Social role and birth cohort influences on gender-linked personality traits in women: a 20-year longitudinal analysis

Growth curve modeling was used to examine the impact of social role experiences (e.g., marital support, occupational prestige) and birth cohort on mean-level differences and age-related changes in positive personality traits indicative of either femininity or masculinity in 758 mothers heterogeneous in age, assessed 4 times over 2 decades. Both femininity and masculinity increased significantly from mean ages 39 through 59; each was predictive of an age change in the other. Low masculinity was associated with a more rapid increase in femininity, whereas high occupational prestige decreased the magnitude of association between masculinity and femininity. Femininity increased with more marital support but decreased with unmarried status, more children at home, and working full or part time; among full-time workers, that effect was modified by marital support. Masculinity increased with full-time work and high occupational prestige. A trend for differing levels of femininity, and contrasting associations of masculinity with femininity and marital conflict in women born after 1944 compared with those born earlier, suggests shifting social norms and gender relations in the marital role.     

General mental ability,conscientiousness, and the work–family interface: A test of mediating pathways

This study proposed a model in which employee general mental ability (GMA) and conscientiousness are linked to work–family conflict and enrichment through their relationship with occupational prestige and coping styles. We evaluated this model in a sample of 709 working adults from the National Survey of Midlife Development II in the United States. Results indicate that, through occupational prestige and subsequent psychological job demands and financial well-being, GMA was related to work-to-family conflict (WFC) and family-to-work conflict (FWC). GMA was also related to work-to-family enrichment (WFE) but not family-to-work enrichment (FWE) through occupational prestige and autonomy. In contrast, conscientiousness did not influence work–family outcomes through occupational prestige. Additionally, GMA and conscientiousness were both related to WFE/FWE through problem coping, whereas conscientiousness was related to FWC through avoidance coping. Examining the relative effects of GMA and conscientiousness, we found that the indirect effects of GMA through occupational prestige were stronger than those of conscientiousness, whereas the indirect effects of conscientiousness through problem coping were stronger than those of GMA. We discuss our findings in terms of the mechanisms through which stable individual differences may exert influences on work–family outcomes.     

Self-concepts and occupational prestige among vocational-technical students

This research examines the relationship between the self-concepts and subprofessional occupational prestige ratings of junior college occupational students. Based on cognitive consistency theory, it is hypothesized that high self-concepts are associated with higher prestige ratings for subprofessional occupations. Contrary to such theory, this is not found to be the case. Several alternative interpretations are offered.     

3~5岁幼儿职业声望垂直空间、大小双重隐喻发展

为探讨3~5岁幼儿职业声望认知及职业声望垂直空间、大小双重隐喻的发展规律,研究采用将高声望职业人物和低声望职业人物图片放置垂直空间的上方/下方和大/小的人物剪影图片的任务操作。通过2个实验及综合分析结果发现：3岁幼儿职业声望隐喻理解能力开始萌芽,高职业声望为“上”的正极概念隐喻开始出现; 4岁幼儿职业声望隐喻理解能力得到发展,已形成高职业声望为“上”、“大”,低职业声望为“下”、“小”的双重隐喻能力; 5岁幼儿职业声望的双重隐喻能力进一步加强。研究揭示：3~5岁幼儿对职业声望的隐喻加工存在正极优势。幼儿对职业声望的垂直空间和大小双重隐喻理解能力的发展不同步,职业声望的垂直空间隐喻发展优于大小隐喻。     

Childhood cognitive ability,education, and personality traits predict attainment in adult occupational prestige over 17 years

This study explored a longitudinal data set of nearly 5000 adults examining the effects of childhood cognitive ability (measured at age 11), parental social class (measured at birth), and personality on current occupational prestige (all measured at age 50), taking account the effects of education and the previous occupational levels (both measured at age 33). Participants' levels of occupational attainment significantly went up from age 33 to age 50. Correlational analysis showed childhood cognitive ability, parental social class, education and occupation, and personality traits (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, emotional stability) were all significantly associated with current occupational prestige. The strongest correlates of current occupational levels were educational qualifications, followed by childhood cognitive ability, parental social class, and personality traits. Structural equation modelling showed that for the change of occupation over 17 years, the strongest predictor was education, followed by childhood intelligence. Personality traits (extraversion, conscientiousness, and openness) had modest but significant influence in the upgrading of occupational attainment over the period of time, and parental social status predicted occupational change mediated through education and initial occupational levels. Education and childhood intelligence are more powerful predictors of current occupational prestige than personality factors or family social background. The implications for policy making and equal opportunities for education are discussed.     

