No longer is it accurate to say that men are solely driven to achieve in the workplace. Indeed, the gender gap in time spent on these domestic tasks is shrinking. Thus, gender roles are changing for both men and women. At the same time, we know that certain organizational structures can promote or impede the expression of these more liberal attitudes. Clearly, we are at a point where research is needed to explore more fully both of these processes, especially as they affect future career and family formation plans of students with high potential.
Numerous studies link expectations for success and achievement-related behaviors.
However, there are still more students with potential for careers previously closed to them who are preparing for such careers than are getting jobs in those fields. Given the fact that the educational and career plans of students are subject to constant revision, and students at highly selective colleges represent an incomparable resource for leadership in our future as a society, we will ask how and why the plans of students with high potential change during the college years. As mentioned above, recent theories and innovative constructs suggest new directions for this line of inquiry. These constructs, however, have been limited to laboratory experiments and surveys of entry-level psychology students. Assumed to be static, they have not been subjected to examination of how and under what circumstances they change.