Vocational interests are a commonly used concept to help students choose a study program in higher education. The underlying assumption is that a good choice reflects congruence of the program with a student's vocational interests. This assumption however remains controversial, given the lack of conclusive evidence due to methodological problems, mixed results, and absence of meta-analyses using multiple indicators of academic success. Therefore, we aimed to provide reliable meta-analytic evidence regarding the relationship between interest congruence and three indicators of academic success in higher education, along with the sources of variation moderating this relationship. We first performed a systematic search in three databases, which included 23 studies. We then used psychometric meta-analysis and narrative analysis to synthesise these studies. The meta-analytic results revealed that interest congruence is a positive, albeit small, predictor of academic achievement, persistence in the study program, and satisfaction with the study program. Interestingly, the manner in which interest congruence was operationalised moderated this relation: congruence measures that were operationalised with the full interest profile showed larger effects. The outcomes of the narrative review showed a great variety of methodological approaches, rendering it difficult to draw a firm conclusion. However, the general observation based on the review is that the congruence-outcome relationship is affected by individual characteristics of students, such as prior achievement, gender, first-generation status, and race. In conclusion, the results of this meta-analysis and subsequent narrative review indicate that the concept of interest congruence has the potential to be a helpful tool for adolescents for reflection on study choice. However, the relationship between interest congruence and academic success is influenced by a complex interplay of measurement variables and other individual characteristics, which should be considered in future research.

中文翻译：

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学生和学习项目之间的兴趣是否契合会带来更好的结果？职业兴趣一致性作为学业成功预测因素的荟萃分析


职业兴趣是帮助学生选择高等教育学习项目的常用概念。基本假设是，好的选择反映了课程与学生职业兴趣的一致性。然而，由于方法论问题、结果好坏参半以及缺乏使用学术成功的多种指标的荟萃分析，缺乏确凿的证据，这一假设仍然存在争议。因此，我们的目的是提供关于兴趣一致性与高等教育学术成功的三个指标之间关系的可靠元分析证据，以及调节这种关系的变异来源。我们首先在三个数据库中进行了系统检索，其中包括 23 项研究。然后，我们使用心理测量元分析和叙事分析来综合这些研究。荟萃分析结果显示，兴趣一致性虽然很小，但对学术成就、学习计划的坚持以及对学习计划的满意度是一个积极的预测因素。有趣的是，利益一致性的实施方式调节了这种关系：与完整利益状况一起实施的一致性措施显示出更大的影响。叙述性审查的结果显示方法论方法多种多样，因此很难得出明确的结论。然而，基于审查的一般观察结果是，一致性-结果关系受到学生个人特征的影响，例如先前的成就、性别、第一代身份和种族。 总之，这项荟萃分析和随后的叙述回顾的结果表明，兴趣一致性的概念有可能成为青少年反思学习选择的有用工具。然而，兴趣一致性和学业成功之间的关系受到测量变量和其他个人特征的复杂相互作用的影响，在未来的研究中应该考虑这一点。