PARENTAL RESISTANCE TO THE VOCATIONAL PREFERENCES

OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN PERU: A MODEL TO

EXPLAIN PARENTAL RESISTANCE - SUPPORT
Iván Montes-Iturrizaga1, Eduardo Franco-Chalco2, David Montes-Iturrizaga3,
Aldo Bazán Ramírez4, Yajaira Licet Pamplona Ciro5
1
Universidad César Vallejo - Trujillo (PERU)
2
Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PERÚ)
3
Universidad Ricardo Palma (PERÚ)
4
Universidad César Vallejo - Piura (PERÚ)
5
Fundación Universitaria Católica del Norte (COLOMBIA)

Abstract
Peruvian society is characterized by its high level of conservatism, traditionalism and strong influence
on the decisions of their children. In this context, several studies have found that the participation of
parents is crucial in the decision their children make for certain professional careers in universities. In
this way, a series of studies have shown parental influences associated with gender stereotypes, the
search for social status and the desire for social advancement that surpasses that of previous
generations.
However, there are careers (or groups of careers) that are generating greater resistance than others.
Thus, this study offers relevant information to understand how parents reject or accept certain careers
in relation to social, educational and occupational status variables. Therefore, we have grouped the
careers in areas such as health sciences, social sciences, human sciences, natural sciences and
engineering in order to explain the phenomenon in question for each of these areas. We also provide a
detailed overview of the sociodemographic, personal and institutional characteristics of the students
associated with their authentic vocational preferences (dreamed career).
This explanatory study was developed on 1155 students (763 males and 392 females) who are
completing their secondary education in the province of Arequipa (Peru). It should be noted that this is
the most important province in the country after Lima (capital city). In this sense, a questionnaire was
applied under informed consent and authorization of the parents.
This study allows us to understand and explain the processes of influence that families (father and
mother) have with respect to their children's preferences. Thus, we found differences in the way in which
parental resistances act according to the careers, the sex of the parents and their occupations.
Keywords: vocational preferences, parental resistance, university careers, vocation rejection.

1 INTRODUCTION
Parental resistance to children's vocational preferences has recently received greater attention from
researchers in the different fields that make up the educational sciences. In particular, these studies are
developed within the frameworks of psychology, sociology and anthropology using methodologies of
different natures. Thus, they have especially focused on the gender stereotypes that parents have with
respect to some careers, which often make them reject the vocation of their male and female children
[1]-[3]. For example, STEM careers (especially engineering) are often rejected for women because some
parents (especially fathers) still believe that these career development alternatives are more for men
[4]-[6]. Similarly, and to a lesser extent, it is perceived that fathers' rejection of their male children to
study some careers could be linked to the mistaken consideration that these options are mostly for
women, such as nursing, education or psychology [7], [8].
However, reflections have also been made on other factors that could play a preponderant role in
parents' rejection of their children's legitimate aspirations. Thus, the monetary cost of some careers, the
expectation of a lower rate of return, the perception that there is no job market, and prejudices regarding
careers in the arts, humanities, mathematics or philosophy, among others, have been highlighted [9]-
[11]. In other cases, the rejection would be linked to the consideration that there are careers for more

