%0 Report
        %A Brenøe, Anne Ardila
%A Rutnam, Daphne
        %T Parents' Perceptions of Occupational Fit
        %D 2026
        %8 2026 Mar
        %I Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        %C Bonn
        %7 IZA Discussion Paper
        %N 18431
        %U https://www.iza.org/publications/dp18431
        %X We study how adolescents’ second-order beliefs about their parents’ occupational preferences shape gendered career aspirations. In a consequential early-career choice setting, we combine a parental choice experiment with a randomized salience intervention among students. Parents give gendered recommendations, but students substantially overestimate fathers' preference for boys to choose male-dominated occupations as well as mothers' preference for girls to choose female-dominated occupations. Making the same-gender parent salient raises aspirations for gender-congruent occupations, while highlighting the opposite-gender parent and both parents has no effect. Salience does not shift perceived occupational fit, suggesting that identity-based second-order beliefs can reinforce occupational gender segregation.
        %K gender norms
%K second-order beliefs
%K occupational aspirations
%K parental beliefs
%K identity and career choice
%K early-career choices
%K choice experiment
%K field experiment