Correlates of sex-related attitudes with career ambitions of highly gifted elementary school children

Includes bibliographical references (pages 41-44)A study was done which surveyed a group of highly gifted elementary school children and their parents on their sex-related attitudes and how those attitudes correlated with career ambitions.\ud Three different questionnaires were used; one for the parents, one for female students and one for male students, to try to determine such attitudes.\ud The literature reviewed indicated that the American socialization process contributed heavily in preventing women from having personal careers. It stated that when a society encourages girls to be dependent and passive rather than independent and aggressive, their motivations and aspirations are affected.\ud The questionnaires returned showed that occupational labeling according to sex is changing and for the most part people are beginning to see either sex in a greater variety of job roles. The questionnaires also revealed that men were more sexist than women. This fact was independent of the sex of their children, however, mothers of highly gifted daughters had the least sexist attitudes of the group surveyed.\ud More important than sex preferences were the parents' obvious academic and success oriented values. They all expected their children to attend a minimum of four years of college and were willing to financially support them for that period of time. They also showed a preference for high status occupations for their children, e.g., doctor and professor versus a postal worker.\ud It was difficult to draw any conclusions regarding the students??? sexist attitudes or career ambitions because the questionnaire appeared too sophisticated for the age group involved