When boys and girls make their first career decisions: Exploring the role of gender and field in high school major choice

Although choosing a high school major is often adolescents’ first significant career decision, little is known about the factors that enable adolescents to choose a high school major autonomously (i.e., a major that reflects their values and preferences) or the familial and individual constellations that affect this decision. The current study examined the mediating role of adolescents’ identity processing style in the association between perceived parental need support and adolescents’ level of autonomous motivation when choosing their high school major. Second, we examined whether these proposed relationships differed for gender-stereotyped and non-stereotyped fields. The sample was composed of 571 9th -grade students (296 boys) who self-reported their perceived parental need support, motivation for choosing a high school major, identity processing style, and their preference for a high school major. Results showed that an informative identity style mediated the relationship between parental need support and adolescents’ autonomous motivation. Gender played a moderating role in this relationship so boys’ autonomous motivation for choosing a non-STEM major was more strongly linked to parental support than girls’ motivation to make a similar choice. In contrast, girls’ autonomous motivation for choosing a STEM major was more strongly related to the provision of parental support than boys. These findings emphasize the importance of nuanced parental need-support considering the students’ gender and major (STEM vs. non-STEM) and the need to promote self-exploration when deciding on a high school major.