USING THE SELF DIRECTED SEARCH TO EXPLORE THE VOCATIONAL CHOICES OF NATIVE AMERICAN COLLEGE FRESHMEN

Vocational choices of Native American college freshmen were examined in terms of Holland's theory. The following areas were examined: Subjects' personality and occupational environment types and the congruency levels of person-occupational environment interaction. These aspects were examined in relation to parent's education level, subjects' geographical location (reservation, non-reservation) and subjects' locus of control.;Three standardized tests and a questionnaire were administered to the subjects: The Self Directed Search (SDS), Internal-External Locus of Control Scale (I-E Scale) and the Personal Learning Style Inventory (PLSI).;The hypotheses examined the relationship between the personality and occupational environment types of both groups. Also subjects' locus of control and its relationship to their occupational choice (congruency level) was examined.;The statistical procedures used for this study was a Chi square analysis for the first four hypotheses. A Kurskal Wallis one-way analysis of variance was used for the fifth hypothesis.;Fifty-two Native American college freshmen, representing nine tribes, volunteered for this study. There were twenty-five reservation raised subjects and twenty-seven non-reservation raised subjects.;The following results were found: (1) All subjects revealed a predominant personality type in Social (40.4%) and Realistic (19.2%); (2) A difference existed between the personality types of reservation raised and non-reservation raised subjects; (3) Preferred occupational environments for all subjects was Social (42.3%) and Investigative (21.2%); (4) A significant relationship was not found between the two groups for occupational environments. However, differences did exist when subjects were broken down by gender; (5) A relationship did not exist between subjects' locus of control and person-occupational interaction score.;Based on the results of this study, implications for counselors and counseling education was provided.