Person-Environment Fit

Donald E. Eggerth

Person-environment fit models are among the most widely used and influential models in vocational psychology. Ultimately, these models trace their lineage to Frank Parsons's suggestion that job outcomes could be improved by carefully matching the attributes of an individual with the characteristics of an occupation. In the 1930s, advances in statistics and psychometrics allowed Parsons's concepts to be operationalized using individual assessment and occupational classification systems, an approach known as trait-factor counseling . Overall, trait-factor counseling was criticized as being atheoretical, and its matching process as being too static. Current person-environment fit models, such as Holland's theory of vocational personalities and work environments and the theory of work adjustment, evolved from trait-factor counseling and represent fully fleshed and dynamic theories of career choice and adjustment. There are a number of assumptions common to all person-environment fit models used in vocational psychology. These assumptions are (1) within an occupation, the well-adapted ...

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