THE RELATION OF GENDER AND ACADEMIC-ACHIEVEMENT TO CAREER SELF-EFFICACY AND INTERESTS

Career self-efficacy has been identified as an important variable in career choice and development. In this study, gender and academic achievement were studied in relation to career self-efficacy for female, male, and sex-balanced occupations. Girls had higher efficacy expectations for some female careers and lower efficacy expectations for some male careers than boys. Girls and boys did not differ in their efficacy expectations for sex-balanced occupations. The overall influence of gender on career self-efficacy was quite modest. Achievement was found to be a more powerful predictor of career self-efficacy than gender. These findings are discussed in relation to the need to enable talented young women to realize their abilities through career achievement.