The Predictive Validity of Vocational Interests for Life Outcomes Across Adulthood

Vocational interests predict relevant outcomes in individuals’ lives, but most evidence comes from youth. It remains unexplored whether interests continue to predict outcomes across mid- and late-adulthood, and whether their predictive power varies with age. Drawing on life course and motivational lifespan theories, we hypothesized that the relations of interests with life outcomes depend on structural opportunities and constraints that vary across age. We used large-scale, population-representative data (N = 3,596–8,904) to examine whether vocational interests predict work (e.g., income, unemployment, leadership), relationship (e.g., marriage, divorce), and communal (e.g., civic engagement, cultural participation) outcomes assessed eleven years later. Across adulthood (ages 25–67 at interest assessment), interests significantly contributed to all twelve outcomes, demonstrating that interests are predictive of life outcomes after adolescence and young adulthood. Age-moderation analyses using local structural equation modeling and age-group specific analyses indicated that many interest–outcome links remained stable throughout adulthood but revealed some differentiated patterns consistent with age-graded opportunities and constraints. Specifically, links between interests and work outcomes were often strongest in mid-career and largely remained stable thereafter. For relationship outcomes, the predictive strength of interests peaked in early adulthood and weakened over midlife. For communal outcomes, most age variation in the predictive strength of interests occurred in later adulthood. Overall, results add a lifespan perspective to interest theory and suggest that age can provide a relevant context to realize interests through life choices, which should be considered in theory and practice.