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8th-9th November 2021
intelligent people and others for less intelligent people [12]-[14]. This situation would be more frequent
in parents with children with excellent school performance or qualifications.
In the light of the above, the evidence shows us that different professional careers (which we can group
by areas of knowledge) arouse or trigger different dispositions in parents, teachers, family members,
circle of friends and in the young people themselves. This fact is unavoidable and each one would take
positions (expressed or not verbally) according to their categories of thought. Thus, in our case, parental
resistances or tensions would have an important influence on the future life of the children; phenomena
widely reported in the international literature [15], [16] and which have led to the growing interest of Latin
American researchers interested in analysing inconsistencies in preferences - actual choice of a career
[16], [7], [17].
However, it is likely that there is less resistance now than in the past, when parents largely decided - to
a large extent - the professional future of their children. But we still find ourselves in a society structured
around authoritarian, conservative parenting styles and a high level of economic dependence on
children who decide to go to university [18], [19]. The latter, to a certain extent, is due to a trait that has
been sufficiently studied in Latin American cultures and which differentiates us from what happens
mostly in the United States, Canada and a good part of the European countries.
Also, the fact that parents finance or pay for their children's studies (men and women) places them in a
situation of power that is manifested in the resistance to studying certain careers and, fundamentally, in
the conditioning that if they want economic support, they will have to study the career preferred by their
parents [10], [11], [20]. However, given the lack of studies on the subject in the country, we could
estimate that this phenomenon is present in different social sectors.
On the other hand, studies related to parental resistance do not refer to family dynamics and how these
are projected in special situations such as children's vocational decisions. Similarly, further studies are
needed to understand this phenomenon in a more complete and profound sense. Also, the magnitude
of parental resistance in larger and more diverse samples within a given national or regional territory
remains to be determined.
However, with regard to the young people themselves who, on finishing secondary education
(secondary education), may suffer or suffer from this parental resistance to their vocational preferences,
this could be generating feelings of sadness, disillusionment and the feeling that they are not sufficiently
valued. At the same time, we do not know for sure to what extent this fact would impact differently on
those who go through these situations; although it is assumed that factors such as personality,
frustration tolerance and psychological resources could play protective elements to cope with these
events. But it is also to be expected that not all young people who undergo this type of resistance submit
to their parents' designs or that their parents are too strict with their judgements; aspects that stand out
for their importance but which are not sufficiently researched.
Along the same lines, and under the conviction that young people, by developing a series of vocational
preferences, lay the foundations for their personal self-realisation by virtue of a life project (even a
general one), it would be necessary to determine the impact of parental resistance. Impacts that could
configure important dissonances (lasting or temporary) and important ruptures [7], [13], [14].
Nevertheless, and in view of the fact that there are different ways of dealing with these tensions, it is to
be expected that many adapting have had to develop (without realising it) rationalising ideologies
(thoughts) in favour of the decision taken more by their parents than by them; perhaps as a way of
avoiding dissonance and, consequently, protecting the self.
Within the framework of the above, this study aims to study parental resistance according to the different
career groups, which have been grouped a posteriori on the basis of the preferences expressed by each
student in the questionnaire. Finally, we consider that the fact of studying resistance to different types
of careers constitutes a contribution to research in this thematic field, given that most studies have
concentrated on a few careers such as STEM.

2 METHODOLOGY
A sample of 1159 students from the fourth (49.91%) and fifth (50.09%) grades attending 11 secondary
schools was collected. All the sample was from the city of Arequipa (Peru). 66.09% of the students were
male and were 15.52 years old on average. Regarding the school type, 50.35% of the students were
registered in public schools, 31.95% in subsidized private schools, and 17.70% in private schools.
Father instruction levels were: 33.57% with university education, 24.65% with technical education,

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35.57% with secondary education, and 5.21% with primary education. Finally, mother instruction levels
were: 30.76% with university education, 21.91% with technical education, 35.23% with secondary
education, and 12.09% with primary education.
All the students gave their consent before the survey was administered. The authors of the present
research designed the survey, and its modality was self-administered and anonymous. The instrument’s
questions were about the dreamed major (e.g., “If you had complete freedom to choose, which would
your dream major of study be?”). With this question careers were groups into: arts, administrative
sciences, natural sciences, health sciences, social sciences, gastronomy, engineering, military and
policiary and technical careers. Also, parental approval of the dreamed carreer was explored with a two
questions: “Does your father/mother approves the career you dream to study?”. Finally, a short four-
item self-administrated questionnaire was designed to explore the attitudes towards the choice of a
professional career, assessing: (1) the preference of the profitability of a career over vocation; (2) the
choice of a career based on the wishes of the parents over vocation; (3) the belief that there are careers
more valuable than others; and (4) the belief in the existence of careers for people more intelligent than
others. These four items were averaged to obtain an attitudes towards vocation scale [2].
Regarding the statistical analyses, descriptive data was explored, and Chi Squared and ANOVA
analyses were estimated to determine the differences in sex, parental approval, and vocational attitudes
by career type. Later, two logistic regression models were estimated to determine the father’s and the
mother’s probability of approval of the dreamed career; the predictors for these models were sex,
educational level, school type, vocational attitude and career type. All data was analyzed in R v.4.0.1.

3 RESULTS
Table 1 shows the frequencies and percentages differentiated by sex and career type. In terms of
professional preferences, the most popular careers were engineering representing 33.60% of the
sample, the next most popular career type are the health sciences representing 19.61% of the sample.
Also, arts (13.28%) and social sciences (9.94%) were the type of careers that students reported that
they dream to study. On the other hand, the least preferred career types were gastronomy (2.37%) and
natural sciences (2.90%), followed by military and policiary careers (4.13%). Regarding sex differences,
statistically different results could be observed (X2 = 112.02, df = 8, p < 0.001). Natural sciences
(72.73%), engineering (80.84%) and technical careers (92.86%) were predominantly preferred by male
students; while, only health sciences were slightly more preferred by female students (52.47%). For arts,
administrative sciences, social sciences, gastronomy and military and policiary careers there was a
small male predominance.

Table 1. Frequencies and percentages of career type by sex.

