Choice and Career Commitment of Adolescents

The Influence of Gender Role and Gender Stereotyping on the Career Choice and Career Commitment of Adolescents

LAUREN HENSLEY

Studies examining influences on the adolescent career decision making process have yielded contradictory results. Surveys were administered to 21 adolescents (11 females and 10 males) ages 14-18. The surveys included The Attitudes Toward Women Scale, the Attitudes Toward Males in Society scale, The Career Aspiration Scale, and questionnaires designed to measure gender traditionalism of future career choices, parental career commitment, and frequency and influence of parent-child vocational conversation. Traditional gender stereotyping beliefs were predicted to correlate positively with gender traditionalism of job choice and subjects of androgynous or masculine gender role were predicted to have more career aspiration than feminine gender role subjects. The hypothesized relationships were only found true in male subjects (p<.05). Other findings and reasons for the lack of significant results in female subjects are discussed.

Many important career decisions, such as whether to attend college or a trade school or enter the job force directly after high school are made during adolescence. These early decisions affect the rest of a person’s life; therefore, it is important to understand the individual and social factors that play into the process of adolescent career development. Self-help books designed for adolescents are filled with personality/career matching quizzes and advice for every personality type on how to get ahead in the business world. This boom of literature designed to aide adolescents in the search for their ideal careers is understandable when it is considered how much time a person will devote to his or her career during a lifetime and the degree to which a person’s status in society is defined by occupation.

The vast majority of the studies investigating influences on adolescent career development have focused on females and their choices of traditionally female or traditionally male occupations (Ahrens, & O’Brien, 1996; O’Brien, 1996; O’Brien & Fassinger, 1993; O’Brien, Friedman, Tipton, & Linn, 2000; Wulff & Steitz, 1997). Feather and Said (1983) reported that adolescent females with higher masculinity scores were more likely to prefer male dominated occupations, and Strange and Rea (1983) found that college women with traditionally feminine college majors were significantly likely to have feminine traits, while girls in traditionally male majors typically had more masculine traits. O’Brien and Fassinger (1993) found that young women who selected traditionally male career paths had high levels of ability and agency. Ability to succeed in the career world was defined as high ACT scores, high GPAs, and a high number of math classes taken in high school. Agency was defined by scores on scales measuring math self-efficacy, career decision making self-efficacy, and scores on the masculine items of the Bem Sex Role Inventory. These findings were replicated by Ahrens and O’Brien (1996) using the same measures of agency with ACT and GPA as measures of ability.

Many studies indicate a correlation between androgynous or masculine type sex roles as defined by the Bem Sex Role Indicator (BSRI) and a preference for traditionally male dominated professions (Ahrens & O’Brien, 1996; Feather & Said, 1983; O’Brien & Fassinger, 1993; Strange & Rea, 1983). The BSRI classifies individuals, regardless of biological sex, as being feminine if they score highest on feminine trait items, masculine if they score highest on masculine trait items, androgynous if they score equally high on both feminine and masculine items, and undifferentiated if they score very low on both feminine and masculine trait items. However, Wuff and Steitz (1997) found that high school girls enrolled in vocational cosmetology classes, who were assumed to aspire to work in the traditionally female field of cosmetology, were significantly more androgynous than girls enrolled in college preparatory upper-level mathematics classes. This study used the BSRI as a single measure of sex role.

Another possible explanation for the lack of congruency across these studies is that the cosmetology students were more committed to having a career, while the college preparatory math students were not on a specific career track and may or may not choose to attend college and/or pursue a career (Wuff and Steitz, 1997). This explanation implies that sex role may have more to do with commitment to pursuing a career than gender traditionalism of career choice. O’Brien and Fassinger (1993) found that adolescent girls who were high in androgynous characteristics placed more value on their career pursuits in addition to findings connecting androgyny to nontraditional occupations. The discrepancies and overlap across studies investigating the link between sex role and career choice and/or career commitment in adolescent females suggest that future research is needed in order to understand the interaction of these factors. Gender traditionalism of career choice and commitment to success in any career should be examined independently of one another.

