Effects of maternal employment on kindergarten and first-grade children's vocational aspirations

Relationships between young boys' and girls' occupational choices and their mothers' vocational participation were explored. Employment status and occupation were obtained for parents of 142 kindergarten and first-grade children attending public schools in an upper-middle-class community. A scale derived from the United States Census was used to score parents' occupations and children's occupational choices for sex-stereotyping. Results indicated that children whose mothers were currently employed chose a greater number of occupations and more masculine-oriented occupations than did children of nonemployed mothers. Girls whose mothers had selected nontraditional fields also tended to aspire to less sextraditional careers. A trend in this direction was also noted for boys. Significant differences were found between girls and boys for types of occupations selected, but not for numbers of vocational choices.This article is based on a reanalysis of data gathered for a doctoral dissertation submitted to Fordham University. The author would like to thank her advisor, Dr. Toby Tetenbaum, for help on various aspects of this study, and Dr. Sherle Boone and Dr. Alberto Montare for their useful comments.