Adolescent Occupational Aspirations: An Examination of Changes in Girls' and Boys' Career Goals

• In Event: 434 - Section on Children and Youth Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 07. Transitions to Adulthood

Abstract

Previous studies on the occupational aspirations of adolescents have noted that female and male teens tend to have somewhat materialistic desires in regard to their future jobs and careers, yet girls and boys seem to have distinct career goals. Using data from a nationally representative sample of high school seniors (The Monitoring the Future Project), this study examines how such aspirations have varied over recent years, and how these have differed among boys and girls. The responses of high school seniors are examined for each year from 1990 through 2010. While adolescents do appear to have placed greater emphasis upon the extrinsic (e.g., income), intrinsic (e.g., self-satisfaction), and influence (e.g., authority) characteristics of future jobs, there has also been an increase in adolescents’ desires to obtain jobs great altruistic rewards (e.g., helping others). Notable differences are also evident between the occupational aspirations of adolescent females and males, with teenage girls reporting a substantially stronger preference for obtaining a professional job, as compared to teenage boys. Adolescent girls also appear to have a stronger preference for occupations which allow them the opportunity for both social and altruistic rewards. The analyses are presented within the framework of a life-course paradigm, and the implications for both adolescent development and the structure of the paid labor force in the future are discussed.

Authors

• Sampson Lee Blair, State University of New York-Buffalo

• Patricia Neff Claster, Edinboro University-Pennsylvania