PERSONALITY TYPES AS PREDICTORS OF ACHIEVEMENT CAREER ASPIRATION OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN ANAMBRA STATE, NIGERIA

This study investigated Realistic and Investigative personality types as predictors of achievement career aspiration of secondary school students in Anambra State, Nigeria. Two research questions guided the study while two null hypotheses were tested at a 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted a correlation research design. The study was carried out in Anambra State. The sample of 2,700 SS1 and SS 2 students were selected from a population of 32,450 senior secondary school students. Two research instruments were used for data collection. These are the Achievement Career Aspiration Scale (ACAS) and Personality Types Questionnaire (PTQ). The internal consistency reliability of the instruments was established using Cronbach Alpha statistics. The results are as follows: ACAS 0.891; PTQ 0.942. The reliability Coefficients for PTQ clusters are Realistic 0.891, Investigative 0.928. Copies of the questionnaire were distributed and retrieved through a direct delivery method. Data collected were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). Simple linear regression analyses were used in answering research questions and testing the hypotheses. The finding of the study revealed among others that the Investigative personality type showed a significant prediction of achievement career aspiration of the students while the Realistic personality type does not significantly predict their achievement career aspiration. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that Guidance Counsellors working in secondary schools should organise assessment tests to assess students’ personality types in their school when the students join the school in class one, so as to guide them in their possible career paths.


Introduction
Career aspiration is a progressive process that could extend throughout life and tends to involve not a single decision, but a series of decisions. Career aspiration is not just a matter of desiring an occupation that is a good match with a person's interest but in reality, the process is a lot more demanding. This is due to the fact that a career has certain distinct characteristics that allow it to be described as a form of work. These characteristics according to Chemeli (2013) create the atmosphere within which career counselling and guidance can occur. The characteristics as noted by Chemeli include volition and choice, suitability, preparation, ongoing development and social-personal dimensions.
A career for lay people means the aspect of life that is concerned with employment. However, in the context of career counselling, it is much broader and long-range in scope. Therefore, from an occupational point of view, it could be seen as an occupation or a profession that usually involves special training or formal education considered to be a person's life work. When viewed in this manner, a career is seen as a sequence of related jobs, usually pursued within an industry or sector (Hooley, Marriott, Watts and Coiffait, 2014). Choosing a career involves more than just choosing of occupation; although the choice forms the basis from which one's career evolves.
Career aspiration, according to Pam (2013) is the selection of a vocation based on various factors such as ability, parental influence, counselling for careers, part-time jobs among others. On the other hand, Phifer (2014) defined career aspiration as the sum total of decisions that direct ones educational, social, economic, political, and spiritual endeavours and reflect the people's unique personality characteristics and basic life values. The career aspiration involves more than just choice of occupation; although that choice forms the basis from which one's career evolves. It could be viewed as a process that helps persons to develop and accept who they are and their perceived roles in the world of work by assisting them to gauge these concepts against what is real and what can bring satisfaction to them as well as society. Thus, in the context of this study, career aspiration is defined as the desires, dreams, career thoughts (verbalized or nonverbalized) by young individuals in secondary schools that influence what they intend to study and engage in the world of work.
Career aspiration from the above definition is assumed to relate to a range of aspects of a students' life, learning and later, work, which enables one to understand how the students aspire to achieve within their career and how their career aspiration may change over time. In essence, career aspiration could mean a predictor of one's future achievement in the world of work.
Living in the age of innovation, digitalization and globalization deciding which career path to take could be challenging to students, especially those at the secondary school level. The navigation of careers and mapping out the direction is tough and stressful but one of the most important decisions for success and growth (Soraya, Elaheh, and Gholamali, 2011). It involves uncertainty, twist and the job market changing at an even a faster rate, such that choosing a career path or changing one for most students could be a confusing and anxiety-riddled experience due to recent advancements, growth and shift in the job market. The availability of so many career choice options with few available opportunities for its application in Nigeria may have also contributed to making students even more confused and worried about which career to choose. Thus, many students' career aspirations could be more influenced by the individual's employability rather than by their potentials, interests, values and special abilities (Ott-Holland, Huang, Ryan Elizondo and Wadlington, 2013). Other notable factors influencing students' career aspirations are the opinions and attitudes of the family members, teachers, relatives and peers. However, as observed by Alkhelil (2016), only a few tend to put their interests and aptitudes into consideration in career decision making; hence majority choose careers according to the opinion of peers, teachers and the financial potentials of the career or with no specific reasons.
Over the years, scholars in both psychology and career education have spent years looking at personality differences in order to understand how human beings achieve satisfaction in life and in careers. Allport (1937) was one of the first psychologists to study personality and he described it as the dynamic organization within a person and those psychological systems that determine his or her unique adjustment to the environment. Personality according to American Psychological Association (APA, 2016) also refers to individual differences in characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving. In the context of this study, therefore, personality types refer to a set of distinguishing characteristics within the individual students that are organized and relatively enduring and have the tendency to influence their interactions with the physical and social environments.
There are six personality types according to Holland (1997) that can characterize both individuals and occupations: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional. The more closely a person emulates a particular type, the more likely he or she is to exhibit the personal traits and behaviours associated with that type. These interactions could offer a tool for understanding academic interests, vocational interests, vocational satisfaction, achievement, and, work histories. For instance, the Realistic personality type prefers realistic occupations or situations requiring manual activities and the manipulation of machinery, tools or animals. They usually avoid the type of activities demanded by social occupations or situations and they may have a narrow range of interests. On the other hand, the Investigative personality type prefers occupations or situations that call for the observational, symbolic, systematic and creative investigation of physical, biological and cultural phenomena in order to understand and control such phenomena (Holland, 1997). Thus, the assessment and evaluation of these personality types and the matching between personality and career aspiration are considered critical in career planning.
Jemini-Gashi and Berxulli (2017) noted that personality plays an important role as interests and skills in determining the type of jobs that people will be attracted to and that the greater the match between one occupation and personality, the greater life and career satisfaction they will likely have. Thus, students with various personality types are apt to differ in their interests, values and needs. Such students would learn in different ways and would likely cherish and aspire for a different career. However, for students in secondary schools in Anambra State, Nigeria, the process of making a choice is complex and unique for each individual depending on cognitive factors and social structures of the individual's environment which in most cases does not seem to present a clear direction for the students. The context in which career decisions occur seems complex and therefore many students require assistance in exploring the most suitable choice of career. This researcher was consequently motivated to investigate personality type factors as predictors of students career aspirations in secondary schools in Anambra state.

