Sex and Developmental Differences by Complexity of Functions of Occupational Aspirations of School Children across Ten Years

Abstract

The present longitudinal study examined the complexity of workers' functions for 65 children's occupational aspirations during a 10-yr. span beginning when the children were 7 yr. old and in Grade 2. Every two years through the senior year in high school, the children were interviewed, for a total of six interviews. Sex and developmental differences in occupational aspirations were examined with respect to the focus on Data, People, or Things. Girls ( n = 31) selected occupational aspirations requiring greater complexity in People functions throughout the study. From Grades 2 to 8 boys chose occupations with greater complexity of Things and girls chose occupations with greater complexity of Data. Developmentally, all children chose increasingly more complex Data occupations from Grades 2 to 12. Occupational aspirations in high school showed a decrease in the complexity of workers' functions involving People and Things. These observations would be expected from social cognitive theory and the 1981 career development theory of Gottfredson.