Life Span Development II School Age and Adolescence

Life Span Development II: School age and Adolescence 3 (2+1)

Lesson 26 : Adolescent interests

Vocational Interests

Boys and girls of high school age begin to think seriously about their futures. Boys are usually more seriously concerned about an occupation than girls. Boys, typically, want glamorous and exciting jobs, regardless of the ability required or the chances that such jobs will be available for them. They also want jobs with high prestige, even if they pay less. Many boys from low=status families hope to achieve higher social status trough their occupations. Girls show a preference of occupations with greater security and less demand on their time. They usually stress service to others, such as teaching or nursing.

Older adolescents are concerned about what they would like to do and what they are capable of doing. As a result of this greater realism, they approach the choice of their careers with a more practical and more realistic attitude than they had when they were younger. During childhood and early adolescence, many boys and girls judge different lines of work, such as law and medicine, in terms of the stereo types presented in the mass media. As near-adults, they begin to judge them in terms of their abilities and of the time and money required for training for these lines of work