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Nurse or Mechanic? Explaining Sex-Typed Occupational Aspirations amongst Children

Author

Listed:
  • Javier Polavieja

    (IMDEA-Social Sciences Institute.)

  • Lucinda Platt

    (Institute of Education, University of London)

Abstract

There is a high degree of sex-typing in young children's occupational aspirations and this has consequences for adult occupational segregation. Yet we still know surprisingly little about the mechanisms involved in the formation of sex-typical preferences and there is considerable theoretical controversy regarding the relative role of parental socialization and individual agency in this process. This study analyzes the determinants of sex-typed occupational aspirations amongst British children aged between 11 and 15. We develop a model of parental socialization and test for different channels and mechanisms involved in the transmission of sex-typical preferences. We also propose an innovative definition of personal agency that is anchored in observable psychological traits linked to self-direction. We find that parental influences on occupational preferences operate mainly through three distinctive channels: 1) the effect that parental socio-economic resources have on the scope of children's occupational aspirations, 2) children's imitation of parental occupations, and 3) children's learning of sex-typed roles via the observation of parental behavior. We also find a strong net effect of children's own psychological predispositions —self-esteem in particular— on the incidence of sex-typical occupational preferences. Yet large sex-differences in occupational aspirations remain unexplained.

Suggested Citation

  • Javier Polavieja & Lucinda Platt, 2011. "Nurse or Mechanic? Explaining Sex-Typed Occupational Aspirations amongst Children," DoQSS Working Papers 11-08, Quantitative Social Science - UCL Social Research Institute, University College London.
    • Handle: RePEc:qss:dqsswp:1108
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    File URL: https://repec.ucl.ac.uk/REPEc/pdf/qsswp1108.pdf
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    Cited by:

    1. Platt, Lucinda & Polavieja, Javier, 2016. "Saying and doing gender: intergenerational transmission of attitudes towards the sexual division of labour," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 67302, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Gender Segregation; Occupational Aspirations; Children; Socialization; Personality Traits;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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