The authors explored the relationship between the career aspirations of 89 preadolescents from low socioeconomic backgrounds and the actual occupations of the working adults in their homes with regard to status, job gender identification, and interest (Holland, 1997). There was a significant relationship between boys’ career aspirations and the occupations of the working male adults in their homes, specifically job gender identification and interest. More adult males had stereotypically male jobs—classified as Realistic by Holland (1997)—that was mirrored in the preadolescent boys’ career aspirations. There were no significant matches between the boys and working women or with the girls and the working adults of either gender.

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This study investigates the influence of family context and community context on children's social reasoning about parental negotiation of the gendered roles of breadwinner and caretaker. Participants included 272 seven-and ten-yearold children from traditional and nontraditional parental employment situations, who lived in either a U.S. east coast metropolitan area or in a military-minded community. Children provided judgments and justifications about a parent's desire to switch roles, the other parent's opposition, and the use of stereotypes to defend their opposition. Children's judgments were affected by the gender of parent wanting a new role, age of child, and both personal contexts. The current study provides evidence that children, not just adults, are aware of, and can reason about, parental roles and that it is important to investigate community norms in addition to direct family contexts.