Gender and Socioeconomic Status as Factors of Individual Differences in Pre-University Students’ Decision-Making for Careers, with a Focus on Family Influence and Psychosocial Factors

María del Carmen Olmos-Gómez, Mónica Luque-Suárez, Diego Becerril-Ruiz and Jesús Manuel Cuevas-Rincón
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María del Carmen Olmos-Gómez: Department of Research Methods and Diagnosis in Education, Faculty of Education and Sport Science, University of Granada, 52005 Melilla, Spain
Mónica Luque-Suárez: Department of Sociology, Faculty of Education and Sport Science, University of Granada, 52005 Melilla, Spain
Diego Becerril-Ruiz: Department of Sociology, Faculty of Sociology, University of Granada, 18004 Granada, Spain
Jesús Manuel Cuevas-Rincón: Department of Research Methods and Diagnosis in Education, Faculty of Education and Sport Science, University of Granada, 52005 Melilla, Spain

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 3, 1-12

Abstract: The present study analyses the influence of family, specifically parents, on the career decisions of their children, and how gender and socioeconomic status influence this choice. Research was carried out using data obtained from a questionnaire administered to a representative sample of students who took the university entrance examination (PEvAU, its Spanish acronym) in Spanish North Africa. A quantitative research design was adopted in which multivariate analysis (MANOVA) was applied anda decision tree, which was also used for graphical and analytical analysis. The main results indicated a significant influence of parents on their children’s choices, this being the best predictor regarding the decision to take the said examination. It was also verified that their choice of Spanish Baccalaureate programme was significantly associated with their selected career path, and gender and socioeconomic status had a significant impact on that decision. These results lead to the need for further research on guidance from secondary education onwards. It would be interesting to analyse factors neglected thus far, such as those related to the cultural environment of students.

Keywords: family influence; secondary transition to higher education; career guidance; decision-making; psychosocial factors (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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