Researchers have also examined the influence of beliefs in traditional gender stereotypes on the career choice and commitment levels of adolescent girls. O’Brien and Fassinger (1993) found that women with more liberal gender role attitudes were more likely to choose a less traditional occupation and to place more value on their future careers. Thus, O’Brien and Fassinger reported that both liberal gender role attitudes and sex role agency were connected to the pursuit of nontraditional careers as well as a higher commitment level of young women to their future occupations. In a study focusing solely on the predictors of gender stereotyping, Ahrens and O’Brien (1996) found that agency accounted for 13% of variability in gender-role attitudes of high school girls. This suggests that maybe agency and liberal gender-role attitudes are difficult to separate. Further study needs to be done concentrating on the connection between gender stereotyping of young women and career choice and commitment levels, trying to separate the effects of gender role in terms of BSRI scores and beliefs in traditional gender stereotyping as much as possible.

Males are notably absent from most research on gender traditionalism of occupational choice. Perhaps it has been assumed that males feel free to pursue either traditionally male or female career paths freely and simply logically or inherently choose male dominated occupations more often. Or perhaps male-dominated occupations are viewed as superior to female-dominated ones, whether by nature or income possibility, and thus the struggle of males who limits themselves to the pursuit of traditionally male occupations has not been explored as often as the struggle of females who limits themselves solely to the pursuit of traditionally female careers. Only recently has research begun to concentrate on factors that may influence the traditionalism of male career choices. In a summary of research, Chusmir (1990) found that men who chose traditionally feminine careers were found to score lower on the masculine portion of the BSRI than men who chose traditional careers – but with considerable deviation within the traditionally female careers group, with a few being androgynous and many more being undifferentiated. . Jome and Tokar (1998) did not administer the BSRI, but found significant evidence that college males in female dominated majors had the traditionally feminine characteristic of more ease in feeling and expressing emotions than men with traditionally male majors. These findings contradict a study conducted by Strange and Rea (1983), which reported males in both traditionally female and traditionally male majors were equally masculine according to the BSRI scores

The relationship between an adolescent and his or her parents and the occupational development of the adolescent has been studied only in the context of female adolescents and their attachment levels to their parents (O’Brien, 1996; O’Brien, Friedman, Tipton, & Linn, 2000). No existing research has examined possible correlations between adolescents’ perceptions of parental occupational satisfaction on the career aspirations of adolescents.

Socioeconomic level is often cited as a potentially confounding variable in studies on adolescent career choice and commitment (Werrbach, Grotevant, & Cooper, 1990; O’Brien & Fassinger, 1993). Rojewski and Yang (1997) found that the socioeconomic status was the most significant indicator of low occupational aspiration. While McCandless, Lueptow, and McClendon (1989) did not examine effects on career development, they found that traditional gender stereotypes were more common in higher income families. Both of these studies indicate that correlations might exist between socioeconomic level and career choice or career aspiration. In addition, no studies to date have explored adolescent career choice and/or commitment in an adolescent population no longer attending high school.

The following experiment attempted to clearly differentiate between variables that had not always been clearly defined in past research. Occupational choice and career aspiration were separated as the gender traditionalism of reported career preferences and the aspiration to advance or be an expert in any career respectively. Sex role and gender stereotyping were also measured independently as defined respectively by the BSRI and measures of beliefs in traditional gender stereotypes. This study included adolescent males and adolescents from lower socioeconomic brackets since this area of research has thus far been dominated by upper class, female subjects. This experiment also examined several familial influences on career choice and career aspiration including adolescents’ perceptions of parental job satisfaction, time spent with parental figures discussing future plans, and the self-reported worth that adolescents place on their parents’ career advice.

It was predicted that gender stereotypes would have more influence on the traditionalism of subjects’ occupational choices than sex role. Stereotypes are what define jobs as male or female, so it seems possible that an individual’s acceptance of these stereotypes would have a strong effect upon whether or not he or she was willing to step outside the boundaries of career traditionalism. It was also predicted that sex role would have a greater influence upon career aspiration than gender stereotyping. This is possible because varying levels of commitment to occupational success can exist within both traditional and untraditional career choices. Masculine indicators on the BSRI include such items as independence, assertiveness, leadership, and aggressiveness, which may be more related to success in the occupational realm than the feminine indicators such as gentleness, compassion, and sensitivity (Bem, 1974).

Other hypotheses are that perceptions of parental occupational satisfaction will have a positive effect on career aspiration of subjects. Time spent discussing future career plans with parents and the value of parental opinion on occupational future are expected to have a positive effect on subject career aspiration as well. Socioeconomic variables are expected to mimic previous studies showing that high income level adolescents will have greater gender stereotypes than lower income adolescents. It is predicted that the high income subjects will thus choose more gender traditional careers than the low income subjects.