Statement of the Problem
Secondary school years present the transition from the cooperatively sheltered life of the primary school to the freedom and responsibility of either tertiary education or employment. At this stage, career guidance is widely accepted as a powerful and effective method of bridging the gap between education and the world of work.
However, the challenges in deciding the right job, due to lack of appropriate information and lack of researching a wide variety of career aspiration options and matching the individuals' personality to potential careers for future employment opportunities. Although studies have sought to examine factors affecting students choice of career both in Nigeria and elsewhere around the globe, no study known to this researcher has investigated the student's personality types as possible predictors of their career aspiration in Anambra state, Nigeria. This is an observed gap in the literature that this study is set to fill.

Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study was to investigate Realistic and Investigative personality types as predictors of career aspiration of secondary school students in Anambra State, Nigeria. Specifically, the study sought to examine: 1) The extent to which the Realistic personality type predicts achievement career aspiration of secondary school students in Anambra state. 2) The extent to which the Investigative personality type predicts achievement career aspiration of secondary school students in Anambra state.

Research Questions
The following research questions were answered in the study.
1) To what extent to Realistic personality type predicts achievement career aspiration of secondary school students in Anambra state. 2) To what extent to Investigative personality type predicts achievement career aspiration of secondary school students in Anambra state.

Hypotheses
The following null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. 1) Realistic personality type is not a significant predictor of achievement career aspiration of secondary school students in Anambra state. 2) Investigative personality type is not a significant predictor of achievement career aspiration of secondary school students in Anambra state.

Research Design
The study was conducted using a correlational research design. The design was used because it sought to establish the relationship that exists between variables; Realistic and Investigative personality types and achievement career aspiration of secondary school students and in Anambra State, Nigeria.

Research Setting
The study was conducted in Anambra State, located in the South East Geo-Political Zone of Nigeria. A good number of students in secondary schools seems to have a challenge when it comes to making a choice of career.

Participants
A total 2,700 SS1 and SS 2 students in public secondary schools in Anambra state made up the sample for this study. In selecting the sample for the study, A multi-stage sampling approach was used in selecting the sample from a population of 32,450 students.

