Individual Differences in Children’s Occupational Aspirations as a Function of Parental Traditionality

Abstract

The current study was designed to test the application of the social-cognitive theory of gender development in predicting the traditionality of children's occupational aspirations (Bussey and Bandura 1999). Of primary interest was the influence of children's efficacy for nontraditional tasks on their occupational aspirations. Participants were 150 children and their mothers from the southern United States. Mothers reported their gendered attitudes, their perception of their children's skills, and their family's division of paid and unpaid labor. Children reported their occupational aspirations and efficacy for traditional and nontraditional skills, occupations, and school topics. Mothers who reported nontraditional attitudes had children with nontraditional occupational aspirations. This association was mediated by children's efficacy for nontraditional tasks, indicating some support for the social-cognitive theory.

Parents’ Gender Ideology and Gendered Behavior as Predictors of Children’s Gender-Role Attitudes: A Longitudinal Exploration

“…Fulcher (2010) found that when middle-class mothers held more traditional ideas about children's gender roles, their children (ages 7 to 12) tended to report more gender-stereotyped career aspirations. Specifically, when mothers expected their children to be interested in traditionally gendered careers, children expressed more interest in careers that promote gender stereotypes.…”

“…Previous studies have tended to overlook the ways in which both mothers and fathers contribute to their children’s gender socialization in unique ways, often relying on mothers' reports of fathers' behavior (Fulcher, 2010) or overlooking fathers entirely (e.g., Cunningham 2001a & 2001b). The current study considers the potential for both mothers’ and fathers' ideologies and performance of gendered behavior to predict their children's gender-role attitudes in the context of two-parent, heterosexual families.…”

“…Research has found that when parents have more traditional views regarding gender roles, their children also tend to think in more traditional terms (Epstein & Ward, 2011; Fulcher, 2010; Sutfin, Fulcher, Bowles, & Patterson, 2008); on the other hand, when parents hold more egalitarian values, their children tend to have less traditional gender-role attitudes (Sutfin et al, 2008). Fathers’ ideology has typically been overlooked in this literature.…”

“…Job traditionality might reflect a parent's interests and ideology; at the same time, education and other socioeconomic factors may impact parents’ access to certain types of jobs, and for some, taking a stereotypically feminine or masculine position is not a choice. Fulcher (2010) measured the traditionality of parents' jobs based on the relative percent of same-gender people holding similar positions in the United States, but found no relationship between parents’ job traditionality and the career aspirations of children aged 7 to 12. Barak and colleagues (1991) found that mothers with more traditionally feminine occupations tended to have children with more stereotyped interests, regardless of the child’s gender.…”

The Cognitive Construction of Gender Stereotypes: Evidence for the Dual Pathways Model of Gender Differentiation

“…Parents often provide children with gender-typed toys, activities, and environments (Wood et al 2002) and influence children's development of gender stereotypes by engaging in a traditional or nontraditional division of labor. Children whose parents' engage in traditional gender roles endorse more gender stereotypes than children whose parents' engage in nontraditional gender roles (Fulcher 2011). Starting in preschool, children begin to select into gender-segregated play groups, and play with other gender peers is limited (Maccoby 1998).…”