Development of vocational gender stereotype attitudes scale (VGSA) for adolescents

The study aimed to develop and evaluate the psychometrical properties of a new brief measure of gender stereotyping career attitudes. Participants were 222 early and 196 middle adolescents from Croatia. The Vocational Gender Stereotype Attitudes Scale (VGSA) consists of 12 items that represent masculine, feminine and gender-balanced activities obtained from the Personal Globe Inventory (PGI). The results showed the existence of the bifactor model and high internal reliability of VGSA scale in assessing gender stereotyping attitudes. Results also confirmed acceptable measurement invariance across gender and age groups. Moreover, no gender differences in general career gender stereotyping were found, while early adolescents show greater stereotype endorsement, which is in line with theoretical expectations and supports the construct validity of the scale.