A longitudinal study of the occupational aspirations and perceptions of nine to thirteen year-old South African children
- Authors: Hargreaves, Robyn Leigh
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Vocational interests -- Research -- South Africa , Children -- South Africa -- Attitudes , Children aspirations , Personality and occupation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:9935 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/520 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1011709 , Vocational interests -- Research -- South Africa , Children -- South Africa -- Attitudes , Children aspirations , Personality and occupation
- Description: While the field of career psychology has shifted its attention to the study of career development, the developmental stage of childhood has often been neglected. Similarly, there is an absence of career research of a longitudinal nature, despite consistent calls to focus more on longitudinal methods when studying career development. The present study forms part of an existing longitudinal project which investigates the career development of South African children. This study, initiated in 1998, attempts to explore the occupational aspirations and gender stereotypes of a group of 39 children in the Nelson Mandela Metropole. The results from this study will provide much needed baseline information on how South African children become aware of careers, as well as provide useful suggestions on how to develop career education syllabi, particularly within the Life Orientation curriculum. The present study aims to explore and describe the changes that may occur in the participants’ occupational aspiration interest typology, status levels, and gender stereotypes over a five year period. Both developmental and career developmental theories were used to provide a theoretical context from which the participants’ career development could be explored. The study is quantitative in nature as it made use of semi-structured interviews and a biographical questionnaire in order to quantitatively transcribe the data. The questionnaire consisted of four broad questions which asked for information regarding the participants’ occupational aspirations, how much information the participants had about the chosen occupation, the number of occupations the participants knew about, and the extent to which the participants held gender stereotypes regarding fourteen different occupations. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the findings of the data which had been coded according to Holland’s typology of occupations. In addition, content analysis was performed to elicit themes regarding the participants’ own reflections on their career development. Results from the data analysis revealed that the majority of participants aspired to Social type occupations throughout the five years under study. Furthermore, most participants consistently aspired to high status occupations throughout the five years. Similar results were found for girls and boys. The results also demonstrated that the participants’ gender stereotypes tended to decrease over time, particularly as their occupational information increased. Lastly, most children were able to reflect on their career development and attributed changes in their occupational aspirations to changes in their interests. The results from this study offer insight into the development of occupational aspirations and perceptions of South African children which can be used as a foundation for future research and which should be valuable in the development of relevant career education programmes for South African schools.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
- Authors: Hargreaves, Robyn Leigh
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Vocational interests -- Research -- South Africa , Children -- South Africa -- Attitudes , Children aspirations , Personality and occupation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:9935 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/520 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1011709 , Vocational interests -- Research -- South Africa , Children -- South Africa -- Attitudes , Children aspirations , Personality and occupation
- Description: While the field of career psychology has shifted its attention to the study of career development, the developmental stage of childhood has often been neglected. Similarly, there is an absence of career research of a longitudinal nature, despite consistent calls to focus more on longitudinal methods when studying career development. The present study forms part of an existing longitudinal project which investigates the career development of South African children. This study, initiated in 1998, attempts to explore the occupational aspirations and gender stereotypes of a group of 39 children in the Nelson Mandela Metropole. The results from this study will provide much needed baseline information on how South African children become aware of careers, as well as provide useful suggestions on how to develop career education syllabi, particularly within the Life Orientation curriculum. The present study aims to explore and describe the changes that may occur in the participants’ occupational aspiration interest typology, status levels, and gender stereotypes over a five year period. Both developmental and career developmental theories were used to provide a theoretical context from which the participants’ career development could be explored. The study is quantitative in nature as it made use of semi-structured interviews and a biographical questionnaire in order to quantitatively transcribe the data. The questionnaire consisted of four broad questions which asked for information regarding the participants’ occupational aspirations, how much information the participants had about the chosen occupation, the number of occupations the participants knew about, and the extent to which the participants held gender stereotypes regarding fourteen different occupations. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the findings of the data which had been coded according to Holland’s typology of occupations. In addition, content analysis was performed to elicit themes regarding the participants’ own reflections on their career development. Results from the data analysis revealed that the majority of participants aspired to Social type occupations throughout the five years under study. Furthermore, most participants consistently aspired to high status occupations throughout the five years. Similar results were found for girls and boys. The results also demonstrated that the participants’ gender stereotypes tended to decrease over time, particularly as their occupational information increased. Lastly, most children were able to reflect on their career development and attributed changes in their occupational aspirations to changes in their interests. The results from this study offer insight into the development of occupational aspirations and perceptions of South African children which can be used as a foundation for future research and which should be valuable in the development of relevant career education programmes for South African schools.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
A longitudinal study of the occupational aspirations and perceptions of nine to twelve year-old South African children
- Authors: Crause, Ewald