Social Status and Prestige in the Selection of a Program of Study in the Community-Junior College

This study examines the relative emphasis placed upon social status and prestige in the selection of an occupation and program of study by students in the community-junior college. The following results were noted: (1) Students enrolled in college transfer programs stressed prestige in the selection of an occupation to a greater extent than did those in technical and semi-professional programs. (2) When the students in the sample were grouped according to occupational aspiration level, a positive correlation was found to exist between occupational aspiration level and prestige emphasis. (3) No significant relationship was found to exist between the social status of students and prestige emphasis in the selection of an occupation.     

Equality and differentiation of time spent in paid work in two-income families

The cumulative data from the National Opinion Research Center General Social Survey for 1972–1978 are used to test a model of allocation of time to work in families in which both spouses are employed. Using number of hours worked during the previous week as a dependent variable, we find that for white respondents, women work fewer hours than men; fathers of preteenaged children work more hours than other men, while mothers of preteens work fewer hours than other women; both men and women work more hours when they have higher prestige occupations; and both work more hours if their status (measured by education and prestige) is equal to or higher than their spouses'. Number of hours reported for spouse in the previous week is positively related to number of hours reported by respondent. The model suggests that within two-income families equality of occupational status is associated with equality of occupational involvement, while inequality of occupational status is associated with lower occupational involvement of the spouse with lower status.     

Differences Between Adolescents Who Seek Counseling and Those Who Do Not

It was hypothesized that students who seek counseling for occupational and educational planning would differ from those who do not seek counseling in terms of socioeconomic background, certain personality variables, vocational development, and relations with parents. A battery of tests and a questionnaire were given to 245 male students from McDowell County, West Virginia. Of this group, 93 had received counseling (designated as group C) and 152 had not received counseling (designated as group NC). Group C showed a higher socioeconomic background, more n Achievement, and more certainty in vocational planning. The two groups did not differ significantly in occupational aspiration, perception of occupational prestige, self-esteem, fear of failure, relations with parents, and certainty in educational planning.     

Perceptions of occupational prestige: Differences between African American and White college students

The present study examined perceptions of occupational prestige among university students. One hundred and twenty-four African American and 174 White students rated the prestige levels of 36 occupations evenly sampled from the six RIASEC types and three levels of prestige. Results indicated that there was a significant difference in perception of occupational prestige. African Americans reported more prestige for R, S, E, and C occupations than did Whites. For African Americans there was a positive relation between endorsement of the centrality of African American identity and prestige ratings R, A, S, and E. These results suggest that perceptions of prestige vary across and within ethnicity and also provide additional insight into how prestige might influence African American students' occupational selection.     

Development of occupational aspiration prestige: A piecewise latent growth model of selected influences

Using the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88) data sets, the complex phenomenon of intra-individual and inter-individual differences in and the potential predictors of those differences on career aspirations development over a 12-year period was analyzed. Results indicated that 73.1% of the total growth (change) in adolescents’ occupational aspiration prestige scores were achieved between grades 8-10, while 26.9% of growth was achieved between grades 10 and 12. One-third of the total growth in the occupational aspiration scores of these individuals as young adults was observed between high school graduation and 2 years after graduation, while 67.4% of the total growth was obtained during the period between 2 and 8 years after high school graduation. Individuals with higher initial aspiration scores experienced slower growth in aspirations than those with lower initial aspirations. A negative association between career aspiration prestige scores in grade 12 and 8 years post-graduation existed.     

The Relationship of Sex to Occupational Prestige in an African Country

This study set out to find the answers to two questions in relation to the developing African nation of Zambia. Did the sex of the respondent affect the prestige gradings of occupations? Did the sex of the incumbent affect the prestige gradings of selected occupations? The study was part of a much larger one designed, for one reason, to assess the differential affects of sex, living area, and education on occupational prestige, and to investigate factors involved in prestige. To answer the two questions a specially designed questionnaire was administered to over 1,100 secondary school pupils across Zambia. It seems that the sex of the respondent has little effect on the prestige positioning of occupations; but significant downward movements in prestige grading for particular occupations were found when females were incumbents. In this latter case, a significant difference among respondents was also found: Girls rated female incumbents significantly higher than did boys.     

