Effects of Perceived Occupational Knowledge, Stereotypes and Felt Gender Conformity Pressure on Children’s Occupational Interest

• In Event: Poster Session 08
  In Poster Session: PS 08 Topic - Sex, Gender

Abstract

Middle childhood (7–12 years old) is a unique time to explore how gender influences occupational interests. Elementary aged children express less rigidity than younger children in their gendered attitudes in some domains, yet their behaviors and interests still tend to be gender-typed (Blakemore, 2003). In this study, we expand upon previous literature and examine if perceived knowledge contributes to explaining gender differences in career interests compared to the more frequently studied constructs of gender socialization and gender stereotypes.
Participants were 185 elementary school children (51.9% boys) in 4th and 5th grade (9-11 years old) enrolled in 4 elementary schools from a sample of both rural and suburban areas in the southeastern United States. The ethnic breakdown of our participants was as follows: 65.4% White, 23.3% African American, 2.2% Latinx/Hispanic, 0.5% Asian, 3.2% Native American, and 5.4% not specified. Participants completed a paper survey that included measures of felt pressure to conform to gender norms, perceived occupational knowledge, occupational gender stereotypes, and occupational interest. Knowledge, interest, and stereotype questions were asked for four male-dominated (Construction worker, Firefighter, Engineer, Computer Programmer) and four female-dominated occupations (Elementary School Teacher, Nurse, Librarian, Hair Stylist).
We investigated the association between perceived occupational knowledge and occupational interest to determine whether our study replicates past research showing that perceived occupational knowledge predicts occupational interest (Rohlfing et al., 2012). For both boys and girls, the relation between knowledge and interest for male- and female-dominated occupations was positive and significant, as predicted (p’s < .001).
Next, gender differences in perceived occupational knowledge, occupational interest, and felt pressure to conform to gender norms were examined. Boys reported more interest in and perceived occupational knowledge about male-dominated occupations (ps < .001) than girls. Girls reported higher levels of interest in and perceived occupational knowledge about female-dominated occupations (ps < .001) than boys.
The combined effects of perceived occupational knowledge, felt pressure to conform to gender norms, and gender stereotypes on occupation interests were examined. Gender moderated the effect of gender conformity pressure, and gender stereotype knowledge on interest in female-dominated, but not male-dominated occupations. Boys were less interested in female-dominated occupations when they felt pressure to conform to gender norms and held more stereotypical beliefs about those occupations (Table 1). However, a comparable pattern was not found for girls’ interest in male-dominated occupations (Table 2). Despite their greater interest in female-dominated occupations than boys, for girls lower gender conformity pressure in middle childhood may be a precursor to less gendered occupational interests later in adolescence. Indeed, girls are allowed more flexibility than boys in their adherence to gender norms (Egan & Perry, 2001; Pauletti et al., 2017).
Our results suggest perceived occupational knowledge is an important, yet overlooked, factor in understanding gender differences in children’s occupational interests. It will be important to consider how perceived knowledge is associated with constructs from models that are often used to predict gender differences in academic outcomes and career interests, such as expectancy-value theory (Eccles, 2011) and social cognitive career theory (Lent et al., 1994).

Authors

• Stephanie Masters, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa
  Presenting Author

• Joan M Barth, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa
  Non-Presenting Author