Lisa M. Dinella

Sex-Typed Personality Traits and Gender Identity as Predictors of Young Adults’ Career Interests

Gender segregation of careers is still prominent in the U.S. workforce. The current study was designed to investigate the role of sex-typed personality traits and gender identity in predicting emerging adults’ interests in sex-typed careers. Participants included 586 university students (185 males, 401 females). Participants reported their sex-typed personality traits (masculine and feminine traits), gender identities (gender typicality, contentment, felt pressure to conform, and intergroup bias), and interests in sex-typed careers. Results indicated both sex-typed personality traits and gender identity were important predictors of young adults’ career interests, but in varying degrees and differentially for men and women. Men’s sex-typed personality traits and gender typicality were predictive of their masculine career interests even more so when the interaction of their masculine traits and gender typicality were considered. When gender typicality and sex-typed personality traits were considered simultaneously, gender typicality was negatively related to men’s feminine career interests and gender typicality was the only significant predictor of men’s feminine career interests. For women, sex-typed personality traits and gender typicality were predictive of their sex-typed career interests. The level of pressure they felt to conform to their gender also positively predicted interest in feminine careers. The interaction of sex-typed personality traits and gender typicality did not predict women’s career interests more than when these variables were considered as main effects. Results of the multidimensional assessment of gender identity confirmed that various dimensions of gender identity played different roles in predicting career interests and gender typicality was the strongest predictor of career interests.

Conducting Science-Based Psychology Research in Schools.

Organized to advise the researcher from the beginning of a project through to the end, this volume first looks at initiating and nurturing relationships with school stakeholders, moves next to research design and methodology, and concludes with disseminating research findings. The contributors explore our collective knowledge of both established and emerging names in the field, providing an unparalleled resource for those interested in psychological research within schools. This volume is suitable for researchers in educational and school psychology (both students and instructors); and school psychologists, social workers, schools administrators, esp. for schools in which research is being conducted.

Integrating Professional Development Across the Curriculum An Effectiveness Study

The current study empirically tested the effectiveness of a modular approach to integrating professional development across an undergraduate psychology curriculum. Researchers conducted a two-group, between-subjects experiment on 269 undergraduate psychology students assessing perceptions of professional preparedness and learning. Analysis revealed those participating in the modular approach had a higher understanding of and investment in the psychology major, a higher awareness of professional development opportunities, higher knowledge of career options with a background in psychology, and better knowledge of professional development activities. Quiz scores indicate that students learned about professional development from the modules. Overall, the results imply that a modular approach to professional development can be effective and beneficial to students. Psychology programs should consider utilizing similar approaches in their curricula.

Gender-related Development

This article addresses how children develop gender-related knowledge, preferences, behaviors, and roles. In the first section, the multidimensional nature of gender is described. In this part, the many different constructs involved in understanding gender-related development are described, including gender identity, gender roles, gender stereotypes, and gender-related behaviors. The second section includes a description of age trends in the development of gender identity, gender-related social behavior and cognitive skills, and gender stereotypes. Gender identity is the sense of oneself as a male or female and this sense of self develops in a series of stages. Gender stereotypes are culturally defined expectations about the sexes, which begin developing early in life and become more extensive as children grow older. Gender-related behaviors and characteristics have been the subject of numerous studies and the developmental patterns vary by characteristic. In the third section, the major theories of gender development are outlined, including biological approaches, socialization theories, and cognitive and schema theories. In the fourth section, future directions for research are discussed.

Halloween Costume Choices: Reflections of Gender Development in Early Childhood

ABSTRACT The author examined whether preschoolers’ Halloween costume choices reflect their gender development. The sample consisted of 110 (53 boys, 57 girls) infant through preschool-aged participants, and 1 parent of each child. Both observational methodologies and parent-report surveys were used to assess the gender-typed nature of childrens Halloween costumes, information about the Halloween costume choice process, and about the childrens gender development. Boys’ costumes were more masculine and girls’ costumes were more feminine. Younger childrens costumes were consistently less gender typed than the older childrens costumes were. Children whose parents chose their Halloween costumes for them had Halloween costumes that were less gender typed than did children who were involved in the Halloween costume decision-making process. Moreover, childrens gender-typed play and desire to wear gender-stereotyped clothes were related to the gender stereotyped nature of their Halloween costume. Unexpectedly, gender typicality, a dimension of gender identity, was not related to childrens Halloween costume choices. Overall, the findings support that childrens Halloween costume choice is an indicator of childrens gender development processes.