Sex Differences in Variability in Vocational Interests: Evidence from Two Large Samples

Abstract

Greater male variability has been established in cognitive abilities and physical attributes. This study investigated sex differences in variability in vocational interests with two large samples (N > 40 000 and N > 70 000). The results show that although men varied more in Realistic and Enterprising interests, women varied more in Artistic and Conventional interests. These differences in variability had considerable influence on the female-male tail ratios in vocational interests that have been found to contribute to reported gender disparities in certain fields of work and academic disciplines. Moreover, differences in means and variability interacted non-linearly in shaping tail-ratio imbalances. An age-specific analysis additionally revealed that differences in variability diminished with age: Older samples showed smaller differences in variance in Realistic, Artistic, and Social interests than younger samples. Thus, I found no evidence that greater male variability applies for vocational interests in general.

Psychological Attributes Needed In The It Domain

“…The effects of the gender highlight entrepreneurial interests (t = -2,70; p = .007), mostly for female students, while male students are more oriented towards activities with human implications (social interests) in comparison with the female students within the group (t = 1,96; p = .058). The result contradicts our expectations and prior research which found the gender effect associated with traditional occupational types: male subjects with scientific and investigative interests, female subjects with artistic, social, and conventional interests (Paessler, 2015;Su, Rounds & Armstrong, 2009). However, the quoted studies were carried out on large samples of subjects belonging to the general population and not on specific groups.…”

Age and Gender Differences in the Variability of Vocational Interests

“…Variance ratios (VRs) were computed for each of the six vocational dimensions, following a procedure outlined by Paessler (2015). The ratios were obtained by dividing the age-based variance in the older age groups sample by the one encountered in the younger ones.…”

“…Recent investigations reported greater male variability in realistic and enterprising dimensions proposed by Holland (1997) but also greater female variability in artistic and conventional (Paessler, 2015). One possible explanation is that unlike other phenotypes that are considered relatively stable throughout the life span (e.g., cognitive abilities), vocational interests tend to be more strongly related to environmental influences because they are intrinsically connected with activities and the environment (Rounds & Su, 2014).…”

“…These ranged from the somewhat speculative social explanations, such as social role theory (e.g., Eagly & Wood, 1999), to behavioral genetics which argues that because the genes that are likely to account for the greater male variability are found mostly on the X chromosome, the expression of these phenotypes is likely to be less extreme in females (e.g., Borkenau et al, 2013). However, both empirical studies and reviews suggest that unlike other individual differences, such as personality and cognitive abilities, the greater male variability does uniformly apply to vocational interests (Paessler, 2015;Su et al, 2009).…”

“…Cultural factors have been shown to influence vocational interests (e.g., Ott-Holland, Huang, Ryan, Elizondo, & Wadlington, 2013). Therefore, in order to advance future research in this area, it is critical to ensure that differences in variability across age and gender (e.g., Paessler, 2015) are replicable in other cultures. We sought to expand the current scientific understanding regarding the variability of vocational interests across age and gender by examining gender differences in the variability of vocational interests within each age-group in a sample of Romanian respondents.…”