Males Females Total

f % f % f %
Arts 85 56.29 66 43.71 151 100
Administrative Sciences 49 54.44 41 45.56 90 100
Natural Sciences 24 72.73 9 27.27 33 100
Health Sciences 106 47.53 117 52.47 223 100
Social Sciences 64 56.64 49 43.36 113 100
Gastronomy 15 57.69 11 42.31 27 100
Engineering 308 80.84 73 19.16 382 100
Military and policiary 27 57.45 20 42.55 47 100
Technical 65 92.86 5 7.14 71 100

In Table 2, the frequencies and percentages of parental approval by career type can be observed.
Fathers in general approves the career their children dream; however, the arts are the most disapproved
careers (21.32%), followed by gastronomy (20.00%). On the other hand, all the fathers in the sample
approve the military and policiary career of their children, the following most accepted type of careers
are the technical careers (95.38%), followed by health sciences (92.75%) and engineering (92.48%),
these differences were statistically significant (X2= 36.48, df =8, p < 0.001). On the contrary, mother’s

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approval appears not to be conditioned to the career type, showing the absence of statistical differences
(X2= 12.24, df = 8, p = 0.14). In this line, it is likely that a mother approves their children dreamed career.

Table 2. Frequencies and percentages of parental approval by career type.

Father Mother
Disapproves Approves Disapproves Approves
f % f % f % f %
Arts 29 21.32 107 78.68 20 13.79 125 86.21
Administrative Sciences 13 16.25 67 83.75 8 9.20 79 90.80
Natural Sciences 4 13.79 25 86.21 3 9.09 30 90.91
Health Sciences 15 7.25 192 92.75 15 6.82 205 93.18
Social Sciences 12 11.65 91 88.35 11 9.82 101 90.18
Gastronomy 5 20.00 20 80.00 2 7.69 24 92.31
Engineering 27 7.52 332 92.48 25 6.63 352 93.37
Military and policiary 0 0.00 44 100.00 1 2.17 45 97.83
Technical 3 4.62 62 95.38 3 4.35 66 95.65

In Table 3, the means and standard deviations of vocational attitudes can be observed differentiated by
career type. The ANOVA showed statistical differences (F (8, 1104) = 2.91, p = 0.03) within these means,
and a post hoc analysis showed that students that dream to study a technical career have stronger profit
and status attitudes than students that dream to study an arts career (p = 0.01). No further differences
could be observed, showing that in general students have more or less the same vocational attitudes
depending on the career type.

Table 3. Means and standard deviations of vocational attitudes by career type.

Vocational Attitudes
M SD
Arts 8.62 2.61
Administrative Sciences 9.68 2.97
Natural Sciences 9.36 2.41
Health Sciences 9.44 2.78
Social Sciences 9.66 3.06
Gastronomy 9.92 2.99
Engineering 9.82 2.7
Military and policiary 9.64 3.13
Technical 10.09 3.39

Finally, in Table 4 the logistic models for the prediction of father’s and mother’s approval are shown.
Regarding the first model, female students have 47% smaller odds of receiving their father’s approval
for their dreamed career (b = -0.63, OR = 0.53, p < 0.01). Moreover, students from subsidized schools
have 42% smaller odds of receiving their father’s approval for their dreamed career compared to
students from public schools (b = -0.54, OR = 0.58, p < 0.05). When the vocational attitudes of the
student are more oriented towards profit and status the odds of receiving parental approval decrease
9% (b = -0.09, OR = 0.91, p < 0.05). When comparing father’s approval by career type, health sciences
have 4.69 times more odds of receiving approval compared with arts (b = 1.55, OR = 4.69, p < 0.001);
furthermore, social sciences are 2.74 times more likely to be approved by a father than an arts career
(b = 1.01, OR = 2.74, p < 0.05). Engineering careers are 4.06 times more likely to be approved by a
father than arts careers (b = 1.40, OR = 4.06, p < 0.001). Finally, technical careers are 5.55 times more
likely to be approved by fathers than arts careers (b = 1.71, OR = 5.55, p < 0.01).
On the other hand, the model for mother’s approval shows that students from subsidized schools have
57% smaller odds of receiving their mother’s approval for their dreamed career (b = -0.85, OR = 0.43, p

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< 0.01). Students that hold more status and profit attitudes towards vocation are 7% less likely to receive
their mother’s approval for the dreamed career (b = -0.08, OR = 0.93, p < 0.05). In terms of career type,
the odds of having a mother that approves the dreamed career increases in 2.80 when the student
dreams with a health sciences career (b = 1.03, OR = 2.80, p < 0.01). Finally, students that dream with
engineering careers have 2.60 more odds of having their mother’s approval (b = 0.95, OR = 2.60, p <
0.01).
Table 4. Logistic regression models for the prediction of parental approval.