Method

Subjects

Data for this study were collected from a sample of 21 high-school students ranging in age from 14-18. The sample consisted of 10 males and 11 females. Five subjects were obtained from Impact Family Counseling Center, and 16 were students at area high schools. No extra-credit or monetary compensation was offered for participation.

Materials

Subjects completed a series of 6 surveys. The short form of the Bem Sex Roles Inventory (Bem, 1974) was used to define the sex role (masculine, androgynous, or feminine) of each subject. The Attitudes Toward Women (Spence & Helmreich, 1978) and the Attitudes Toward Males in Society (Falkenberg, Hindman, & Masey, 1983) scales were compiled for a total gender stereotyping score ranging from 29 to 116. The Career Aspiration Scale (O’Brien, Gray, Tourajdi, & Eigenbrode, 1996) was administered to determine subjects’ commitment to success in the work force, with scores from 0 to 40. A 12-item questionnaire designed to measure traditionalism of future career choices and a 14-item questionnaire measuring parental career commitment and discussion between parent and child of career goals were designed for this study. Each consisted of a 1-5 Likert scale asking subjects to rate their agreement with a statement concerning career choice (example: I can imagine myself working as a mechanic) or parental career commitment (examples: My mother takes a lot of pride in her occupational accomplishments. My father is sometimes embarrassed of his occupation.) Demographics measured were sex, total family income, age, grade currently enrolled in, and parental education levels All questionnaires are attached in the Appendix for further review.

Procedure

Subjects obtained the survey packets either from a researcher at Impact Family Counseling Center, or a teacher at their school. Subjects were allowed to take as much time as needed to complete the packets. The students were told before completing the packets and reminded by instructions within the packet to be honest in response to all questions. After completion, packets were returned either to the researcher or teacher.

Results

Scores were tabulated for all subjects as described in the methods section. All subjects were classified by the BSRI as either feminine (9 subjects, 4 males and 5 females) or androgynous (12 subjects, 6 males and 6 females).

It was hypothesized that high levels of gender stereotyping would be correlated with increased choice of traditionally feminine career choice in female subjects and with traditionally masculine career choice in male subjects. Table 1 shows high gender stereotyping was found to be associated with traditionally male career choice in male subjects as predicted (p<.05, r = .672). This means that males with strong beliefs in traditional gender stereotypes were likely to choose traditionally masculine careers. No significant relationships were found between gender stereotyping and career choice of female subjects or choice of a feminine career in male subjects. One-way ANOVAs were used to test for influence of sex role on male career choice and female career choice. Sex role did not significantly impact choice of a traditionally male career or a traditionally female career. Stepwise multiple regressions of traditionally male and traditionally female job choices yielded significant results for male career choice in male subjects only. Gender stereotyping (R²=.383, p<.05) followed by career aspiration (R²=.696, p<.05) followed by female career choice (R²=.787,p<.01) were found to contribute to traditionally masculine job choice in males.

Means of career aspiration by sex role are summarized in Figure 1. A 2X2 factorial ANOVA was used to determine the influence of sex and sex role on career aspiration. A significant interaction effect between sex and sex role was found (F(1,17)=.4.708, MSe=18.531, p<.05). The combination of being male and androgynous was the greatest predictor of high career aspiration. However, female feminine types did not have the lowest career aspiration. Feminine females (M=28.6) had higher career aspiration than the androgynous females (M=25.5). Neither sex nor sex role had a significant main effect on career aspiration. A one-way ANOVA revealed that the hypothesized main effect of androgynous sex role and increased career aspiration for both sexes approached significance in males (F(1,8)=4.645, MSe=13.792, p>.05) with a significance of .063. Androgynous males had greater career aspiration than feminine males. Sex role did not approach significance as an influence on career aspiration in female subjects.

As suspected, gender stereotyping did not approach significance as a correlate of career aspiration. Income, hypothesized to correlate with career aspiration and gender stereotyping, was not a significant correlate of either. The relationship between high perceptions of paternal career satisfaction and high career aspiration hypothesized was not significant by correlation analysis. The hypothesized relationships between career aspiration and the amount of time spent discussing occupational future with parents and subjects’ value of parental opinions were also insignificant.

A stepwise multiple regression of career aspiration performed to uncover correlates of career aspiration found no significant predictors of career aspiration in either sex tested independently. However, when male and female subjects were combined into a single regression analysis of data, the unexpected factors of low paternal education level (R²=.250, p<.05) followed by high male career choice (R²=.352, p<.05) were correlated with high career aspiration.

