Nurse or Mechanic? The Role of Parental Socialization and Children's Personality in the Formation of Sex-Typed Occupational Aspirations

Polavieja, Javier G.; Platt, Lucinda

doi:10.1093/sf/sou051

Cited by 49 publications

(74 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…More specifically, as analyses of specific fields of study showed, boys are more likely to enter science and engineering and less likely to choose fields such as health, biology, agriculture and veterinary, whereas for girls we find the opposite. This is in line with previous studies, which concluded that mothers in a non-traditional occupational field result in adolescents choosing non-traditional fields (Leppel et al, 2001;Støren & Arnesen, 2007;Polavieja & Platt, 2014). However, whereas these studies find this effect only for girls (Polavieja & Platt, 2014) or boys (Leppel et al, 2001;Støren & Arnesen, 2007), we conclude that the mother's occupation affects both boys' and girls' field of study.…”

Section: Conclusion and Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…This is in line with previous studies, which concluded that mothers in a non-traditional occupational field result in adolescents choosing non-traditional fields (Leppel et al, 2001;Støren & Arnesen, 2007;Polavieja & Platt, 2014). However, whereas these studies find this effect only for girls (Polavieja & Platt, 2014) or boys (Leppel et al, 2001;Støren & Arnesen, 2007), we conclude that the mother's occupation affects both boys' and girls' field of study.Contrary to the theory of sex-role learning, we find no evidence that it is more likely for boys to learn gender-role behaviour from their father and for girls to learn genderrole behaviour from their mother. Mother's occupation has a similar influence on boys and girls, and father's occupation has little effect on which field of study adolescents enter.…”

supporting

confidence: 92%

“…Dryler (1998) found no support for sex-role learning. Polavieja and Platt (2014), who studied the effect of parents' occupational field on children's occupational aspirations, found strong support for sex-role learning. Both Støren and Arnesen (2007) and Leppel et al (2001) found mixed evidence of both sex-role learning and direct transfer.…”

Section: Sex-role Learningmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Intergenerational transmission of gender segregation: How parents’ occupational field affects gender differences in field of study choices

Vleuten

Jaspers

Maas

et al. 2018

British Educational Res J

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The study explores how parents' occupational field affects gender differences in educational fields. On the one hand, the theory of direct transfer predicts that adolescents enter fields similar to those of their parents because of intergenerational transmission of occupation-specific resources and that adolescents are more likely to draw upon the resources provided by the higher-status parent. On the other hand, the theory of sex-role learning predicts that boys and girls are more likely to choose more gender-stereotypical fields of study because they learn 'appropriate' gender-role behaviour from their parents' occupational field and that boys are more likely to learn this behaviour from their father and girls from their mother. We use longitudinal data collected from adolescents and their parents in the Netherlands (N = 2,497) and tested our hypotheses using multiple-group structural equation modelling and multinomial regression analyses. In line with sex-role learning, results show that especially mothers who are employed in a more feminine occupational field influence their daughters to enter a more feminine field of study (health, biology, agriculture and veterinary) and their sons to enter a more masculine field of study (science and technology). Mothers' occupational field therefore not only influences girls' field of study, but also boys'. This study highlights the role of horizontal characteristics when examining which field of study adolescents enter. Contrary to the stratification literature, which primarily focuses on fathers, this study concludes that mothers play a more important role in gender differences in fields of study.Keywords: parents' occupational field; field of study; gender differences This research was supported by the Dutch Scientific Organisation (NWO) research talent grant entitled 'Gendered Choices: school and field of study trajectories of male and female adolescents in four European countries' [grant number 406-12-018]. Additionally, financial support from the NORFACE research programme on Migration in Europe -Social, Economic, Cultural and Policy Dynamics and from "NWO middelgroot" [480-11-013] is acknowledged. *Corresponding author. Department of Sociology/ICS, Radboud University Nijmegen, Thomas van Aquinostraat 6, 6525 GD Nijmegen, The Netherlands. E-mail: m.vandervleuten@maw.ru.nl. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.British Educational Research Journal Vol. 44, No. 2, April 2018, pp. 294-318 DOI: 10.1002 Introduction Boys and girls are still segregated into different occupational fields, partly owing to persistent gender differences in fields of study. Boys are more likely to enter gender-stereotypical masculine fields of study such as engineering and mathematics, whereas girls are more likely to enter gender-stereotypical feminine fields such as the hum...

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Section: Conclusion and Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

supporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Sex-role Learningmentioning

confidence: 98%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Intergenerational transmission of gender segregation: How parents’ occupational field affects gender differences in field of study choices

Vleuten

Jaspers

Maas

et al. 2018

British Educational Res J

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Field of study is a central indicator of pre-market segregation. Women may cluster in different fields because of gendered socialization (Polavieja and Platt, 2014) or because they anticipate part-time work and thus choose fields that lead to family friendly (and low-paid) occupations (Ochsenfeld, 2014: p. 537).…”

Section: Channels Through Which Family Roles Affect Wagesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Gender Wage Gap Opens Long before Motherhood. Panel Evidence on Early Careers in Switzerland

Combet

Oesch

2019

European Sociological Review

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According to a popular argument in economics, the gender wage gap persists not because of employer discrimination against women, but because of the differential investment of fathers and mothers into paid work and the household. We test this argument by comparing the evolution of wages between men and women before the onset of family formation and gendered household specialization. We use a cohort study of young adults for Switzerland (TREE 2000-2014) and match the two sexes on their intellectual ability and educational attainment before they enter the labour market. We then use the ensuing survey waves to account for human capital and job characteristics as well as for values towards work and family. We replicate our analysis with a second panel study of Swiss graduate students. We find in both cohort studies an unexplained gender wage gap of between 3 to 6 percent in favour of men. This result suggests that young women earn lower wages than young men with the same productive characteristics long before they have children. Translated into annual wages, this means that young women lose out on half a monthly wage each year in comparison to young men.

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“…Stratification studies of students' occupational expectations are consistent with the basic tenets of the gender socialisation hypothesis (Marks 2008a;Marks 2008b). In a sample of British adolescents born around the early 1980s, boys tended to aspire to male-dominated careers if their fathers had the same type of occupations, whereas girls tended to expect gender-atypical careers if their mothers were engaged in maledominated fields (Polavieja and Platt 2014…”

Section: Early Socialisation Influences From the Familymentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender and mathematics: Pathways to mathematically intensive fields of study in Australia

Law

2018

Advances in Life Course Research

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Standards D and E of IPEd's Australian standards for editing practice, covering 'Language and illustrations' and 'Completeness and consistency'. Under these guidelines, matters of content were not edited, but were flagged for attention. The reference list was not included in the copy-edit. I take responsibility for any remaining errors of English grammar and appropriate style. The corrections and suggestions made by Elizabeth and Jon have always been useful for my thesis. Elizabeth and Jon not only corrected my grammatical errors and typos, but also gave me suggestions on how to write academic English more clearly and on the formatting of my thesis. In case I had further questions on their comments, they were willing to answer them and clarify their comments. I appreciated the high quality of their editing services.

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Nurse or Mechanic? The Role of Parental Socialization and Children's Personality in the Formation of Sex-Typed Occupational Aspirations

Cited by 49 publications

References 47 publications

Intergenerational transmission of gender segregation: How parents’ occupational field affects gender differences in field of study choices

Intergenerational transmission of gender segregation: How parents’ occupational field affects gender differences in field of study choices

The Gender Wage Gap Opens Long before Motherhood. Panel Evidence on Early Careers in Switzerland

Gender and mathematics: Pathways to mathematically intensive fields of study in Australia

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