Document Type
Article
Publication Date
9-20-2019
Keywords
occupational choice, intergenerational occupational transmission, STEM gender gaps
Abstract
We explore the intergenerational occupational transmission between parents and their children as it pertains to entry into the STEM field. Using the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002, we study student’s aspirations to work in a STEM field and eventual STEM education and employment. We show how these patterns change depending on whether the student’s parents work in a STEM field. We find strong effects of parental occupation type on student’s STEM outcomes that are heterogeneous by student gender. High school boys are more likely to aspire to work in STEM if one of their parents do so. By adulthood, both boys and girls have a higher probability of majoring and working in a STEM field if their parents also do, and in this case, estimated effects are stronger for girls despite a lack of effects on high school girls’ aspirations. For girls but not for boys, having a parent working in STEM increases the probability of entering the STEM field in adulthood above and beyond aspirations to enter the STEM field during adolescence.
Series Title
EDRE Working Paper
Series Number
2019-16
Citation
Cheng, A., Kopotic, K., & Zamarro, G. (2019). Parental Occupational Choice and Children's Entry into a Stem Field. Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications. Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/edrepub/83
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Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons, Educational Leadership Commons, Other Educational Administration and Supervision Commons