Two factors treated independently in this study, gender stereotyping and sex role, were determined to be unrelated by ANOVA analysis. Career aspiration and traditionally male career choice, also examined independently in this study, were found to be unrelated by a test of correlation.

Table 1

Career Choice by Gender Stereotyping

Correlate Pearson Correlation Significance

Male Subjects

Male career choice

by gender stereotyping .672 <.05

Female career choice

by gender stereotyping -.002 NS

Female subjects

Male career choice

by gender stereotyping .477 NS

Female career choice

by gender stereotyping .200 NS

Discussion

The two main hypotheses of this study, that beliefs in traditional gender stereotyping would be correlated with gender traditional career choice and that androgynous or masculine subjects would have greater career aspirations than feminine subjects, were supported in male subjects only. First of all, gender stereotyping and sex role were determined to be unrelated, which supports their independent measure in this study and the hypothesis that they have independent effects on career development of adolescents.

High belief in traditional gender stereotypes in males was significantly correlated with the choice of a traditionally male career. However, results were not significant for female subjects. Perhaps this discrepancy is due to the fact that females are often encouraged to believe that they can have the best of both worlds. A female might hold to traditional stereotypes, but believe that she can be a successful career woman and still fulfill traditional duties of a wife and mother. She might plan to work normal hours and then come home and take care of family and home issues, or plan to attain an advanced degree and be able to set her own hours around family commitments. It is less likely for males to believe that they can fulfill the traditional bread-winner role and have the freedom to choose a traditionally female job because traditionally female jobs are often lower paying than traditionally male jobs.

Results for males choosing traditionally female jobs, suspected by the hypothesis to have low beliefs in gender stereotypes, were also insignificant. Male subjects tended to either choose only male jobs or to score highly both male and female jobs. This is illustrated by the presence of female job choice as the third factor in a stepwise multiple regression of male job choice in male subjects. If some male subjects had preferred traditionally female jobs only, perhaps results would have been different.

Female job choice was preceded by gender stereotyping and high career aspiration in the stepwise multiple regression of male career choice. High gender stereotyping was the most influential factor of choosing a male traditional career for male subjects, as predicted by hypotheses. High career aspiration followed high gender stereotyping, but was not correlated with male job choice in males using bivariate correlation. The lack of direct correlation between career aspiration and male job choice justifies their separation in this study, though the two factors have been lumped together in the past as synonymous.

The interaction effect of sex and sex role as determinants of career aspiration established male androgynous subjects as having the most career aspiration. This supports the hypothesis, since no subjects were classified as masculine by the BSRI. There were no significant main effects for either sex or sex role; none were expected for sex, but androgynous subjects of both sexes were predicted to have the higher career aspiration than feminine subjects. In males, sex role did approach significance in the expected direction (androgynous males had higher career aspiration than feminine males) at .063. Feminine female subjects actually had slighter higher career aspiration (M=28.6) than androgynous females subjects (M=25.5). Due to the small sample size of this study, with only 11 female subjects (6 androgynous and 5 feminine), further studies with larger sample sizes and masculine subjects should be carried out to see if this trend replicates. One could argue that feminine females are more confident of themselves because their traditional sex role behaviors bring them more validation from society than the more untraditional sex role behaviors of androgynous females. This increased confidence might make feminine females more likely than androgynous females to have high goals for themselves in the career world.

A stepwise multiple regression of career aspiration in male and female subjects revealed low paternal education and high male career choice as predictors of high career aspiration. Once again, the correlation between male career choice and career aspiration is not significant independently of other variables in male subjects, female subjects, or male and female subjects combined. Low paternal education was an unexpected influence on career aspiration of adolescents. Perhaps adolescents with fathers who received less education were further encouraged by their fathers to seek success. However, other variables related to father’s influence on career development, such as paternal career satisfaction, time spent discussing future plans with father, and value placed on the father’s opinions about the future were insignificant. It could be that fathers with low levels of education are specifically likely to stress to their children the importance of commitment to education, which crosses over into a commitment to vocational training and aspirations. This trend is possible regardless of paternal career satisfaction or the amount of actual time spent discussing the future with the adolescent and may have an effect even if the adolescent does not report placing a great deal of value on his or her father’s opinions about future careers. The question assessing value of the father’s opinion on future career, “I value the opinions of my father on my future occupational plans a great deal,” should be changed to something more discreet. Forty-seven percent of subjects answered “agree,” perhaps interpreted as the most socially acceptable response on a 1-5 Likert scale of strongly disagree to strongly agree.

