Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- Notes on Contributors
- List of Abbreviations (selected)
- Part I Introduction
- Part II The early school years
- Part III Career planning during adolescence
- Part IV Choosing a science career
- 9 Do teenagers want to become scientists?
- 10 Predicting career aspirations and university majors from academic ability and self-concept
- 11 Does priority matter?
- 12 Gender differences in personal aptitudes and motivational beliefs for achievement in and commitment to math and science fields
- 13 What happens to high-achieving females after high school?
- 14 Young people, gender, and science
- 15 Motivational affordances in school versus work contexts advantage different individuals
- Part V Longer-term consequences of early experiences
- Part VI The role of context
- Index
- References
15 - Motivational affordances in school versus work contexts advantage different individuals
A possible explanation for domain-differential gender gaps
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 October 2014
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- Notes on Contributors
- List of Abbreviations (selected)
- Part I Introduction
- Part II The early school years
- Part III Career planning during adolescence
- Part IV Choosing a science career
- 9 Do teenagers want to become scientists?
- 10 Predicting career aspirations and university majors from academic ability and self-concept
- 11 Does priority matter?
- 12 Gender differences in personal aptitudes and motivational beliefs for achievement in and commitment to math and science fields
- 13 What happens to high-achieving females after high school?
- 14 Young people, gender, and science
- 15 Motivational affordances in school versus work contexts advantage different individuals
- Part V Longer-term consequences of early experiences
- Part VI The role of context
- Index
- References
Summary
Abstract
In the last decade, girls have attained similar achievement levels in mathematics and natural sciences as boys. Girls also value mathematics or sciences as highly as boys do. However, women are still not attaining equivalent career success in professional fields associated with mathematics and natural sciences, such as engineering and computer science. One possible explanation for the disassociation between school-based motivation and achievement in mathematics and sciences, on the one hand, and successful entry and pursuit of science-related careers, on the other hand, might be that the two achievement contexts – school and work/career – require different motivational self-regulatory skills to be most effective. The chapter discusses a set of individual differences in various components of motivational self-regulation, ranging from opportunity-congruent goal selection to implicit and explicit motives, volitional commitment, and goal disengagement and self-protection. To date, we have only scarce empirical evidence about gender differences in these components of motivational self-regulation. However, the stark contrasts between the self-regulatory requirements in the highly structured school versus the low structured work domain present a fascinating research area to begin to explain the gender gap between the two domains of achievement behavior.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Gender Differences in Aspirations and AttainmentA Life Course Perspective, pp. 346 - 362Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2014