Sex Differences in the Process of Occupational Attainment
This is a panel study, with information on the same people
collected at two time points fifteen years apart. The subjects
were all the students who were in 10 Illinois high schools in
1957-58, when they were originally studied by James S. Coleman.
Fifteen years later Margaret M. Marini conducted a followup study
of the same people. These people are now in their late 50s, the
age at which people are close to the peaks of their careers.
The variables included are too numerous to fit on a page, so the
path diagram shows groups of related
variables, rather than specific variables. Those groups of
variables are:
- Background Influences
- High School Experiences
- Educational and Occupational Expectations
- Resources at Entry Into the Labor Force: Educational Attainment and Marital
Status
- Occupational Prestige at Entry
- Experiences After Entry Into the Labor Force
- Subsequent Occupational Prestige.
Virtually all men and 93% of the women in the sample entered the
labor force prior to the followup study (page 328). Marini conducted
separate analyses for three overlapping groups. In the tables
below they are designated as follows:
- F-still. 1,429 females still in the labor force at followup survey
- F-ever. 3,038 females who ever entered the labor force
- M-ever. 3,053 males who ever entered the labor force
Means on selected variables:
| M-ever (3,053) | F-ever (3,038) | |
|---|
| .811 | .709 | Parents wanted them to go to college
|
| .475 | .428 | Enrolled in college-prep curriculum
|
| .575 | .524 | Friends planned to go to college
|
| 2.10 | 2.42 | GPA in high school
|
| .551 | .496 | Planned to go to college
|
| 54 | 49 | Occupational expectation (Siegel prestige score,
or Bose housewife score = 26.9)
|
| -- | .561 | Housewife career expected
|
| 14.3 | 13.6 | Education at labor force entry
|
| 43.6 | 43.3 | Prestige of first occupation
|
| M-ever (3,053) | F-still (1,429) | F-ever (3,038) |
|---|
| 8.46 | 4.54 | 2.75 | Part-time education since in labor force
|
| 114 | 71 | 57 | Duration of full-time employment (months)
|
| 1 | 13 | 9 | Duration of part-time employment
|
| 1.5 | 1.2 | .9 | Children born between first occupation
and current or last occupation
|
| 50 | 46 | 45 | Prestige of current or last occupation
|
Coefficients of selected variables in unstandardized regression
equation for ``Prestige of current or last occupation''
| M-ever (3,053) | F-still (1,429) | F-ever (3,038) |
|---|
| 2.1 | 1.9 | 1.7 | Education at labor force entry
|
| 1.1 | 1.4 | 1.2 | GPA in high school
|
| -.1 | -.9 | -1.3 | Children born between first
occupation and current or last occupation
|
| .27 | .37 | .45 | Prestige of first occupation
|
Source: Marini, Margaret M. 1980.
"Sex Differences in the Process of Occupational Attainment:
A Closer Look."
Social Science Research 9: 307-361.