Perceived parental occupational satisfaction levels were not significantly correlated with either career aspiration (as hypothesized) or with gender traditionalism of career choice. Perhaps this is because several other factors of parental occupational attitudes, such as parental career aspiration and gender traditionalism of parental career, were ignored. Further study should measure adolescent perceptions of parental career aspiration and satisfaction as two separate measures and test for any independent or main effects on career aspiration of the adolescent. Future studies should also assess the gender traditionalism of the parents’ careers. Then researchers could explore whether the gender traditionalism of adolescents’ career choices are affected by an interaction between perceived occupational satisfaction and career gender traditionalism of their same sex or opposite sex parent.

Income was most likely insignificant due to a lack of range among the subjects. Ninety percent of subjects had an annual family income of $35,000 or greater, 60% had a family income of $55,000 or greater, and 45% had a family income of more than $75,000. This skewing towards high income was due to lack of participation from the family counseling center that was expected to provide a balance of lower income subjects.

In conclusion, the career development process of adolescents, including career choice and career aspiration as separate factors, needs further exploration. It would be helpful to add items measuring adolescents’ ideas about balancing work and family obligations, especially in exploring the surprising tendency of females with high gender stereotyping belief to have more career aspiration than females with low stereotyping belief. Male subjects preferring female career choices, absent from the present study, should be examined further for connections to gender stereotyping and possibly other variables. Confidence and self-efficacy differences in androgynous versus feminine females deserves investigation as a possible explanation for the higher career aspiration in feminine females. Masculine females should be included as well. Further questions about parental career attitudes and aspirations, as previously suggested, should be included in future research. Finally, efforts should be made to include subjects from a wider range of family income levels than found in this study.

Works Cited

Ahrens, J.A. & O’Brien, K.M. (1996). Predicting gender-role attitudes in adolescent females: Ability, agency, and parental factors. Psychology of Women Quarterly 20, 409-417.

Bem, S.L. (1974). The measurement of psychological androgyny. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 42, 155-162.

Chusmir, L.H. (1990). Men who make nontraditional career choices. Journal of Counseling & Development, 69, 11-16.

Falkenbert S.D., Hindman, C.D., & Masey, D. (1983). Measuring attitudes toward males in society. Unpublished manuscript, Eastern Kentucky University.

Feather, N.T.& Said, J.A. (1983). Preference for occupations in relation to masculinity, femininity, and gender. British Journal of Social Psychology, 22, 113-127.

Jome, L.M. & Tokar, D.M. (1998). Dimensions of masculinity and major choice traditionality. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 52, 120-134.

McCandless, N.J., Lueptow, L.B., & McKee, M. (1989). Family socioeconomic status and adolescent sex-typing. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 51(3), 627-635.

Rojewski, J.W. & Yang, B. (1997). Longitudinal analysis of select influences on adolescents’ occupational aspirations. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 51, 375-410.

O’Brien, K.M. (1996). The influence of psychological separation and parental attachment on the career development of adolescent women. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 48, 257-274.

O’Brien, K.M. & Fassinger, R.E. (1993). A causal model of the career orientation and career choice of adolescent women. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 40(4), 456-469.

O’Brien, K.M., Friedman, S.M., Tipton, L.C., & Linn, S.G. (2000). Attachment, separation, and women’s vocational development: A longitudinal analysis. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 47(3), 301-315.

O’Brien, K.M., Gray, M.P., Tourajdi, P.P., & Eigenbrode, S.P. (1996). The operationalization of women’s career choices: The career aspiration scale. Unpublished manuscript, University of Maryland.

Strange, C.C. & Rea, J.S. (1983). Career choice considerations and sex role self-concept of male and female undergraduates in nontraditional majors. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 23, 219-226.

Werrbach, G.B., Grotevant, H.D., & Cooper, C.R. (1990). Gender differences in adolescents’ identity development in the domain of sex role concepts. Sex Roles, 23(7-8), 349-362.

Wulff, M.B. & Steitz, J.A. (1997). Curricular track, career choice, and androgyny among adolescent females. Adolescence, 32(125), 43-49.

Appendix

Career Choice Questionnaire

1-5 Likert scale below each question.

