In their seminal work
on the subject of personality and career development; Farber, Manevich,
Metzger, and Saypol (2005) examined past literature that examined what led
individuals to become psychotherapists. The authors performed an extensive
literature review to systematically consider what motivated individuals to join
the field. They also suspected that there were environmental “themes” that
could influence the selection of career paths. In the current investigation the
author seeks to systematically examine whether today’s helping professionals
are guided by personality factors or childhood experiences that lead them to be
helping professionals. While the notion of exploring career choices based on
either personality factors or childhood influences seems to explore a “nature
versus nurture design,” it is believed that both may have influences on helping
professionals. By systematically examining personality factors as well as
adverse childhood experiences, this study investigated which influences career selection
more, and whether there are differences between helping professionals;
including counselors, social workers, nurses, teachers, public health
professionals and others in fire/police service.
