Facts and figures

Would you do it again, given the choice?

Almost 80 percent of recent doctoral recipients say if they could do it all over again, they'd choose a career in psychology, according to the latest Doctorate Employment Survey, conducted by the APA Research Office.

The percentage varied when graduates were asked whether they would choose the same subfield--research or health service; 79 percent of research graduates responded affirmatively, compared with 90 percent of health service graduates.

New doctorates were also asked if they would choose the same training program a second time. Seventy-seven percent of those in the health-service provider subfields said they would, while just below 70 percent of those in the research subfields responded affirmatively.

Interestingly, those who said their current jobs were not related to their field of study were least likely to choose psychology again, choose the same subfield or choose the same training program.

Graduates who found no suitable jobs in their area but could not move were quite definite about not choosing psychology again. In general, the less the amount of control over the situation--no suitable job, no flexibility of schedule, no part-time work--the less likely the person was to respond positively.

It appears from the patterns in the responses that the new doctorates were most strongly connected to their specific subfields, followed by connections to the overall field of psychology, followed finally by the choice of doctoral training program.

--JESSICA KOHOUT

APA'S RESEARCH OFFICE