Career motivations and aspirations of female graduate students : an interracial comparision

This study examines the relationship between motivations, career choices and occupational aspirations of black and white female graduate students. An analysis of the scant literature comparing black and white career oriented women leads to the formulation of hypotheses which predict: (1) that the motives which lead black women to pursue professional careers differ from those of white women, and (b) that the professional aspirations of black and white women will differ in their "traditionality." Exploratory tests of these and related hypotheses suggest that most of the differences between black and white female graduate students relate to a mixture of structural and social psychological factors.

Overall this exploratory study suggests that today's black and white female graduate students are characterized by numerous commonalities in their social characteristics but show several differences in terms of their motivations, aspirations and view of the normative role of women in American society. The differences between women by race found in this study are tied to such factors as mother's work status, motives, intensity and scope of problems perceived to be associated with pursuing a career and traditional characteristics ascribed to women, to mothers and to self.