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Vocational interests -- Research -- South Africa , Children -- South Africa -- Attitudes
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:9843 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/404 , Vocational interests -- Research -- South Africa , Children -- South Africa -- Attitudes
- Description: Despite the acknowledgement of the developmental nature of careers, little attention has been focused on identifying shaping influences during childhood. This noticeable deficiency in the literature marked the start of the current longitudinal study which was designed to provide information on the career development of nine to twelve-year old South African children. In South Africa research focusing on preadolescent career development is limited with existing research indicating the need to further explore how children’s career choice process initially develops. The study aimed to explore and describe the changes that occur, if any, over a four-year period in terms of occupational interest typology, occupational status levels, occupational gender stereotypes and occupational gender traditionality. Both developmental and career developmental theories were used to provide a context for exploring this process of preadolescent career development. It was decided that quantitative research methods would provide the necessary structure needed to conduct the research. Although semistructured interviews and biographical questionnaires were used to record the verbal data, the data obtained was transposed into nominal data for analysis. Participants responded to questions within a semi-structured interview that focused on four broad areas of questioning. These questions explored participants’ occupational aspirations, how many occupations they knew about, how much they knew about the identified occupation, and the extent to which they held gender-role stereotypes about certain occupations. After the data was iv Key words: career development, children, longitudinal research, occupational aspirations captured it was coded according to Holland's (1985) classification system of occupational interest types. The occupational aspirations expressed by the participants were also coded in terms of their status levels. The coded data was then further analysed using descriptive statistics in the form of frequency counts and percentages. Results from the study support both child and career development theory which view childhood as a time of rapid growth with critical development in various competency areas (including occupational aspirations and perceptions). Although the current study found that most children aspired to Social occupations, the popularity of this typology decreased with increasing age as more children aspired to Investigative, Artistic, and to a lesser extent, Realistic typologies at age twelve. Furthermore, it appears that children, like adults, are aware of status differentials among occupations and that this awareness subsequently influences occupational aspirations. Lastly, the findings broadly provide support for both national and international research in that it was established that an increase in age reflects a decrease in gender-stereotypical perceptions of occupations. The present study gained valuable insight into how the process of career development occurs in preadolescent children. It is clear that there exists a need for the implementation of credible and sustainable career education programs in schools across South Africa in order to encourage and facilitate career exploration during the developmental stage of childhood.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
- Authors: Crause, Ewald
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Vocational interests -- Research -- South Africa , Children -- South Africa -- Attitudes
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:9843 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/404 , Vocational interests -- Research -- South Africa , Children -- South Africa -- Attitudes
- Description: Despite the acknowledgement of the developmental nature of careers, little attention has been focused on identifying shaping influences during childhood. This noticeable deficiency in the literature marked the start of the current longitudinal study which was designed to provide information on the career development of nine to twelve-year old South African children. In South Africa research focusing on preadolescent career development is limited with existing research indicating the need to further explore how children’s career choice process initially develops. The study aimed to explore and describe the changes that occur, if any, over a four-year period in terms of occupational interest typology, occupational status levels, occupational gender stereotypes and occupational gender traditionality. Both developmental and career developmental theories were used to provide a context for exploring this process of preadolescent career development. It was decided that quantitative research methods would provide the necessary structure needed to conduct the research. Although semistructured interviews and biographical questionnaires were used to record the verbal data, the data obtained was transposed into nominal data for analysis. Participants responded to questions within a semi-structured interview that focused on four broad areas of questioning. These questions explored participants’ occupational aspirations, how many occupations they knew about, how much they knew about the identified occupation, and the extent to which they held gender-role stereotypes about certain occupations. After the data was iv Key words: career development, children, longitudinal research, occupational aspirations captured it was coded according to Holland's (1985) classification system of occupational interest types. The occupational aspirations expressed by the participants were also coded in terms of their status levels. The coded data was then further analysed using descriptive statistics in the form of frequency counts and percentages. Results from the study support both child and career development theory which view childhood as a time of rapid growth with critical development in various competency areas (including occupational aspirations and perceptions). Although the current study found that most children aspired to Social occupations, the popularity of this typology decreased with increasing age as more children aspired to Investigative, Artistic, and to a lesser extent, Realistic typologies at age twelve. Furthermore, it appears that children, like adults, are aware of status differentials among occupations and that this awareness subsequently influences occupational aspirations. Lastly, the findings broadly provide support for both national and international research in that it was established that an increase in age reflects a decrease in gender-stereotypical perceptions of occupations. The present study gained valuable insight into how the process of career development occurs in preadolescent children. It is clear that there exists a need for the implementation of credible and sustainable career education programs in schools across South Africa in order to encourage and facilitate career exploration during the developmental stage of childhood.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
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