The relationship of socioeconomic status and gender to the occupational choices of grade 12 students

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the socioeconomic status (SES) background and gender of adolescents in relation to the prestige level and gender composition of occupations. In Part 1 of the study, Gottfredson's (1981, Journal of Counseling Psychology, 28, 545–579) model was used to examine the occupational choices of Grade 12 students ( n = 334). In Part 2, the students' self-efficacy expectations to perform occupations differing in prestige and gender composition were examined. The results of the log-linear analysis for the occupational choice data indicated a significant relationship between SES background and occupational pestige level for males and females. Males predominantly chose male-dominated occupations, but high SES females were more likely than low SES females to choose male-dominated occupations. In the MANOVA results for self-efficacy expectations, there were no gender differences in total scores, but males and females expressed higher self-efficacy for same-gender-dominated occupations than cross-gender-dominated occupations. Among SES groups, however, the low SES group reported significantly lower self-efficacy expectations than the high SES group regardless of the occupational prestige level. The implications for including SES and gender as background variables in vocational research are discussed.