Upper Elementary and High School Students' Attitudes toward Gender-Typed Occupations

Abstract

Students in grades five, eight and eleven (N = 292) responded to three questions regarding a list of sex-typed and gender-neutral occupations: "Who can do these jobs?," "Would you like to do these jobs?," and "Could you learn to do these jobs?" ANCOVA (Covariate = Race) performed on each scale support the hypothesis that deeper (more personal) beliefs regarding occupations would be more traditional in nature and that males and females would diverge most prominently in their self-efficacy beliefs concerning the occupations. Males and females at each of the three grade levels are more alike in their generalized abstract views and personal preferences than in their personal efficacy or beliefs about their ability concerning gender-typed occupations.