What will I be when I grow up? The impact of gender identity threat on adolescents' occupational preferences

• The present study examined the impact of gender identity threat on adolescents’ occupationalpreferences. Two hundred and ninety-seven adolescents (45% girls, M age ¼ 14.4,SD ¼ .54) participated in the experiment. There were substantial differences between boys’and girls’ occupational preferences. Importantly, adolescents who received a threat to theirgender identity became more stereotypical in job preferences, suggesting a causal linkbetween threatened gender identity and stereotypical preferences. A comparison threat toone’s capability did not have this effect, indicating a unique effect of gender identity threat.Further, individual differences in gender identity concerns predicted gender stereotypicalpreferences, and this finding was replicated with an independent sample (N ¼ 242). Inconclusion, the results suggest that threats to adolescents’ gender identity may contributeto the large gender segregation on the labor market.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Psykologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Psychology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Gender identity

Occupational preferences

Adolescence

Psychology

Psykologi

Gender identity threat

Gender identity concerns

Occupational preferences

Adolescents

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)