Introduction

Prominent theories of career development suggest age-related changes in adolescents' occupational aspirations. However, little is known about how exactly and to what extent, adolescents' aspirations change, particularly regarding the socioeconomic status (SES) of aspired occupations. We aim at extending our knowledge of the developmental trajectories of the SES of occupational aspirations and potential gender differences in those trajectories.

Methods

We used longitudinal data from the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) consisting of a large and representative sample of secondary school students (N = 5,964, 50% females) from Grades 8 to 10 (age 14–16). Data were collected via a paper and pencil survey which was carried out in classrooms.

Results

Our analysis of a latent growth curve model revealed that adolescents experienced small increases in the SES of occupational aspirations from Grades 8 to 10. Multi-group models reveal that females initially aspired to higher-SES occupations and their aspirations exhibited larger growth over time compared to males.

Conclusions

Our findings are in line with those from other countries but not with all, indicating some cross-cultural variabilities. Within cultures, the developmental trajectories of the SES of occupational aspirations seem to be similar across age-cohorts in the last 30 years. Despite women aspire to higher-SES occupations during adolescence, they often obtain lower-SES occupations than men in adulthood. Future research is needed to better understand the link between gender differences in the SES of occupational aspirations in adolescence and gender differences in the SES of occupational attainment in adulthood.

中文翻译：

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青春期职业愿望的社会经济状况的发展轨迹。

介绍

著名的职业发展理论表明，与年龄有关的青少年职业抱负发生了变化。但是，人们对青少年的愿望如何准确和在多大程度上变化知之甚少，特别是对有抱负的职业的社会经济地位（SES）知之甚少。我们旨在扩展我们对职业期望的SES的发展轨迹以及这些轨迹中潜在的性别差异的了解。

方法

我们使用了来自德国国家教育小组研究（NEPS）的纵向数据，该数据包括大量具有代表性的8至10年级（14至16岁）中学生（N = 5,964，50％的女性）。数据是通过在教室进行的纸笔调查收集的。

结果

我们对潜伏增长曲线模型的分析表明，从8年级到10年级，青少年的职业期望的SES增长很小。多组模型显示，与最初相比，女性最初渴望更高的SES职业，并且随着时间的推移，其志向表现出更大的增长。男性。

结论

我们的发现与其他国家的发现相符，但并非与所有国家都相符，这表明存在一些跨文化差异。在文化中，过去30年间，不同年龄段的职业愿望的SES的发展轨迹似乎相似。尽管女性渴望在青春期从事较高的SES职业，但成年后她们往往比男性从事较低的SES职业。需要进行进一步的研究，以更好地理解青春期职业愿望的SES中的性别差异与成年职业成就的SES中的性别差异之间的联系。