Instrument for Data Collection
In this sample, two research instruments were used to gather input from married school teachers. The tools include the Achievement Career Aspiration Scale (ACAS) and Personality Types Questionnaire (PTQ). The Achievement Career Aspiration Scale was developed by Gregor and O'Brien (2015) and adapted for this study. The instrument consists of eight items that measure student's aspirations in the achievement domain.

Data Collection and Analysis
The two test instruments were administered to all study participants through direct distribution. Statistical Package of Social Science (SPSS) was used to analyse the data collected. Linear regression analysis was used in answering research questions and testing the null hypotheses.

Results
In this section, the data collected from the field for this study were analysed and the summaries were presented in tables to highlight the findings as follows:

Research Question 1:
To what extent do Realistic personality types predict achievement career aspiration of secondary school students in Anambra state?  Table 1 shows that the realistic personality type had Beta of -0.028. This indicates that realistic personality type predicted -2.8 percent of achievement career aspiration of the students.

Research Question 2:
To what extent does Investigative personality type predict achievement career aspiration of secondary school students in Anambra state? In Table 2, it was observed that the investigative personality type had Beta of 0.040. This indicates that investigative personality type predicted 4.0 percent of achievement career aspiration of the students.
Null Hypothesis 1: Realistic personality type is not a significant predictor of achievement career aspiration of secondary school students in Anambra state. The findings of the study as shown in Table 3 revealed that at 2681df and 0.05 level of significance, the calculated t 1.43 with P-value 0.154 which is greater than the 0.05, the null hypothesis is accepted. Therefore, the realistic personality type of the secondary school students is not a significant predictor of their achievement career aspiration.   Table 4 revealed that at 2681df and 0.05 level of significance, the calculated t 2.060 with P-value 0.039 which is less than 0.05, the null hypothesis is rejected. Therefore, the investigative personality type of the secondary school students is a significant predictor of their achievement career aspiration.

Discussions
The findings of the study are hereby discussed. The findings of the study revealed that Investigative personality type showed a significant prediction of achievement career aspiration of the students, while the Realistic personality type was not a significant predictor of achievement career aspiration of the secondary school students.
The finding is in line with the findings of Botang, et al. (2021) and Chemeli, S. P. (2013) whose studies revealed that Investigative personality type showed a low relationship with achievement motivation and job performance among physicians in Harbin, China. The finding is also consistent with the findings of Soraya, Elaheh and Gholamal (2011) whose study results revealed that personality types were not significantly related to the students' achievement motivation in secondary schools. However, stepwise regression analysis indicated that investigative personality characteristics accounted for 48 percent of the variance in the students' achievement. Hence, indicating that investigative personality contributes to the students' achievement motivation in secondary schools.
The reason for these findings could be attributed to the notion that the Investigative personality involves a scholarly orientation, they tend to value a scientific approach to problem-solving. Thus, with strong mathematical and scientific abilities, students have distinctive personality type characteristics which could shape and prepare them for different worldviews, and could also lead them to behave and aspire differently in various social and educational settings.
The relationship between personality and career planning has been researched for decades suggesting that there is a relationship between personality factors and career choices, however, practically, wrong career choices are made due to the ignorance of specific personality types of the individuals. This may have contributed to the finding of this study which showed that the contribution of the Realistic personality type to students' achievement aspiration in secondary schools in Anambra state, Nigeria was not substantial.
Although the results of studies that examined academic achievement as a predictor of students' achievement in schools have yielded different results, they have consistently pointed out the role of non-cognitive variables such as personality characteristics in the academic achievement aspiration of students. The findings of this study, therefore, seem to have affirmed their guesses.

Conclusion
Based on the findings of the study, it was concluded that the investigative personality type of the secondary school students is a significant predictor of their achievement career aspiration, while the Realistic personality type was not a significant predictor of students' achievement aspiration in schools. Thus, taking these personality type differences into account can help Guidance Counsellors and other educators in recognizing their students' individual differences in making career choices.

Recommendations
The following recommendations were made based on the findings of the study: 1. Guidance Counsellors working in secondary schools should organise assessment tests to assess students' personality types in their school when the students join the school in class one, so as to guide them in their possible career paths. This will enable them to select the right subjects in line with career aspirations that fit their personality make up. 2. Career counsellors and mentors should make use of the personality assessment in guiding students to the appropriate choice of career.
Uju Christiana Nwanna is a lecturer in the Department of Guidance and Counselling, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. She is a scholar with years of experience in teaching, counselling and research. She is happily married with four lovely children.