SOME PERSONAL AND CONTEXTUAL DETERMINANTS OF CONGRUENCE BETWEEN VOCATIONAL INTERESTS AND EDUCATIONAL PROFILE OF ADOLESCENTS

Vocational high schools prepare students for specific career with limited opportunities for horizontal mobility, making it crucial for students to attend schools that align with their interests and support their career development.In other words, it is essential for students' interests to match the educational programs they pursue to achieve congruence, which, according to Holland, is a key determinant of positive career outcomes such as job satisfaction and success.The aim of this study was to examine the congruence between vocational interests and educational profiles among vocational high school students and to explore the role of personality traits and parental behaviors in achieving this alignment.The study included 335 second-year vocational high school students from various fields across several Croatian cities. Participants completed the HEXACO-60 personality inventory, the PGI-Short vocational interests questionnaire, the Parental Career-Related Behaviors Scale, and a general sociodemographic questionnaire.Congruence between interests and educational profiles was assessed using profile correlations, the Iachan M index, and the Brown and Gore C index.Results indicate that students achieve moderately high levels of congruence between their interests and educational profiles.Significant positive correlations were found between congruence and extraversion, conscientiousness, and parental support, while significant negative correlations were observed with emotionality, openness, parental interference, and lack of parental involvement.Personality traits and parental behaviors together explained up to 20% of the total variance in congruence, with emotionality, openness, and parental interference identified as significant predictors.Higher levels of congruence were observed in students who were less emotional, less open, and whose parents interfered less in their career decisions.These findings highlight the important role of both personality traits and parental behaviors in achieving alignment between students' interests and educational profiles.