Longitudinal influences of educational aspirations and romantic relationships on adolescent women's vocational interests

The influence of educational aspirations and romantic relationships on the development of vocational interests in adolescent women in a single-sex educational environment was investigated. A sample of 92 high school students from a private high school for young women was followed from freshman year until senior year in high school. Contrary to expectations, over time all students endorsed more strongly interests in traditionally female-dominated occupations. Students with relatively lower educational aspirations who engaged in relatively more dating, however, had an overall lower and less differentiated interest profile by senior year than was true for other students. As was expected, students with relatively higher educational aspirations expressed more investment in work roles than family roles: but students with relatively lower educational aspirations expressed equivalent investment in work and family roles. (C) 2001 Academic Press.