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GENDER SALIENCE AND SOCIAL IDENTITY: THE IMPACT OF SEX OF SIBLINGS ON EDUCATIONAL AND OCCUPATIONAL ASPIRATIONS
Author(s) -
ABRAMS DOMINIC,
SPARKES KAREN,
HOGG MICHAEL A.
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
british journal of educational psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.557
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 2044-8279
pISSN - 0007-0998
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8279.1985.tb02627.x
Subject(s) - psychology , salience (neuroscience) , optimal distinctiveness theory , developmental psychology , sibling , social psychology , perception , occupational prestige , demography , population , sociology , socioeconomic status , neuroscience , cognitive psychology
S ummary . It is proposed that an understanding of sex differences in educational and occupational aspirations of adolescents would benefit from a perspective which stresses gender identification. The social identification approach (Turner, 1982) hypothesises that these differences are a function of the degree of gender identification, which in turn is a function of the salience of sex. According to McGuire and McGuire's (1981) distinctiveness postulate, gender becomes more salient as the number of opposite sex siblings increases. In order to explore these gender salience effects 81 male and female sixth form pupils completed a questionnaire concerning their self‐perceptions, examination performance, occupational choice, and comparisons with members of each sex. Large sex differences were obtained, showing that educational and occupational ambitions were inhibited among females. Correlational analyses revealed that number of opposite sex siblings was more closely related to responses than were number of same sex, or total number of, siblings. In particular, females' choice of science O‐levels decreased as number of brothers increased. The results are taken to suggest that sex of sibling effects have an intergroup dimension which should be the focus of further research.