Genetic and Environmental Influences on Vocational Interests Assessed Using Adoptive and Biological Families and Twins Reared Apart and Together

Abstract The present investigation was a step toward a more thorough explication of the amount of genetic and environmental variance in vocational interests than has been found in past research. A comprehensive behavioral genetics research design was employed, using previously collected data from twins reared together, twins reared apart, adoptive families, and biological families. The data consisted of item responses from the Strong Vocational Interest Blank/Strong Interest Inventory (SVIB/SII). All of the data were scored using the Hanson Combined Form Scales for the SVIB/SII (Hanson, 1982). Correlations were computed, and model fitting analyses were run to estimate additive genetic, nonadditive genetic, shared environmental, and nonshared environmental effects. The results suggested that, on average, the variance in a wide range of vocational interests can be attributed to 12% additive genetic and 24% nonadditive genetic effects and to 9% shared environmental and 55% nonshared environmental effects and measurement error.

[1]  R. Nichols.  Heredity and Environment: Major Findings from Twin Studies of Ability, Personality and Interests. , 1976 .

[2]  Robert Plomin,et al.  Behavioral Genetics : A Primer , 1980 .

[3]  C. Cooper,et al.  Patterns of interaction in family relationships and the development of identity exploration in adolescence. , 1985, Child development.

[4]  I. Gottesman,et al.  Behavioral Genetics: A Primer (2nd ed.). , 1991 .

[5]  S. G. Vandenberg,et al.  HEREDITARY COMPONENTS IN VOCATIONAL PREFERENCES. , 1964, Acta geneticae medicae et gemellologiae.

[6]  S. G. Vandenberg,et al.  Hereditary influences on vocational preferences as shown by scores of twins on the Minnesota Vocational Interest Inventory. , 1967, The Journal of applied psychology.

[7]  Matt McGue,et al.  Adjustment of twin data for the effects of age and sex , 1984, Behavior genetics.

[8]  H. Grüneberg,et al.  Introduction to quantitative genetics , 1960 .

[9]  Thomas J. Bouchard,et al.  Work Values: Genetic and Environmental Influences , 1992 .

[10]  Stephen M. Corey,et al.  Vocational interests of men and women. , 1944 .

[11]  H. Carter.  Twin similarities in occupational interests. , 1932 .

[12]  J. Darley,et al.  Vocational Interest Measurement: Theory and Practice , 1955 .

[13]  Thomas J. Bouchard,et al.  Job Satisfaction: Environmental and Genetic Components , 1989 .

[14]  Carole A Roberts,et al.  The inheritance of cognitive interest styles among twins , 1974 .

[15]  Robert Plomin,et al.  LISREL modeling: Genetic and environmental influences on IQ revisited , 1990 .

[16]  Karl G. Jöreskog,et al.  Lisrel 8: User's Reference Guide , 1997 .

[17]  Jo-Ida C. Hansen.  Changing Interests of Women: Myth or Reality? , 1988 .

[18]  S. Scarr,et al.  Patterns of interest similarity in adoptive and biological families. , 1977, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[19]  S. Scarr,et al.  The Minnesota Adoption Studies: genetic differences and malleability. , 1983, Child development.

[20]  R. Berdie.  Factors related to vocational interests. , 1944 .

[21]  Robert C. Nichols,et al.  Heredity, Environment, and Personality: A Study of 850 Sets of Twins , 1976 .

[22]  N L Segal,et al.  “Sources of Human Psychological Differences: The Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart” (1990), by , 2018 .

[23]  Thomas J. Bouchard,et al.  A Genetic and environmental analysis of the vocational interests of monozygotic and dizygotic twins reared apart , 1991 .