Occupational development among upper elementary school age children

• Main Author: Kuldau, Janice E.
• Other Authors: Hollis, Joseph W.
• Format: Others
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: Vocational interests.; Attitude (Psychology)
• Online Access: http://cardinalscholar.bsu.edu/handle/handle/177504; http://liblink.bsu.edu/uhtbin/catkey/414064

The purpose of the study was to discover the attitudes toward work held by children in grades four, five and six. The instrument used was written by the researcher and based upon six factors found previously by other researchers to be important for job satisfaction among adult workers. The six factors included money, self-expression, leadership, working conditions, independence on the job, and status and prestige.The Instrument, the Kuldau Occupational Development Inventory (KODI), was administered to students enrolled in grades four, five and six in three community settings, the professional-white-collar (PWC), the working-blue-collar (WEC), and the inner city (IC). Each item on KODI was projected by an overhead projector and also read orally by the researcher. A total of five hundred eighty-six subjects were sampled. All children enrolled in each room selected was included in the study regardless of race, creed., and length of residence in the city.Statistical analysis of the data consisted of a three way analysis of variance computed between grade and sex, grade and community setting, and sex and community setting. A trend analysis was computed for grades. The statistical analysis for sex and community setting required the calculation of a t-test. Review of the data led to the following conclusions.Children have developed attitudes which they can recognize by the time they enter the fourth grade. The attitudes developed were toward money, self-expression, status and prestige, working conditions and leadership.When the data were considered by grades, the results indicated attitudes had been developed toward money, leadership and status and prestige. The results of a trend analysis indicated a greater attitude toward status and prestige in grade four than in grade six (p= <.01). No trend existed for the factors money and leadership.The attitudes held by boys and by girls were found to be related to self-expression and leadership. The results of the t-test for the group means of boys and girls indicated a significant difference existed between the attitudes toward leadership. The results of the trend analysis indicated a downward trend from grade four to grade six among girls toward the factors self-expression and status and prestige. The conclusion was drawn that as girls matured the attitudes toward self-expression and status and prestige became less important. Since no trend was found among boys sampled, the conclusion was drawn that no trend occurred in the development of attitudes toward work.When community setting was considered, working conditions, money and leadership were found to be significant. The results of a t-test computed on group means indicated a significant difference existed between the group means of the PWC and the WBC settings on the factors working conditions, and leadership; WBC and IC settings on leadership and money; and PWC and IC settings on working conditions, leadership and money.To discover if a sequential development of attitudes toward work occurred, a trend analysis was computed for grades four, five and six within each community setting. A downward trend was evident for status and prestige when the PWC community setting was considered. The conclusion was drawn that as these children matured, factors other than status and prestige gained importance when attitudes toward work were considered.An upward trend in the development of attitudes toward money was found to exist among children reared in the WBC community. The conclusion was drawn that as these children matured, money becomes a more important factor when work was considered.No trend was found to exist among IC subjects sampled. The conclusion was drawn that the attitudes held by these subjects had not developed in a sequential pattern.