Who gets to the top? Children’s and young adults’ thinking about career hierarchies and their future career attainment

This study examined the development of abstract reasoning about career hierarchies. With age, U.S. children (N = 300; 5-10 years, 50% girls, 80% White; collected February 2019 to June 2020), like young adults (N = 350; 18-25, 56% women, 23% White; July 2021 to August 2021), indicated higher-level positions are harder to obtain, bestow more money and happiness, and have workers who are smarter but less nice and hardworking. Children reported upward (versus downward) mobility is harder to achieve and aspired toward higher-level positions than they expected to attain. Yet, boys increasingly aspired toward higher-level positions than girls, especially when high-level positions were numerically rare. These findings reveal early abstract reasoning about career hierarchies and the emergence of gender gaps in vertical career aspirations.