The Relationship of Sex to Occupational Prestige

This study asked the question, Does the prestige of an occupation vary with the sex of the worker? For example, do male and female vocational counselors have the same occupational prestige? An equisection scaling procedure was used to develop an instrument to measure occupational prestige. When this instrument was administered to a sample of graduate students in guidance, some significant results were found but none of them held up on cross-validation. Neither was the differential allocation of prestige a function of the sex of the judge nor the form of the instrument     

Occupational Achievement Motivation as a Function of Biological Sex, Sex-Linked Personality, and Occupation Stereotype

Predicted sex differences in occupational achievement motivation based on the work of Horner (1968) and Stein, Pohly and Mueller (1971) were examined by administering questionnaires to 87 female and 91 male undergraduate psychology students. Subjects made six achievement related responses to twelve occupations which had been stereotyped by a separate group of subjects as being either high prestige masculine, middle prestige masculine, middle prestige feminine or middle prestige androgynous (appropriate for both sexes). Analyses of variance were performed on all achievement responses with subjects'sex, sex-linked personality (Spence, Helmreich & Stapp, 1974), and occupational stereotype as independent variables. Significant sex by occupation stereotype interactions were found on all six dependent measures supporting the Stein et al. prediction of highest achievement motivation toward sex appropriate occupations. The fact that females did not show significantly lower motivation than males toward high prestige masculine occupations is inconsistent with earlier findings. Sex-linked personality was related to some of the achievement measures but did not interact with either occupation stereotype or biological sex.     

Students' perceptions of female professors

This paper examines student attitudes towards academic women. The literature on females in male-dominated professions suggests that clients resent their authority, deny their competence, and accord them less prestige than men. One hundred and eighty one university students evaluated professors in terms of 21 semantic differential scales and an occupational prestige ranking instrument. Contrary to expectation, female professors were perceived as more competent than male instructors in both task and socio-emotional competence. Further, the males were not assigned a significantly higher prestige score. Despite Goldberg's (1968) conclusion that females are prejudiced against their own sex, the attitudes of the female students were the more favorable.     

Estimating occupational prestige

The occupational prestige literature provides evidence of prestige hierarchies that have remained relatively intact for over 60 years. This article draws from the occupational prestige literature in describing the development of prestige estimates for occupations contained in the Minnesota Occupational Classification System III (MOCS III). The first phase of development consisted of an empirical study that involved ranking three sets of 25 occupations. The results provided prestige estimates for 60 occupations and a comparison of prestige scores for 8 “benchmark” occupations. The second phase of development involved testing the comparability of these results with a larger data base. The third phase of development extended the ability to estimate occupational prestige by using a regression equation that allows for assigning prestige estimates to approximately 20,000 occupations. Potential use of the prestige score in the MOCS III is discussed in relation to vocational counseling.     

Occupational prestige: A sex-neutral concept?

This study addresses the generalizability of measures of occupational prestige to men and women. Respondents were asked to evaluate the prestige of occupations and to rate male and female incumbents in these occupations. Results suggest that the general prestige of occupations is best predicted by the sex-typical jobholder. This research demonstrates that the seemingly sex-neutral concept of occupational prestige incorporates strong sex-linked assumptions. Implications of these findings for occupational prestige and for the social sciences in general are discussed.     

Effects of Changing Proportions of the Sexes on Ratings of Occupational Prestige

Touhey (1974) has suggested that an influx of women into high-status, male-dominated professions will result in declining prestige and desirability for those professions. The present study attempts both a replication and an extension to examine results of changing sex ratios in low-status and female-dominated occupations. Replication of the previous finding and its predicted extension to high- status women's jobs occurred only with college sophomores; juniors and seniors generally did not respond to sex composition, although they did rate high-status men's jobs as even more prestigious with a larger proportion of women employed in the job. Results for the low-status jobs were less clear, possibly reflecting the distance of college students from such occupations. Unlike Touhey's, these results are not interpreted as predicting future occupational prestige, but only as reflecting current attitudes about women and men.     

Reconsidering the “aspiration–expectation gap” and assumed gender differences among urban youth

The present study investigated the relevance of the “aspiration–expectation gap” and traditional gender differences among urban youth in middle school and high school (N = 294). Results failed to indicate a significant difference between the occupational prestige levels of aspired and expected careers, but did indicate a significant difference between aspired and expected levels of education. In general, the proportion of girls significantly outweighed the proportion of boys in traditionally “masculine” occupations with high levels of prestige; girls also had higher levels of occupational prestige than boys in terms of careers they hoped and expected to obtain. Black and bi/multi-racial youth expected to have higher levels of education than White youth.     

Images of occupations: Components of gender and status in occupational stereotypes

A multidimensional approach to occupational gender type was explored. In Study 1, participants' spontaneous images of various jobs were elicited. The attributes generated were used to develop a job images questionnaire employed in Study 2 on which participants rated a random sample of 100 occupational titles. Occupational images were primarily structured on two orthogonal dimensions: prestige and gender type. The multidimensional approach to occupational gender-type was supported in that important gender-related occupational attributes (masculine personality trait requirements and analytical skills) did not load on the gender-type factor, but did load highly on the prestige factor. Thus, even though the prestige and gender-type factors were orthogonal, specific gender-related attributes were related to perceived occupational prestige.