Gendered Paths Into STEM-Related and Language-Related Careers
- Women are often underrepresented in math-intensive fields like the physical sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics. By comparison, boys relative to girls are less likely to strive for jobs in social and human-services domains. Relatively few studies have considered that intra-individual comparisons across domains may contribute to gendered occupational choices. This study examines whether girls’ and boys’ motivational beliefs in mathematics and language arts are predictive of their career plans in these fields. The study focusses on same domain and cross-domain effects and investigates bidirectional relations between motivational beliefs and career plans. Data for this study stem from 1,117 ninth and tenth graders (53.2% girls) from secondary schools in Berlin, Germany. Findings show systematic gender differences in samedomain effects in mathematics: girls’ comparatively lower mathematics self-concept and intrinsic value predicted a lower likelihood of striving for a math-related career. Crossdomain effects were not relatedWomen are often underrepresented in math-intensive fields like the physical sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics. By comparison, boys relative to girls are less likely to strive for jobs in social and human-services domains. Relatively few studies have considered that intra-individual comparisons across domains may contribute to gendered occupational choices. This study examines whether girls’ and boys’ motivational beliefs in mathematics and language arts are predictive of their career plans in these fields. The study focusses on same domain and cross-domain effects and investigates bidirectional relations between motivational beliefs and career plans. Data for this study stem from 1,117 ninth and tenth graders (53.2% girls) from secondary schools in Berlin, Germany. Findings show systematic gender differences in samedomain effects in mathematics: girls’ comparatively lower mathematics self-concept and intrinsic value predicted a lower likelihood of striving for a math-related career. Crossdomain effects were not related to gender-specific career plans, with only one exception. Girls’ lower levels of intrinsic value in mathematics corresponded to a higher likelihood of striving for a career in language-related fields, which subsequently predicted lower levels of intrinsic value in mathematics. This finding points to a need to address both genderspecific motivational beliefs and gender-specific career plans in school when aiming to enhance more gender equality in girls’ and boys’ occupational choices.…
Author details: | Rebecca LazaridesORCiDGND, Fani LauerannORCiDGND |
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DOI: | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01243 |
ISSN: | 1664-1078 |
Title of parent work (German): | Frontiers in Psychology |
Subtitle (English): | Girls’ and Boys’ Motivational Beliefs and Career Plans in Math and Language Arts |
Publisher: | Frontiers Research Foundation |
Place of publishing: | Lausanne |
Publication type: | Article |
Language: | English |
Date of first publication: | 2019/06/06 |
Publication year: | 2019 |
Release date: | 2019/10/10 |
Tag: | career plans; dimensional comparison; gendered motivational beliefs; language arts; mathematics |
Volume: | 10 |
Number of pages: | 17 |
Funding institution: | Universität Potsdam |
Funding number: | PA 2019_55 |
Organizational units: | Humanwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Strukturbereich Bildungswissenschaften |
DDC classification: | 1 Philosophie und Psychologie / 15 Psychologie / 150 Psychologie |
Peer review: | Referiert |
Grantor: | Publikationsfonds der Universität Potsdam |
Publishing method: | Open Access |
License (German): | CC-BY - Namensnennung 4.0 International |
External remark: | Zweitveröffentlichung in der Schriftenreihe Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe ; 565 |