1=strongly disagree 2=disagree 3=neutral 4=agree 5=strongly agree

I can imagine myself working as a nurse. (coded feminine)
I can imagine myself working as a mechanic. (coded masculine)
I can imagine myself working as a firefighter. (coded masculine)
I can imagine myself working as a scientist. (coded masculine)
I can imagine myself working as a secretary. (coded feminine)
I can imagine myself working as a beautician. (coded feminine)
I can imagine myself working as an engineer. (coded masculine)
I can imagine myself working as a lawyer. (coded masculine)
I can imagine myself working as an elementary school teacher. (coded feminine)
I can imagine myself working as an interior designer. (coded feminine)
I can imagine myself working as an electrician. (coded masculine)
I can imagine myself working as a social worker. (coded feminine)

Career Aspiration Scale (O’Brien, 1996)

0-4 Likert scale below each question.

0=not at all true of me, 1=slightly true of me, 2=moderately true of me,

3=quite a bit true of me, 4= very true of me

I hope to become a leader in my career field.
When I am established in my career, I would like to manage other employees.
*I would be satisfied just doing my job in a career I am interested in.
*I do not plan on devoting energy to getting promoted in the organization or business I am working in.
When I am established in my career, I would like to train others.
I hope to move up through any organization or business I work in.
*Once I finish the basic level of education needed for a particular job, I see no need to continue in school.
I plan on developing as an expert in my career field.
I think I would like to pursue graduate training in my occupational area of interest.
*Attaining leadership status in my career is not that important to me.

* Items are reverse scored.

Demographics and Parental perception/communication measure

Sex
Estimated total family income in primary residence household. Circle one.

$15,000 or less

$15,000-$35,000

$35,000-$55,000

$55,000-$75,000

more than $75,000

Present age in years.
Grade currently attended.

Please answer all of the following questions. If you do not have a relationship with your mother of father figure, substitute an adult that you live with and consider to be the primary mother or father figure in your life into the questions as appropriate. If no mother or father figure exists, you may leave questions regarding that relationship blank.

If substituting another person for mother or father figure…

Indicate here what relationship your mother figure has to you. ____________

Indicate here what relationship your father figure has to you. _____________

Highest level of education completed by mother (figure).
Highest level of education completed by father (figure).

Choices under both questions: Some high school, high school, some college, bachelor’s (4 year) degree, education beyond bachelor’s degree

Answer choices given underneath each following question: 1-strongly disagree, 2-disagree, 3-neutral, 4-agree, 5-strongly agree

Please answer the following questions about your mother: (Analysis of maternal career satisfaction if mother not employed outside of the home.)

*My mother complains that she spends too much time at home.
My mother is active in the community.
*My mother wishes her life were more exciting.
*My mother sometimes suffers because she attends to the needs of others before her own needs.
My mother enjoys helping other members of our family to reach their goals, even if her own goals remain unmet.
My mother takes pride in caring for our home and family.

If your mother does work outside of the home answer the following questions: (Maternal career satisfaction)

My mother receives personal satisfaction from her occupation.
*If my family no longer needed my mother’s income, she would quit her job.
My mother has a strong desire to get ahead or stay ahead in her field.
My mother takes a lot of pride in her occupational accomplishments.
*My mother finds her job uninteresting and tedious.
*If my mother could start over, she would choose an occupation different from the one she currently holds.

Please answer the following questions about your father: (Career satisfaction measure for fathers not employed outside of home)

*My father complains about being restless when he spends a lot of time inside the home.
*My father is not active in the community.
*My father wishes there were more excitement in his life.
*My father sometimes misses out on personal opportunities because he is so concerned with the needs of others.
My father enjoys helping members of our family to reach their goals even more than he enjoys reaching goals of his own.
My father has a fairly inactive role in maintaining the neatness of our home.

If your father is employed outside of the home, please answer the following questions: (Paternal career satisfaction measure)

If my family won a lottery, my father would continue to work in his occupational field – even without pay.
My father finds his job interesting and enjoys going to work.
My father works hard to get promoted or move ahead in his occupation.
*My father’s occupation seems to make him unhappy and less content with his life.
*My father is sometimes embarrassed of his occupation.
*If my father could start over, he would choose an occupation different from the one he currently holds.

* Questions reverse scored.

Please choose the answer you most agree with: (Frequency of vocational discussion and measure of value of vocational opinions of each parent.)

