The present study replicated investigation of the link between Holland's six career interest types and Costa and McCrae's big five personality traits in a Chinese context. A sample of 79 university students from Hong Kong evaluated their own abilities and responded to the Short-Version Self-Directed Search (SVSDS) and the NEO Five-Factor Inventory. Results demonstrated external validity for the SVSDS, and suggested that even when students' self-rated abilities were taken into account, career interests and personality traits still significantly overlapped, although each construct made a unique contribution to the variance in the data. The specific ways in which the dimensions of career interests and personality traits were related to one another were generally consistent with those documented in the literature. The implications for educational research and educational practice in the Chinese context are discussed.
[Copyright of Educational Psychology is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01443410701366092]

The present study is a further examination of the contributions of thinking styles to academic achievement (see L-F. Zhang, 2001a, 2001b, 2002f; L-F. Zhang & R. J. Stemberg, 1998). Secondary school students in Hong Kong {N = 250; 131 from a Catholic boys' school and 119 from a Protestant girls' school) participated in the study. Students' scores on the Thinking Styles Inventory (R. J. Stemberg & R. K. Wagner, 1992) were used to predict their academic achievement in 16 subjects after age, gender, school class level, and performance on the Stemberg Triarchic Abilities Test (R. I. Stemberg, 1993) were controlled. Results indicated that the use of the hierarchical thinking style significantly contributed to better achievement in the social sciences and humanities and that the use of the judicial style uniquely contributed to better achievement in the natural sciences. The use of the monarchic thinking style significantly predicted students' achievement in design and technology. The results of this study suggest that thinking styles should be taken into account in school settings and that thinking styles that generate creativity should be cultivated in students.
[Copyright of Journal of Psychology is the property of Heldref Publications. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.3200/JRLP.138.4.351-370 ]

The two primary objectives of this study were: to identify the preferred teaching styles of secondary-school students and to compare these preferences with those of university students from past research; and to examine the contributions of students' preferred teaching styles to their academic achievement. A sample of 298 students from a Catholic boys' school completed the Preferred Thinking Styles in Teaching Inventory and the Self-rated Ability Scale. Participants' achievements in 12 school subjects were obtained. Results indicated great similarities between the preferred teaching styles of the present sample and those of university students in previous studies. Achievement scores in all 12 subjects were predicted by students' preferred teaching styles beyond their self-rated abilities. Some of these predictive relationships were domain-specific, while others were not. The findings' scientific and practical implications are discussed.
[Copyright of Educational Psychology is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01443410802004634]

This article presents the results of an investigation of the construct validity of J. B. Biggs's (1987) theory of learning approaches and of R. J. Sternberg's (1988) theory of thinking styles in two Chinese populations. The study is also an examination of the nature of the relations between the two theories. University students from Hong Kong (n = 854) and from Nanjing, mainland China (n = 215), completed the Study Process Questionnaire (J. B. Biggs, 1992) and the Thinking Styles Inventory (R. J. Sternberg & R. K. Wagner, 1992). Results indicated that both inventories were reliable and valid for assessing the constructs underlying their respective theories among both Hong Kong and Nanjing university students. Results also showed that the learning approaches and thinking styles are related in the hypothesized ways: The surface approach was hypothesized to be positively and significantly correlated with styles associated with less complexity, and negatively and significantly correlated with the legislative, judicial, liberal, and hierarchical styles. The deep approach was hypothesized to be positively and significantly correlated with styles associated with more complexity, and negatively and significantly correlated with the executive, conservative, local, and monarchic styles. Implications of these relations are discussed.
[Copyright of Journal of Psychology is the property of Heldref Publications. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00223980009598230 ]