Do personality sex differences mirror personality differences across occupations?

Abstract

It has been argued that the sex segregation of the labor market reflects personality sex differences. So far, few studies have used actual occupational titles. This study aims to tackle these limitations as well as to expand previous research by operationalizing occupations as occupational field (i.e. STEM vs. Non-STEM) and as occupational orientation (i.e. Prediger’s people-things dimension). We replicated our analyses in three independent samples (Estonia, China, and UK) and, although there was no evidence that personality sex differences mirrored personality differences between occupational fields or between occupational orientations, results suggested that personality could be more relevant when choosing occupational orientation rather than occupational field.