{"title":"Exploring the links between gender-(a)typical career aspirations and educational choices: Heterogeneous developmental pathways.","authors":"Jeffrey M DeVries, Fani Lauermann","doi":"10.1037/dev0002015","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Developmental psychologists often focus on specific male- or female-dominated job categories (e.g., sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics or math-intensive jobs) to understand the causes of persistent gender-typical educational and career choices. However, the proportion of men and women can vary substantially within the same category (e.g., biology vs. physics). Accordingly, this study examined heterogeneous developmental trajectories of adolescents' career preferences using data from a representative sample of German academic-track 9th-12th-grade students (<i>N</i> = 4,759, 56% female). We linked adolescents' career preferences with census data on the proportion of women in each preferred occupation. Fifty-two percent of the participants aspired to a gender-segregated career by 12th grade. Growth mixture analyses revealed five distinct developmental patterns: stable preferences for <i>male-dominated</i> (21%, <i>n</i> = 920), <i>female-dominated</i> (22%, <i>n</i> = 983), or <i>gender-neutral</i> careers (48%, <i>n</i> = 2,276), and shifts from <i>male-to-female-dominated</i> (6%, <i>n</i> = 280) or <i>neutral-to-male-dominated</i> (6%, <i>n</i> = 300) career aspirations. These patterns predicted differences in mean level and growth of subject-specific academic beliefs, the gender ratios of subsequent choices of advanced math or language arts classes, and more gender-typical university majors. Aspiring to <i>male-dominated</i> careers related to positive academic development in the math domain; aspiring to <i>female-dominated</i> careers related to positive development in the verbal domain. Boys aspiring to <i>neutral or female-dominated</i> careers experienced more positive development in the verbal domain than girls. Highly performing girls in math tended to change to <i>male-dominated</i> careers later in school, but highly performing boys in math were on a <i>stable-male</i> trajectory throughout high school. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48464,"journal":{"name":"Developmental Psychology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1000,"publicationDate":"2025-07-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Developmental Psychology","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0002015","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, DEVELOPMENTAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Developmental psychologists often focus on specific male- or female-dominated job categories (e.g., sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics or math-intensive jobs) to understand the causes of persistent gender-typical educational and career choices. However, the proportion of men and women can vary substantially within the same category (e.g., biology vs. physics). Accordingly, this study examined heterogeneous developmental trajectories of adolescents' career preferences using data from a representative sample of German academic-track 9th-12th-grade students (N = 4,759, 56% female). We linked adolescents' career preferences with census data on the proportion of women in each preferred occupation. Fifty-two percent of the participants aspired to a gender-segregated career by 12th grade. Growth mixture analyses revealed five distinct developmental patterns: stable preferences for male-dominated (21%, n = 920), female-dominated (22%, n = 983), or gender-neutral careers (48%, n = 2,276), and shifts from male-to-female-dominated (6%, n = 280) or neutral-to-male-dominated (6%, n = 300) career aspirations. These patterns predicted differences in mean level and growth of subject-specific academic beliefs, the gender ratios of subsequent choices of advanced math or language arts classes, and more gender-typical university majors. Aspiring to male-dominated careers related to positive academic development in the math domain; aspiring to female-dominated careers related to positive development in the verbal domain. Boys aspiring to neutral or female-dominated careers experienced more positive development in the verbal domain than girls. Highly performing girls in math tended to change to male-dominated careers later in school, but highly performing boys in math were on a stable-male trajectory throughout high school. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).
期刊介绍：
Developmental Psychology ® publishes articles that significantly advance knowledge and theory about development across the life span. The journal focuses on seminal empirical contributions. The journal occasionally publishes exceptionally strong scholarly reviews and theoretical or methodological articles. Studies of any aspect of psychological development are appropriate, as are studies of the biological, social, and cultural factors that affect development. The journal welcomes not only laboratory-based experimental studies but studies employing other rigorous methodologies, such as ethnographies, field research, and secondary analyses of large data sets. We especially seek submissions in new areas of inquiry and submissions that will address contradictory findings or controversies in the field as well as the generalizability of extant findings in new populations. Although most articles in this journal address human development, studies of other species are appropriate if they have important implications for human development. Submissions can consist of single manuscripts, proposed sections, or short reports.
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