Effect of Experience with Nontraditional Workers on Psychological and Social Dimensions of Occupational Sex-Role Stereotyping by Elementary School Children

Abstract

AngloAmerican and Hispanic boys and girls ages 6 to 11 yr. ( N = 219) were exposed to nontraditional workers within their elementary school classrooms. They rated 30 occupations as appropriate for men, women, or both men and women, on a pre- and posttest for a social dimension score (attribution of occupational sex-role stereotypes to others). Pre- and posttest fixed-choice selection of individual career aspirations indicated a psychological dimension score (individual job preference). Traditionality was measured from the child's point of view, not an adult concensus. Analysis shows: (a) When students are exposed to nontraditional role models their attitudes become less sex-typed on the social but not on the psychological dimension. (b) Sex and age affected career choices. (c) Historical-cultural (i.e., women's movement) events appear to have affected the children's attitudes on the social dimension.