Father’s approval Mother’s approval

b EE OR b EE OR
Intercept 1.89** 0.60 6.63 3.36*** 0.66 28.92
Sex (Female) -0.63** 0.24 0.53 -0.38 0.26 0.69
Ed. Level (Secondary) 0.54 0.45 1.71 -0.28 0.48 0.75
Ed. Level (Technical) 0.64 0.47 1.90 -0.36 0.50 0.70
Ed. Level (University) 0.69 0.48 2.00 -0.24 0.51 0.79
School type (Private) -0.05 0.35 0.95 -0.42 0.36 0.65
School type (Subsidized) -0.54* 0.27 0.58 -0.85** 0.29 0.43
Vocational attitude -0.09* 0.04 0.91 -0.08* 0.04 0.93
Career type (Admin. Scs.) 0.61 0.39 1.83 0.49 0.46 1.64
Career type (Nat. Scs.) 0.70 0.59 2.00 0.69 0.66 2.00
Career type (Health Scs.) 1.55*** 0.36 4.69 1.03** 0.38 2.80
Career type (Social Scs.) 1.01* 0.39 2.74 0.44 0.41 1.55
Career type (Gastronomy) 0.20 0.57 1.22 0.61 0.79 1.84
Career type (Engineering) 1.40*** 0.32 4.06 0.95** 0.34 2.60
Career type (Mil. & Pol.) 16.49 607.27 14.05 1.95 1.05 7.07
Career type (Technical) 1.71** 0.65 5.55 1.06 0.66 2.89
Note: The reference levels for the dummy variables are: Sex = Male; Educational level = Primary; School type
= Public; Career Type = Arts.
* p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01; *** p < 0.001

4 CONCLUSIONS
This study provides an overview of parental resistance to different professional careers (dreamed
careers) grouped into categories according to area of knowledge. In this way, it was intended to provide
a much more complete picture, given that studies usually consider partial career fields such as
engineering or natural sciences separately. Another important aspect of this study is the fact that the
analyses were carried out on the basis of more than a thousand questionnaires administered to young
people who are about to finish their secondary education.
In the first place, this research is presented as consistent with recent findings regarding STEM careers
(especially engineering) and where gender stereotypes are said to play a predominant role in parental
resistance in the case of women. These background findings are related to what we now report that the
most popular careers among men were natural sciences, engineering and technical training in general
(mechanical, electrical, construction, etc.). For women, the most preferred careers are in the field of
health sciences. At this point, it is likely that the productive activity of the Arequipa region, concentrated
more in mining and construction, is conditioning the preferences for engineering in men (and in the study
as a whole in general terms). In this way, this productive identity would be adding to the aforementioned
stereotypes.
In the case of women, it could be expected that health sciences are perceived as service professions,
which would be playing a relevant role together with a taste for science. It is worth mentioning that
women's interest in this field of study used to be centred on nursing (a field which to this day is still
predominantly female), but nowadays, it is distributed to other careers such as medicine.
In the area of resistance, the analyses find acceptance by fathers in all fields (especially in military and
police careers, technology and engineering) with the exception of the arts and gastronomy. In this

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finding, we could establish as explanatory hypotheses the gender stereotypes, sexism is still installed
in Arequipa's culture and the concerns related to economic income in the arts and gastronomy. It seems
likely that these careers are not perceived as legitimate alternatives, but rather as hobbies. In contrast,
mothers approve of virtually all careers or fields of knowledge. However, a research agenda on these
aspects would have to consider qualitative methods in order to find out the thought processes of
acceptance-resistance in parents.
In addition, and in the area of vocational attitudes, we find that students who prefer artistic careers are less
motivated by economic retribution and are more inclined towards vocation. The opposite is the case with
those who prefer technical careers, who show more attitudes related to economic benefit or remuneration.
The latter could be explained by the fact that the great majority of those who prefer technical careers come
from more vulnerable households (with greater poverty) and, therefore, would seek in a more pragmatic
way to improve their living conditions with a rapid insertion into the world of work.
In addition, and in terms of the logistic model used in this study, we find that students in subsidised
schools are less likely to have their parents (fathers and mothers) approve of their vocational
preferences. In this scenario, females are less likely than their mothers to have their fathers approve of
their careers. Likewise, when children's vocational attitudes are more inclined towards status and
economic gain, they are less likely to receive parental approval. This last result would merit further study
through interviews in order to understand it more fully.
In line with the above, we find that the careers that receive the most disapproval are those in the arts.
This was to some extent to be expected, as this field is still insufficiently understood and undervalued in
the country. On the other hand, the careers that receive most approval are the natural sciences,
engineering and technical training in general.
In conclusion, the present reseach presents important findings about vocational prefferences in a Latin
American contexts, showing how the gender stereotypes, social economic status and vocational attiudes
may influence an adolescent career inclination.

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