Career related motivation in students aged 14 to 18: an exploratory study

Abstract

This research explores differences in career related motivation levels in students according to sex, age, level of high school education and type of school. A sample of 848 high school students – from 14 to 18 years old, male and female, attending public and private schools in Rio Grande do Sul – answered the Career Related Motivation Questionnaire (CRMQ-44). Results have shown no significant differences in the means of all the variables under study. However, these indices of dispersion around the means were found to become significantly smaller with increasing grade level, lending credence to the interpretation that, for the variable level of high school education, the answers become more consistent, stable, and precise by the end of high school. Longitudinal and cross sectional studies including larger age and grade spans of analysis would be needed to further explore potential differences between the variable means.