Life Plan Development in Young Adult Women: An Exploration Using Grounded Theory

Although research exists that explores career planning, romantic relationships, and decision making in women, it is not yet known how women understand and develop the goals that they hope to achieve throughout their lives. The current study aims to answer how women understand and go through the process of developing the life plans that they hope to pursue after college graduation. This research question was answered with Charmaz's (2006) model of grounded theory by conducting 13 interviews with young adult women approaching college graduation, followed by one focus group which was used to validate emergent themes. It was found that life plan development is a longitudinal process that begins in childhood, but becomes more focused during college, with the help of mentors, tangible learning opportunities, and the growth that exists from experiencing hardship. These young adult women were able to identify important factors throughout the entire lifespan that had helped them hone in on their dreams, identifying positive and negative experiences they had had, particularly in regards to their gender development, which had helped motivate them to work towards their ultimate goals for their lives. Keywords: Life Plan Development, Gender, Career Goals, Grounded Theory In the 1970s, men earned the majority of bachelors, master's, and doctoral degrees, so a plethora of justifications could be made to explain why women earned only 60 cents to every dollar earned by men (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2014). However, in 2015, women were earning the majority of post-secondary degrees at every level, yet still only earning 78 cents to every dollar that men were making (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2014). Before getting into gender discrimination, the "glass-ceiling," access to family leave and childcare, and other very important social issues, it is important to look at the life stories among the women around us. Studies have repeatedly found that women are more heavily represented in lower-paying fields, and the highest paying careers continue to be male-dominated. Rather than look at the statistics in dismay or ask underpaid women to reflect back upon their life experiences, I set out to explore the development of women's life plans as they experience one of the most crucial periods in that development: the culmination of their undergraduate degrees. What makes young women pursue the paths that they choose to pursue? Which events and people limit them from following paths that could open up the doors to their highest potentials? What barriers and obstacles have been overcome in following the journeys that women create for themselves? In this study, I explored how young adult women describe the process of understanding their life plans that they hope to pursue following college graduation. Life plans change constantly, and we are often affected by things that we did not plan for; however, when students are working towards finishing their undergraduate degrees, they are bombarded with questions and decisions about who they will inevitably become. Choices to pursue graduate studies, entry-level employment, or marriage, among other things, can directly and indirectly affect the later pay gaps that many of these women will eventually experience. If educators and researchers could grasp what resources are helpful for young adult women and which barriers closed doors on them, we could work to address these gender differences before the damage has already been done. We can try to understand the pay gap before a gap exists, on an individual level. Literature Review The role that gender plays in one's identity has been studied in samples including girls as young as 11 years old (Elliott, 2010), 9 years old (Brown, Alabi, Huynh, & Masten, 2011), and even 5 years old (Stroeher, 1994). Girls become aware of gender discrimination and differential treatment at a very young age (Brown et al., 2011). That awareness of discrimination can lead to different aspirations for adulthood, with boys imagining their future lives as revolving around careers and girls more likely to imagine their future families (Elliott, 2010). …