Faculty Publications

Truck Driver Or Nurse? The Impact Of Gender Roles And Occupational Status On Children'S Occupational Preferences

Document Type

Article

Keywords

Childhood, Gender roles, Occupational attitudes, Occupational status, Stereotypes

Journal/Book/Conference Title

Sex Roles

Volume

58

Issue

11-12

First Page

848

Last Page

863

Abstract

Three experiments examined how US children perceive occupational status and gender roles. In Experiment 1, 107 6-to-12-year-olds rated the status and gender roles of 54 occupations. Feminine occupations were underrepresented among the perceived high status jobs. In Experiment 2, 28 6-to-8-year-olds, and in Experiment 3, 36 9-to-12-year-olds, reported their preferences for equally high status masculine and feminine occupations and low status masculine and feminine occupations. In both experiments, girls preferred feminine to masculine occupations and status only affected preferences for masculine occupations. The younger boys' preferences were based on both variables, whereas older boys' preferences were based on status. These findings imply that occupational status may influence boys' vocational preferences more than pressure to conform to masculine gender roles. © 2008 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.

Department

Department of Psychology

Original Publication Date

6-1-2008

DOI of published version

10.1007/s11199-008-9410-x

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