional school psychologists demonstrated significantly greater self-efficacy towards the roles and functions of school psychologists within the areas of: Intervention and Consultation Skills, Multidimensional Assessment Skills, Counseling Skills, and Professional Interpersonal Skills. There was no difference in self-efficacy for Research Skills. Additionally, possessing a Holland code congruent with the school psychology code (SEI) did not reflect higher self-efficacy for school psychologists. There were two significant two-way associations and one one-way association. More specifically, academic and professional development level is associated with estimate of agreement (with an SEI Holland code), and VPI Holland code congruence is associated with estimate of agreement. A one-way association was found for Undergraduate Degree.; This research contributes to the understanding of both self-efficacy and Holland's vocational personality. The combination of these results with additional findings regarding vocational personality and self-efficacy for school psychologist can inform and enrich the career and self-assessment process. Implications of this study's findings and directions for future research are discussed.