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Race has powerful effects on children’s perceptions of occupations

Children’s perceptions of occupational status and their own vocational interests are affected by the racial make-up of the workforce, according to a new study involving first and six grade African American children. For both real and made-up jobs, children ascribed higher status to those occupations that are or were depicted as having all or mostly European American workers (and no or low numbers of African Americans workers) than to those jobs with no or low numbers of European American workers (and all or high numbers of African Americans workers). The findings appear in the May issue of Developmental Psychology, a journal published by the American Psychological Association (APA).