Socioeconomic status and the career plans of grade 12 girls

One hundred and sixty-nine Grade 12 girls completed a questionnaire on career plans. The questionnaire surveyed job choices, education, and family plans. The Self-efficacy Instrument was developed to measure self-efficacy for jobs of different prestige levels and gender compositions. It was hypothesized that the girls' career plans would differ according to socioeconomic status (SES) background. Using Blishen and Carroll's (1978) socioeconomic status index to rate the occupations of the participants' parents, the girls were divided into three SES groups: high (N = 48), moderate (N = 51), and low (N = 70). Analyses of variance and post hoc comparisons revealed that high SES girls differed from low SES girls in several aspects. High SES girls chose jobs at a higher prestige level, chose more nontraditional jobs, and planned to complete higher levels of education. On the Self-efficacy Instrument high SES girls expressed greater self-efficacy for high prestige jobs than did low SES girls. Moderate SES girls tended to be in between the two groups and did not differ significantly from either group. The differences in career plans according to SES background have implications for educators. Career programs designed to advance the status of women in the labour force have often encouraged girls to enter nontraditional jobs at the high prestige level. These programs may not be useful to low SES girls. Alternative programs are discussed in reference to the findings of the present study.Education, Faculty ofEducational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department ofGraduat