Gender factors affecting the occupational preference of female and male college students

Alex Smith Hall, Purdue University

Abstract

The primary purpose of this study was to determine if college students selected occupational preferences on the basis of sex, rather than interests, values and personality factors. A sample of 198 college students at a large midwestern university was used. Subjects were asked to take an occupational preference inventory for pretest, intervention, and posttest score comparisons of number of items selected for various scales of the inventory. Individuals in the experimental group were asked to complete the intervention administration as if they were the same persons, but members of the opposite sex. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used as the method of statistical analysis. The Student Newman-Kuels post-hoc test was used to determine differences among groups. There were significant differences among the groups on the occupational preference selection pattern of females and males. The pattern of responses appears to indicate that men and women select occupational preferences based on their sex, for realistic, social, investigative, and artistic work categories, using Holland's typology of occupational classification. There also appeared to be a sex based occupational preference difference in selection patterns on the Status scale.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Dye, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Academic guidance counseling

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