The Role of Ability in the Selection of Majors

Abstract

The current study examined the extent to which ability provides incremental validity to the prediction of major choice beyond what is predicted by measures of personality, self-efficacy, and interests. College students at a large, Midwestern university completed the Ability Profiler after which they completed personality, self-efficacy, and interest measures. Through multinomial logistical regression analyses, ability was found to add some incremental validity (1.5% increase in variance explained), when combined with personality, interest, and self-efficacy measures, to the prediction of major choice. Interests and self-efficacy served as impactful predictors, with personality contributing some influence. This finding illustrates that career counselors should continue to assess clients’ interests and self-efficacy when helping them make career decisions. Additional research should be conducted to assess the utility of other ability measures in the career counseling process.