Sex differences in the expression of vocational aspirations by elementary school children.

Career decision-making, career barriers and occupational aspirations in Chinese adolescents

“…Being a Western scale, the one used in the present study may not sufficiently capture the occupational impediments, either real or perceived, that concern Chinese adolescents. Finally, standard methodology (Looft, 1971) was used to measure occupational aspirations. Future studies might consider a more complex, multi-dimensional conception of this construct, which could, for example, include other aspirational domains, such as life and family, and examine how these are related to occupational goal-setting.…”

“…Occupational Aspirations and Status Aspirations were assessed using two questions similar to those devised by Looft (1971) and used widely in the literature (e.g., Watson, Quatman & Edler, 2002). For Occupational Aspirations, students responded to the question, "If you were completely free to choose any job, what would you desire most For Status Aspirations, students responded to the question, "What kind of job would you as a lifetime job?".…”

Career Aspirations of Women in the 20th Century

“…Additionally, Heins et al (1982) reported that families often encouraged the educational and career aspirations of male children but not those of female children. Thus, not only did sex differences in career aspirations develop early in childhood, girls appeared to learn quickly that certain adult statuses were available to them, reflecting societal sex-role expectations (Looft, 1971b).…”

Occupational interests of Barbadian adolescents

“…Looft, 1971;Owuamanam, 1982) do not imply that most adolescents cannot distinguish between idealistic and realistic goals. Nevertheless, career guidance and counselling is likely to be particularly problematic when local conditions, such as those which obtain in small Caribbean states, exacerbate discrepancies between youthful hopes and occupational realities (Fottler and Bain, 1984).…”