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Using the Career Key as a criterion measure, the validity of the Strong Interest Explorer was tested with a sample of Latino junior high school and senior high school students. A total of 85 Hispanic youth were administered the Strong Interest Explorer and the Career Key in counterbalanced order. Separate correlational analyses were conducted for (a) the total sample, (b) junior high/senior high students, and (c) males/females. Results generally offered support for the validity of the Strong Interest Explorer Artistic, Social and Enterprising scales but not the Investigative, Conventional or Realistic scales. Cautions regarding use of the Strong Interest Explorer with Latino youth are discussed. ********** Latinos are the largest minority group in the United States. According to the 2000 Census, there are 35.3 million Latinos living in the U. S. It is expected that by 2050, Latinos will represent approximately 25 percent of the total U.S. population. Latinos are also one of the youngest population groups in the United States. One-third of Latinos are under 18 years of age, and they represent approximately 15 percent of the K-12 population (2002 National Directory, 2002). Furthermore, between the years 2000 and 2025, the U.S. Census Bureau projects that the number of working-age Latino Americans will increase by 18 million. However, only 57 percent of Latinos 25 years and older have completed high school. Twenty-seven percent of Latinos have less than a high school education. College-qualified Latino students are the only racial/ethnic group significantly less likely than other college-qualified students to pursue post-secondary education (2002 National Directory, 2002). According to the National Educational Longitudinal Survey (NELS), only 55% of Latino eighth graders expect to get college degrees (Our Nation on the Fault Line, 1996). Latino youth continue to be underrepresented in higher education. According to the 2000 Census, only 10.6 percent of Hispanics have attained a bachelor's degree. In 1996, Latinos represented only 4 percent of students in graduate school and approximately 8 percent of first-year professional students. Latino American high school graduates still trail other population groups in attaining college degrees, according to a report recently released by the Pew Hispanic Center (PHC) (Fry, 2002). Only 35% of Latino high school graduates 18 to 24 years old are enrolled in college compared to 46% of whites. The Baccalaureate degree completion rate for Latinos is currently at 10%. This combines to produce the lowest completion rates and highest dropout rates for the fastest growing minority group in the US (McGlynn, 2001). Latinos also tend to be over-represented in occupational categories such as farming, labor, factory-type work, and service industry occupations. Only 28% of males of Latino descent hold upper-level managerial, technical, and administrative positions, compared to 48% of nonLatino males. As the level of education or skill increases for a particular job, the percentage of Latinos in that position diminishes (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1988). Under-representation of Latino workers is especially severe in high-tech jobs that require college or graduate degrees, due to unequal access to the types of postsecondary education required for science and technology jobs. Only 1.3% of Latinos had college-educated technical jobs. Latinos are also underrepresented in education, health care, management, accounting, sales, and marketing (Our Nation on the Fault Line, 1996). Similarly, Latinos remain severely underrepresented in science and engineering education, and male Latinos are disproportionately represented among the lower levels of employment in manufacturing. In academic settings, Latinos represented only 2.7% of doctoral science and engineering faculty in 1995 (Muller-Karger, 2000). Clearly, such dismal statistics offer strong evidence that this population of students is in dire need of career development services and career planning assistance. … |