I often discuss my future occupational plans with my father.
I often discuss my future occupational plans with my mother.
I value the opinions of my father on my future occupational plans.
I value the opinions of my mother on my future occupational plans.

BSRI – Short Form (Bem, 1974)

Please use the following characteristics to describe yourself. Select a number to indicate how true of you each of these characteristics is.

1-never or almost never true

2-usually not true

3-sometimes but infrequently true

4-occasionally true

5-often true

6-usually true

7-always or almost always true

1-7 Likert scale below each characteristic.

1. Defend my own beliefs. M

2. Affectionate. F

3. Conscientious

4. Independent. M

5. Sympathetic. F

6. Moody.

7. Assertive. M

8. Sensitive to needs of others. F

9. Reliable.

10. Strong personality. M

11. Understanding. F

12. Jealous.

13. Forceful. M

14. Compassionate. F

15. Truthful

16. Have leadership abilities. M

17. Eager to soothe hurt feelings. F

18. Secretive.

19. Willing to take risks. M

20. Warm. F

21. Adaptable.

22. Dominant. M

23. Tender. F

24. Conceited.

25. Willing to take a stand. M

26. Love children. F

27. Tactful.

28. Aggressive. M

29. Gentle. F

30. Conventional.

BSRI Scoring

M = masculine characteristic F = feminine characteristic

Sum of F – Sum of M = total score.

-9 – 9 = androgynous sex role

-9 or less = masculine sex role

9 or above = feminine sex role

The attitudes toward males in society scale. (Falkenbert, Hindman, Masey, 1983).

1-4 Likert scale below each question.

1-disagree strongly, 2-disagree mildly, 3-agree mildly, 4-agree strongly

The statements below describe attitudes toward the role of men in society which different people have. There are no right or wrong answers, only opinions. You are to express your feelings about each statement.

Men are naturally better drivers than women.
Men are naturally better able to control their feelings than women.
Men are naturally more mechanical than women.
Men generally are more knowledgeable about current events and therefore have “more important things to say” at social gatherings than women.
Because men are strong and women are weak, it is only right that this is a man’s world.
Men can handle pressure situations better than women.
It’s common sense that men are naturally more worldly wise than women.
Men are more likely than women to be skilled in occupations that call for competitive and logical abilities.
It’s a fact that most men are more interesting to listen to than most women.
Men are naturally more skillful in athletics than women.
On the average men should be considered as more capable of contributing to the country’s economic stability than women.
Men are inclined by nature to be more truthful and direct than women.
It’s only natural that men are more interested in sports than women.
Men are more decisive in crisis situations than women.

(No reverse scoring) Note: The original Likert scale by Falkenbert, Hindman, and Masey (1983) was reversed for the purposes of the present study in order to have high scores indicate high gender stereotyping.

Attitudes toward women scale (Spence & Helmreich, 1978)

1-disagree strongly, 2-disagree mildly, 3-agree mildly, 4-agree strongly

1-4 Likert scale beneath each statement.

The statements listed below describe attitudes toward the roles of women in society which different people have. There are no right or wrong answers, only opinions. You are asked to express your feeling about each statement by circling which of the choices most describes your feeling.

Swearing and obscenity are more repulsive in the speech of a woman than a man.
*Under modern economic conditions with women being active outside the home, men should share in household tasks such as washing dishes and doing laundry.
*It is insulting to women to have the “obey” clause remain in the marriage service.
*A woman should be free as a man to propose marriage.
Women should worry less about their rights and more about becoming good wives and mothers.
*Women should assume their rightful place in business and all the professions along with men.
A woman should not expect to go to exactly the same places or to have quite the same freedom of action as a man.
It is ridiculous for a woman to run a business and for a man to cook and clean.
The intellectual leadership of a community should be largely in the hands of men.
*Women should be given equal opportunity with men for apprenticeship in the various trades.
*Women earning as much as their dates should bear equally that expense when they go out together.
Sons in a family should be given more encouragement to go to college than daughters.
In general, the father should have greater authority than the mother in the bringing up of the children.
*Economic and social freedom is worth far more to women than acceptance of the ideal of femininity which has been set up by men.
There are many jobs in which men should be given preference over women in being hired or promoted.

* Indicates reverse scoring items. Again, the original Likert scale was reversed for this study’s purposes in order to have high scores indicate high gender stereotyping. Item #8 was updated in the following manner, with original text in parentheses. It is ridiculous for a woman to run a (locomotive) business and for a man to (darn socks) cook and clean.