reviewPsychological BulletinNov 1, 2009Closed access

Men and things, women and people: A meta-analysis of sex differences in interests.

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign · Iowa State University

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Abstract

The magnitude and variability of sex differences in vocational interests were examined in the present meta-analysis for Holland's (1959, 1997) categories (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional), Prediger's (1982) Things-People and Data-Ideas dimensions, and the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) interest areas. Technical manuals for 47 interest inventories were used, yielding 503,188 respondents. Results showed that men prefer working with things and women prefer working with people, producing a large effect size (d = 0.93) on the Things-People dimension. Men showed stronger Realistic (d = 0.84) and Investigative (d = 0.26) interests, and women showed…

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Topics & keywords

Keywords
  • Psychology
  • Reputation
  • Vocational education
  • Dimension (graph theory)
  • Social psychology
  • Quality (philosophy)
  • Meta-analysis
  • Demography
UN Sustainable Development Goals
  • Quality Education
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